BIG BOI TALKS OUTKAST, RAPPING AND ‘STAR WARS.’
HIS LATEST ALBUM IS ‘BOOMIVERSE’ — AND HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW IT’S ‘ALL KILLER, NO FILLER’
The photo that accompanies this article might suggest otherwise, but Antwan “Big Boi” Patton was never considered the flamboyant one in the hip-hop superduo OutKast.
Which is funny, because if you just listen to the group’s albums, Patton was the one twisting his tongue with blistering rhymes that seemed to defy meter. He’s been a busy man since the duo went on hiatus a decade ago. The new “Boomiverse” is the third Big Boi record since 2010, in addition to “Big Grams,” his collaboration with indie rock band Phantogram. And he’s remained a steady touring and festival presence, too.
“Boomiverse” brings him to Houston this week. Patton talked about the new record and one very unpleasant visit here for a performance just a few years ago.
Q: “Boomiverse” is an interesting title. On one hand, it’s light and almost comic-booky. On the other, it has a heaviness and suggests something expansive.
A: That was the plan. The title came from our whole thing, which is like the big bang theory. For us on this record, it was the big boom theory. Go out and start something new. Dig in and make a record. Do something original, mind-blowing, funky and
lyrically supreme. I think that’s what we did.
Q: Thus using “time to stir the pot” as the album’s opening line.
A: Heeeeey, exactly. You get where we’re coming from. Shake things up a little bit. Stir things up a little bit. I’ve been doing this a while. So don’t do the same thing.
Q: I wanted to ask about that. Because you’re 42 and that first OutKast record is nearly 25 years old. Hip-hop cycles people out pretty quickly. Do you feel any pressure to keep up?
A: No, it’s never any pressure. Right now I’m in a good place because I just do it for fun. I still love it. So my passion, you could say it’s still evolving. I guess compared to younger artists, I could consider myself a Jedi master. But you should also always consider yourself a student. You need to learn new things about the music, the rhyming, the writing of songs. If you stay a student, you’ll stay hungry.
Q: Quick detour, then. Did you see “The Last Jedi”?
A: Yeah, I saw it. It was long. A lot of new characters and stuff. But it was visually stunning. But I think it’s good for the true “Star Wars” fans to introduce new stuff, you know what I’m saying?
But the whole Princess Leia scene … that felt a lot like watching Mary Poppins.
Q: OK, back to your record: Pimp C’s voice jumped out at me on “In the South.”
A: Yeah, that’s one of my producers, Cory Mo, who produced UGK. He had it for a while, and brought it to me a few years ago. I was like, “Oh my god … .” I always loved Pimp C and Bun. UGK is one of my favorite acts of all time. They were legends, so it was always an honor to do something with them. For this one, to make a Southern anthem, you need that Southern drawl.
Pimp had that.
Q: Did you include “All Night” to show a different side of what you do? It’s more singer-y.
A: Yeah, I just wanted to stretch it out some, or flex that ability. Doctor Luke sent that to me to work on. It ended up one of my favorite songs on the record.
Q: I heard there was enough material for a double album. Will the rest come out?
A: Right, right, right. That’s the thing: When I listen to this album, every song is a single to me. So I think this album has legs on it, and I need another year to work this record. But I have two others in the can, so I’m trying to figure out when to put them out. But for “Boomiverse” I broke it up into stack 1 and stack 2. I wanted this one to be all killer, no filler. And we’re going to see how far we can go with this one. Touring, I’m all the way up to July booked. But I definitely have ideas for new records. I don’t know how I’m going to work the whole thing out yet. Q: I wanted to ask about the way you
deliver words. Were you ever a drummer? There’s a percussive quality to what you do.
A: Exactly, so you study this (expletive), I can tell. I didn’t really think of it as percussion exactly, but I think it’s a great analogy. Because I always thought of rapping as being like a tap dance. I absolutely thought tap is the ultimate expression of rhythm. There are so
many formulas: what you put between the beats, the beat patterns. What you feel, that’s the same with how you rhyme. So whether it’s tap dancing or percussion, yeah, I think that’s perfect.
Q: I have to ask about the time you played our summer music festival. I don’t know if you remember, but you weren’t really dressed for a Houston summer.
A: (Laughs.) Man, I remember that. I remember that. I was wearing long sleeves, and I felt like I was about to die. That was hottest show I’ve ever played in life. In my entire life.