MUSIC INTERVIEW: BIG BOI

Taking the ATL to the World: From Antwan to Big Boi to Sir Lucious Left Foot & Beyond

By: Team Buzzine

August 5, 2011

Antwan André Patton (AKA Big Boi, Daddy Fat Sax, Sir Lucious L. Left Foot, Sgt. Slaughter, Hot Tub Tony and many, many more) is a man sitting on top of the musical world. As one-half of OutKast (along with his musical partner and fellow Tri-Cities High School alum Andre Benjamin), Big Boi changed the rules of the hip hop game over an amazing 12-year period when the first six OutKast records combined to sell over 25 million copies and win no fewer than six Grammy Awards. You might think that success would guarantee a smooth road to releasing your first ‘stand-alone’ solo record…but you would be wrong. Buzzine’s Stefan Goldby sat down with General Patton in Austin, Texas to talk new music, new labels, alter egos, and the importance of keeping it stanky funky stank stank…

Stefan Goldby: This Lucious Left Foot record was been a long time coming. Tracks like "Royal Flush" were released as singles over the past couple of years. Why did it take so long before the album dropped?

Big Boi: I was just trying to get the right situation and put it out. My former label didn’t understand it really, so they gave me the opportunity to go to Def Jam and get in the system. So they were diggin’ it at Def Jam and they understood it; I was over there with LA Reid… you know he raised us as OutKast, and here we are.

SG: At this point in your life, you can pretty much make any album you want: What was the spark that became this project?

BB: It was actually the Royal Flush record that I did a couple of years back with André and Raekwon that kicked it off, and I just started recording from there. So I just recorded a gang of songs from that cut and the body of work, I thought it was going to be sufficient for the listening audience, and they dug it straight up.

SG: Beyond André 3000 and Raekwon (which is a pretty great start), there’s an amazing list of other guest artists on there as well. Did you start with a wish list in mind, or was it all just organic?

BB: Making the whole album was organic. Basically, if I was recording, I’d use other artists as instruments, as ingredients to my stew -- my funk gumbo. So if I’m working on a record, I might just hear something and be like, “Wow, so-and-so might sound good on here,” and I’ll reach out for them and they come on in. So I’m working with Janelle Monae, T.I. and Jamie Foxx, Gucci Mane, just to name a few: It’s just a natural progression for me.

SG: Is there a session that stands out most in your mind during the making of this album?

BB: It was the whole thing, man. It was like working on it for a couple of years of schlizzling and tweaking and recording songs and putting them in the vault… It’s really like an experiment. It’s the same thing now. I’m working on a Daddy Fat Sax album now – I’ve been in there since October working on it; I’m like seven songs into it and it’s sounding really good. It’s all about giving the people what they want, and at the same time keeping it stanky funky stank stank.

SG: Is the experience of making these two new solo albums teaching you anything about being an artist that you didn’t already know before?

BB: It really didn’t teach me anything. Being in the group, me and ‘Dre both are producers, writers, arrangers, singers, rappers – we do all aspects of the music, so a lot of the OutKast material, we weren’t necessarily in the same area of the studio. We haven’t been in the studio working on the whole album together since Aquemini really. So from Stankonia on, we’d work in two different studios and come together, just getting fresh thoughts in.

SG: You just shot the new video for “Be Still” with Janelle Monae.  Janelle is obviously signed to your label as well, on the album. How did the two of your first connect?

BB: Janelle was singing background for an artist I had signed named Scar, and she used to be around, stank on the edges, a cute little school girl, and I caught her at open mic night at Justin’s – P. Diddy’s soul food restaurant in Atlanta – and I heard her singing and I told her I had to have her. I brought her in and just really vibed with her for some years, until it was time for her to come out. She’s one of those artists that you don’t have to lead the way on; you don’t have to hold their hand, they’ve always got input. I like artists with vision. She’s definitely one of those, and she’s gonna be here for a long time.

SG: Even though you’re now moving on to the second record in this project, thinking back to the first one with a little bit of hindsight, what are you happiest with about the first record?

BB: What I’m happiest with…is that it got a chance to see the light of day. There was a lot of back-and-forth going on with the label, and I guess one good thing about it is really making timeless classics, where the music doesn’t get dated. We record a song four or five years ago, and it could still come out today and sound brand new. It’s about how you give it to the public, so I’m just glad that the fans dig it, critics love it, and we’re on to the next record.

SG: What should people expect from that next record?

BB: Absolutely nothing but the funk. It’s Daddy Fat Saxxx: Triple X so you know it’s gonna be nasty – get down dirty, gritty, nasty, grimy, slutty funk. It’s gonna be that slut funk. [Laughs]

SG: Beyond the record, beyond the label, beyond your family business with pitbulls, beyond the line with Converse, you’ve moved into some acting on TV, you voiced a character in a video game… What now?

BB: It’s all about the funk, man. Long live the funk and nothin’ but the funk. It’s all about the music, so I’ve just been in the studio trying to put my ideas down, and that’s really what it’s all about. Straight up.

SG: You’ve gotten to try so many different things and been in some pretty interesting situations: What’s been the single best pinch-yourself, “this is what I signed up for all those years ago” moment?

BB: I guess one of the greatest moments – this has to be one of the best moments of our careers – would be winning Album of the Year at the Grammys for the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, along with going Diamond – doing 15 million with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, it’s just like winning the Superbowl. There’s nothing to prove; the only thing it’s about is making good music and giving the people what they want to hear. That’s what it’s all about – no gimmicks, no games, no controversy; it’s just music – straight, unadulterated funk – that’s what we’re all about.

SG: With all of that in mind, what do you hope happens in the next year for you, professionally?

BB: I just want to get the album done, get it out to the fans, and stay out here on the road touring. I’m having fun. The best part of making music – especially new music – is getting the energy from the crowd when you perform new records. When you can feel them from conception in the studio to the stage presentation to the crowd, there’s nothing like it.

I’m a gold mine of funk, can’t nobody stop it, it’s the funk gold rush. You should come to the Big Boi show because it’s an experience like none other. You’re gonna leave here smelling like slut funk. Some of that cum-dumpster-funk [Laughs]…

Big Boi’s ‘Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty’ is out now on Purple Ribbon/Def Jam Recordings. 

‘Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader’ is scheduled for a late 2011 release.