SOW: Spottieottiedopaliscious by Outkast
December 12, 2003 | 
9 Comments
The Artist: Outkast
The Song: Spottieottiedopaliscious
The Album: Aquemini
Released 1998
I was going to go with something a bit harder for this week’s song, but I’ll have to save that for next week as I’m in a hip-hop kind of mood. Could be because I saw Swollen Members and Sleep last night. It was an awesome show.
But back to the lecture at hand. I was thinking about some of my favorite hip-hop artists and trying to decide who to use as this week’s song. It had to be classic and I wanted to go with an artist that was still making noise.
I thought about someone from the WU, I thought about Dre and Beastie Boys, I mulled over my current favorites like Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif. None of them seemed right. What I came up with is Outkast. These guys, to me, exemplify all that is good about hip-hop music.
They’re artists first and foremost, they’re constantly experimenting and trying to push the envelope musically and lyrically, but at the same time they know how and when to kick back and bust some silly rhymes over a good beat.
Every one of their albums is great, from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below, they’re all classics.
I’ve been with them since the beginning and while I love all their albums and feel like hey have a plethora of gold-plated hip-hop jams to choose from I have to say that one album and one song stick out for me.
Aquemini is one of my all time favorite albums, from any genre, and I listen to it quite often. Of all the great songs that Outkast has put out my favorite are from Aquemini. You’ve got “Rosa Parks” and one of my favorite jams to get a party stated “Skew It on the Barb-B.” And then you have “Spottieottiedopaliscious.”
This week’s song is a classic by any definition of the word. It’s not really hip-hop as you would normally think of it. Rather it kind of defies classification. The rhymes are more spoken word than rap and the musical arrangement is some kind of funk-jazz fusion.
I may just be a sucker for horns, or something “different”, but when I first heard this song I echoed the opening lines in my head. “Damn, damn, damn, damn…” I knew when I first heard this song that Outkast wasn’t only a great hip-hop act, they were much more.
As time has gone on I’ve been really impressed with how they’ve managed to keep putting out quality albums. They’re creativity seems to hold no bound and they just keep getting better and keep on surprising me with their talent.
So here you go - “Spottieottiedopaliscious” by Outkast. Go ahead and marinate on that for a minute.
Recommended if you like: Goodie Mob, Dr. Dre, Nelly, Ludacris, Nappy Roots
Filed under: Song of The Week
Comments
1. donny said:
Outkast is off the hook. Although I love most of thier songs, the one stands out the most is Wheel of Steel from Atlien album. The beat and the scratch on that track are blazing. OutKast rocks!
What about Rakim? Lyrics of Fury is a hip hop classic.
Posted on December 12, 2003 12:06 PM | #
2. mahalie said:
Nice snowflakes! I really enjoy your blog and click to it from my RSS muncher more often than not.
I hate for this to be my first comment on your blog, especially since I like Outkast too, but a quick search on www.RIAAradar.com reveals that Outkast’s label is one of the many huge corporate jerks suing individuals out of house and home as an example to the rest of us for using a peer to peer network to download songs.
FYI, y’all.
Posted on December 12, 2003 12:51 PM | #
3. Keith said:
Thanks for the comment mhalie.
As much as I feel what the RIAA is doing is messed up, I can’t boycott artist beacuse of who the associate themselves with. I wonder how much the artists themselves know about all this stuff. My guess is very little and even if they did they’re in a sticky situation.
In any case I post my songs for the art alone. The fact is there are many artists who associate with the RIAA. A few notables - Weezer, The Pixies, The Pogues, Tool, Saves The Day, Brand New and the list goes on and on.
Chances are if one were to boycott the RIAA they’d be cutting out one of their favorite artists. I’m not doing that.
If you do boycott the RIAA chances are you’ll really hate next weeks artist. But I bet the song will rock your socks off. ;)
Posted on December 12, 2003 01:21 PM | #
4. [m] said:
Ludicris? Aint that ludacris? ;)
Posted on December 12, 2003 01:43 PM | #
5. Keith said:
Of course you’re right…Guess I’ve got Hawaii on the brain. Not that I’m the best at catching typos anyway – I rely on you guys for that.
Speaking of LudAcris - his new album Chicken and Beer is great.
Posted on December 12, 2003 01:50 PM | #
6. ben said:
Ludacris represents all that sucks about hip-hop today. sorry.
but on the other hand, spottieottiedopalicious is one of my all time favorites. The album dropped when I was about 16, right around the time Slick Rick released the Art of Storytelling…. great summer for hip hop.
I doesn’t matter though, because “I was so engulfed in OE I never made it ot the door….”
Posted on December 12, 2003 03:38 PM | #
7. Phil said:
I’m with Keith and I really like Ludacris. He’s got amazing skills and his rhymes are just good old hip-hop fun.
When you say “Ludacris represents all that sucks about hip-hop today. sorry.” you need to back that statement up.
Oh and Outkast is one of the more fresh mainstream hip-hop acts out there, they continue to amaze me.
Posted on December 12, 2003 03:52 PM | #
8. Dj said:
It’s so good to see that people are still listening to good hip hop, and not that crap guys like Chingy put out.
SpottieOttieDopaliscious is an awesome track, just because like you said, it has no real genre. Its not exactly hip hop, not really funk or jazz, but a combination of all those. It’s just so easy to listen to. SpottieOttieDopaliscious is a perfect example of why Outkast will never grow old.
But thats just my interpretation…of the situation.
Posted on December 16, 2003 08:49 PM | #
9. Zora said:
I couldn’t agree more with this song of the week…I remember back in I guess 95-96…when I couldn’t stop playing the damn song…over and over…and you are right those HORNS!…crazy…Spottie..is definitely one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time…and just so you know…Follow the Leader by Eric B. & Rakim…is another…
Posted on August 10, 2005 09:09 AM | #
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