"Man, the scene was so thick: Low-riders, '77 Sevilles, El Dos, nothing but them 'Lacs. All the players, all the hustlers; I'm talkin' 'bout a black man heaven here, you know what I'm sayin'?"

With those words, OutKast announced themselves to the world in the run-up to the 1993 holiday season. As rap lore loves to recall, "Player's Ball" was originally commissioned by LaFace Records as a Christmas jingle. (It was included on the compilation A LaFace Family Christmas, where it followed TLC's take on "Sleigh Ride.") By the time of the track's single release, though, the festive facade had been tempered in favor of André and Big Boi swaggering through with rhymes that channeled the allure of gangsta rap with their spiritual Southern roots and an appreciation for syllable-sharp flows.

The debut album that followed on April 26, 1994, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (LaFace), built on OutKast's breakthrough formula. Production across the 17-song project was handled exclusively by Organized Noize: Warm and organic-sounding live basslines and organ riffs were paired with crisp, snappin' drums, while the unit's in-house triller, Sleepy Brown, embellished the concoction with eloquently sung hooks. Rap assists came from the members of another soon-to-blow local crew, Goodie Mob.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik's gumbo of influences was thickened by skittish characters that segued and moved the album along—the sultry voice of Peaches introduces the experience; Captain Cracker greets out-of-towners jetting into the city, before they experience the garish neon allure of Club Donkey Ass and an opportunity to snap up a 14k gold chain for $80 from a raggedy hustler (original owner: some white folks in Buckhead). Once sucked into 'Dre and Big's ATLien vibe, it's then Big Rube's turn to break down the deeper meaning behind this journey of the mind, soul and body.

Twenty years since its release, the importance of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik endures, both as a sumptuously melodic listen and as one of the most important and influential southern rap albums to date. Celebrating the project's heritage, Big K.R.I.T., B.o.B, Bubba Sparxxx, David Banner, Gangsta Boo, Rittz, Trae Tha Truth and Freddie Gibbs reflect back on the mastery of those two dope boys in a Cadillac.

THE PLAYERS

Big K.R.I.T. (Rapper/Producer): Southern rap renaissance man Big K.R.I.T. wooed fans with his abilities behind the boards and on the mic with 2010's K.R.I.T. Wuz Here project. He's currently finishing up his next album, Cadillactica, which is in part titled as an homage to Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.

B.o.B (Rapper/Producer): New wave ATLien Bobby Ray burst onto the mainstream scene with his 2010 album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. 2012's Strange Clouds and the following year's Underground Luxury further increased his pop appeal, and he's currently at work on a fourth studio project. Before that, a new mixtape titled No Genre: Part II will appear.

Bubba Sparxxx (Rapper): After scoring big with the Timbaland-produced "Ugly" in 2001, the Georgia-raised Bubba Sparxxx has gone on to claim four solo albums, with his fifth studio project, Made on McCosh Mill Road, released in June 2013. He considers Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to be his third favorite OutKast album of all time, behind ATLiens and Aquemini—although he says "it's not like there's that big a difference between them all."

David Banner (Rapper/Producer-Turned-Actor): After a stint in the group Crooked Lettaz, David Banner played a key part in the Southern rap invasion that took over the mainstream in the early 2000s. Mississippi: The Album (2003) remains a classic of the era, although these days, Banner is as likely to be seen in Hollywood movies as he is barking into the mic or finessing the boards.

Freddie Gibbs (Rapper): The OutKast-inspired Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik helped endear Freddie Gibb's modern day gangsta fables to the world back in 2009. Mr. Gibbs is presently enjoying the spoils of his critically-acclaimed team-up with the producer Madlib, Piñata.

Gangsta Boo (Rapper): Originally cast as the first lady of the Three 6 Mafia collective, the Memphis-based Gangsta Boo has amassed three solo studio albums in her vault since debuting with 1998's Enquiring Minds. Her next outing will be the collaborative Witch project with La Chat, released this May.

Rittz (Rapper): Georgia representer Rittz saw his profile boom after co-starring on Yelawolf's "Box Chevy" in 2010. Now rolling with Tech N9ne's Strange Music army, he's beavering away on his follow-up to last year's The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant LP. He estimates that since its release in 1994, he's purchased Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik at least 10 times in various formats.

Trae Tha Truth (Rapper): As Screwed Up Click royalty, the Houston-based Trae Tha Truth has been a staple on the Southern scene for over a decade now. His next project to see fruition will be a Hustle Gang compilation.

1. "Peaches (Intro)"

Bubba Sparxxx: I thought the intro was so fresh. It was the right way to start the album off and bring you into this world of OutKast.

Trae Tha Truth: I think as a whole, once you heard the project being introduced this way, you could tell that somebody was a pimp—or at least had that influence.

Freddie Gibbs: From the get go, it was jammin', it was some smooth shit out of Atlanta. I had never heard any rappers out of Atlanta so it put me up on their culture and how they move and represented the South. I was all ears and it caught my attention. It was futuristic but it also had that nostalgic sound as well. "Peaches" set a tone for what they were gonna do.

2. "Myintrotoletuknow"

Rittz: Even to this day I would say that "Myintrotoletuknow" is my favorite song on the album. Just the way it starts, like coming after "Peaches" and then coming so hard. At the time, for me, from a rapping standpoint, there was nothing like this ever before in rap. I had heard the single, "Player's Ball," and I was waiting to hear what the album sounds like and it was the newest, coolest shit ever and it was so familiar because, being from Atlanta, it was the first real voice from there on a national scale. It was wasn't booty-shaking music or shit like that—it was the coolest shit ever. And André's verse on this song—[raps] "Time is slippin', slowly but surely…"—is my favorite verse on the album. I love that verse. I can rap it word-for-word to this day.

Bubba Sparxxx: Even though it's the first song to come on, "Myintrotoletuknow" is probably one of my top 10 OutKast songs of all time. The track is just crazy 'cause you were really starting to hear the live basslines and everything you were hearing was like a staple of what Organized Noize as producers were all about. It was about the grooves and you just never heard anything like it. It was just a completely original musical composition.

Gangsta Boo: The first time I heard André I thought he was a really dope lyricist. Still 'til this day, he's before his time. Big Boi is the same, they're very equally talented, but they're so different they're crazy. I got to work with them both later on Stankonia. Big Boi used to have one of my songs on my voicemail—it was Three 6 Mafia's "We Ain't Playing With You" but it was my verse—and I thought that was really cool. I knew [Big] Gipp's ex-wife, I was best friends with them when I was about 17 because I was in Atlanta a lot. They were pretty big fans and it was an opportunity where they felt like they wanted a female like me on Stankonia. They hit me up for it and it was right in the peak of my career when I was with Hypnotize Minds. In the studio, Big Boi bought me weed—it was purple, and I'll never forget it.

3. "Ain't No Thang"

Rittz: The whole album was so thoughtfully put together and I try and do the same with my music now. Like even between songs there would be these cuts and atmospheric parts, so after "Myintrotoletuknow" and before "Ain't No Thang" comes on there is these DJ cuts and brass hits. The album was put together so nicely and all the songs and the interludes just flowed through each other.

Bubba Sparxxx: The bassline was just mind-blowing! Then there's Big and 'Dre period—that style of rap still 'til this day is original, but especially for that section of time, it was revolutionary. You had never heard anything like it. They were both equal partners to me in the beginning; stylistically, they might have represented different things and they still do. They just represent the ying and the yang and they were both so hard then. Big stayed hard and 'Dre diversified more and became more eclectic and tried a lot of things musically and Big stayed just a pure MC like that, but they were both so hard on "Ain't No Thang."

Big K.R.I.T.: "Ain't No Thang" is just so funky, man. I think there was a certain amount of aggressive in what they're saying about being in the South.

4. "Welcome to Atlanta (Interlude)"

Rittz: I really loved that "Welcome to Atlanta" skit. It's so hard to think about it now because so much has changed in rap, but that was just such a moment 'cause nobody had been spotlighting Atlanta like that. I remember being able to relate to hearing the airport, being from there. It was cool as fuck. I loved it: [Impersonating the captain] "I'd like to welcome you to Atlanta. We have clear blue skies over Atlanta, which by the way is the home of the Atlanta Hawks, the Braves and the Falcons...

B.o.B: When you talk about the history and culture of Atlanta, you've got to talk about that first OutKast album. They presented an atmosphere and they way they set the album up with the interludes, it was like they were letting you into their world, you know? Man, especially growing up in Atlanta, OutKast is like the holy covenant of the city. Their music is regarded with a special type of attention. Whenever an OutKast song used to come on the radio people would almost cry. OutKast can make you cry if you're from Atlanta.

David Banner: I was living in Jackson, Mississippi at the time I heard this. I'd been to Atlanta before and this was very evocative of Atlanta 'cause there's some specifics to Atlanta, the same as there's specifics to New York compared to L.A. Atlanta was the major city: This was before the big rush and the major groups that brought a billion dollar empire to Atlanta, and OutKast gave that experience of being there to the rest of the world.

5. "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik"

Bubba Sparxxx: This is another great bassline! That's one thing when I think about this album—the basslines were just huge! But maybe why we related to it so much was because they were talking about places that we knew. Before that, most rappers were from L.A. or New York and they would be talking about the Bronx and Brooklyn and Compton and Watts and Inglewood, but they were talking about East Point and the S.W.A.T.S. and Decatur, places that we knew where they were at. I just really related to that, like you do when you're from the same place. The title track was the second single after "Player's Ball" and we loved it.

Freddie Gibbs: I was inspired to call my mixtape Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik by this title. I just wanted to pay homage and show that I could do it as well. The title track is my favorite song on the album. [Sings] "We're gonna get you high..." I like that shit with the singing and the whole melodic vibe of OutKast. It wasn't just a rap album—it was something that brought you into this world and this vibe.

Gangsta Boo: I was wishing I lived in Atlanta when I first heard it! I was living in Memphis at the time. It made me feel like a very Southern girl. The production stamped the South, it gave the South a sound—they were one of the originators of the Southern sound.

Rittz: I gravitated towards Big at first when I heard this. I was in a group at the time called Rollo and Rittz and we tried to be like the white OutKast—he was André and I was Big and that's how it was. They're my favorites of all time so I used to try and act like Big Boi and watch what he was wearing in the videos and I'd try and dress like him. And I remember inside the album artwork, there was a photo of those two and André had on some real rare high-top Nikes, like Air Force 1s but with a grey strap around the back and I was looking for those for so long. But I really liked how Big Boi dressed there and in the "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" video, too.

David Banner: Hearing "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" was literally life-changing for me. People don't do a lot of research on my background—I started off as a staunch hip-hop fan and I started realizing that hip-hop wasn't exactly what I'd dreamed it to be. There was still some discrimination and some confining elements to something that I had believed to be so liberating and so free. This was the total synthesis of what I dreamed hip-hop to be: It had the grooves, it had the aura of hip-hop, but it came from a pure Southern perspective.

Trae Tha Truth: I call this song that groove music. It's like the old music that you can just ride with in your Cadillac and just slow bump your head to it. I mean I didn't have a Cadillac at the time—I don't even know if I even had a car back then!—but that song made me want to get a Cadillac.

6. "Call of Da Wild" (feat. Goodie Mob)

Bubba Sparxxx: T-Mo and Khujo from Goodie Mob introduced themselves to us all on this song. I remember that everyone was just blown away by just how hard the lumberjack guys were! They were so hard and they was completely original—they was like bone gristle hard.

David Banner: Goodie Mob's introduction on this song was spiritual. It was a group that was saying it's alright to be gangsta but still be spiritual, still be smart, still show that you care. It was a positive perspective from the soul and from God and from some guys that really did it in the streets for real. I've studied the background of those guys and a couple of those dudes really got down for real. So for them to be able to say, "Okay, those of y'all know who I am, know who I am, but I chose to do God." That was really something, a huge statement.

7. "Player's Ball (Original)"

Bubba Sparxxx: The first time I ever heard of OutKast or saw OutKast was when I saw the "Player's Ball" video on a local show out of Atlanta called American Rap Makers, with a host by the name of Arnell Starr. He actually passed away just recently. Pretty much anyone from Atlanta during that generation knows what I'm talking about. I saw the video and my mind was completely blown. Then I got a version of "Player's Ball" which was originally a Christmas song and then they redid it and took some of the Christmas connotations out of it. I thought the Christmas version was dope! But it didn't change the way I felt about the song when they made it less Christmassy.

I remember there was a huge gap between the time "Player's Ball" came out and the album came out—it had to be at least six months—so the anticipation for the album was tremendous. When it actually did finally come out, anyone who was from Georgia... I think OutKast resonated with everybody in a hip-hop sense, but if you were from Atlanta or Georgia, culturally it just meant so much more to us.

B.o.B: I remember the first time I heard OutKast I was like six years old. I heard that song on the radio and I was singing it all day in kindergarten 'cause I had the song stuck in my head. I'd hear it as I got older and grew up and begin to go through life so when I hear the song now it still takes me back in time to places in Atlanta, like Freaknik, the whole player's scene and the whole mighty hip-hop scene in Atlanta.

Freddie Gibbs: [Sings] "All the players came from far and wide..." It sounded like some old-school shit, you know what I'm saying? That was just like that vibe of like The Mack or some shit like that, and those hard-hitting-ass drums. It was magic, man. I think Organized Noize is real underrated when it comes to the sound they came up with.

Big K.R.I.T.: I had so many cousins back then and I was so young around that '94 time when the album dropped. I want to say my cousins was always playing it but I remember when I got older and started coming into my own and finding music, the first one I knew about was "Player's Ball" and finding out that it was a Christmas song at first! That was my introduction to OutKast and I just felt that they embraced being country so much—they made it really cool to be Southern. André's verse on "Player's Ball" is my favorite verse on the album, just how he embraced the South and was able to be so intricate with it.

Rittz: I was in eighth grade and I had already got the "Player's Ball" single from the store and I was waiting for the album to come out. It was life-changing. To me, with my background being a rapper, that song pretty much changed my outlook on life and the way I rapped from that point forward. It was a huge song for me. It was a sound that I'd never heard before and it was something I related to, especially being in Atlanta. It felt like we had a voice from Atlanta and it was also a sound that we'd never heard before.

Trae Tha Truth: Of course that song is a classic. I feel like that beat needs to be redone now and it'd still sound just as good.

8. "Claimin' True"

David Banner: This had the dirty rugged drum samples, but they incorporated live instruments—they didn't just take a sample. They swallowed it, digested it and spit it back out from their perspective. There was a clean, warm, soulful sound to it even though they came so hard.

Big K.R.I.T.: I wanted to follow in the same steps as far as wanting to be myself in my songs. Sometimes we invent superheroes and we want to become all of that, but we are real people too and I think embracing that is how you achieve longevity—that's what they did here. They were able to be themselves and by doing that they were able to transcend the genre of hip-hop and I don't think anyone was able to put OutKast in a category. The soulfulness, the honesty, the message overall—it's all here.

9. "Club Donkey Ass (Interlude)"

Rittz: I was too young to go to strip clubs, but back then I probably didn't even know what the hell they was talking about. But I'm a pretty fast learner and once you pick up on like the strip club interludes, I later caught on to how big the strip clubs were in Atlanta, just as part of the scene.

David Banner: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik was a full album experience, especially the way they threaded it all together through the skits and interludes. Today, we concentrate on the singles 'cause that's all you really get from some artists, but that wasn't the case here, like with the strip club skit. They were taking you into a world and making sure it felt seamless as a listening experience. There are not that many albums that can do that and do it so vividly.

10. "Funky Ride"

Rittz: I loved "Funky Ride" 'cause it was so laidback and melodic and it had this retro feel to it, too. I think that Atlanta in that time, in '94, it was coming off of the funk shit in '92 with Dr. Dre and Snoop and a lot of funk was being used in rap music then, and then OutKast came through with a different type of funky vibe that was so smooth and so dope.

Big K.R.I.T.: My favorite production on the album would have to be between "Funky Ride" and "Player's Ball." With "Funky Ride," they really let Sleepy [Brown] have his way on that thing. That was a lot of love, man, a lot of love. It was so clear and so smooth and so organic for a time when music was very aggressive. It definitely inspired me as far as the singing I do in my records and having a lot of background vocals. It was telling me to go out into space with music and really test the levels of creativity.

If I could remake any song on the album, I would be really excited to get to do "Funky Ride." For the kind of album I'm making right now, that's the song. I'd get Big Rube on there and I'd get everyone to sing on that thing.

B.o.B: Organized Noize architected the eclectic style of music in Atlanta. They gave all artists the confidence to make whatever they want to make and be different and not worry about it. They gave us that freedom. I mean, I always knew that Andre was a dope lyricist but he inspired me a lot more in his later projects when he started singing a lot, like around the same time that CeeLo was doing Gnarls Barkley. Songs like this let you know OutKast always had that experimental side to their music.

Trae Tha Truth: Sleepy Brown was dope, most definitely. I think the song was well put together. I really feel like it could have been ahead of its time back then.

Bubba Sparxxx: I mean that song was awesome to me and the song was cool but nobody rapped over that one, you know? I loved beats and my best friend at the time was kinda a beat guy and he loved the fact that "Funky Ride" was pretty much just an instrumental. For me though, I was like, "Yeah, it's cool but I want somebody to rap on it."

11. "Flim Flam (Interlude)"

Rittz: The interludes helped give the album that real Atlanta feel, like that real atmosphere. When I was first listening to it, I was basically going through the stages that any 12-year-old would go through at that time, starting to be a little fuckin' badass. Life was changing for me and you're going through those stages that any teenage kid does and you like to test the waters and get in trouble. So when I heard the album, it just changed my whole outlook and my whole style. I was just a kid in my neighborhood running around getting into trouble playing Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik in my Walkman. Skits like this helped put that image of what I wanted to be in my head.

12. "Git Up, Git Out" (feat. Goodie Mob)

Freddie Gibbs: "Git Up, Git Out," that's one of my favorite records. It was so much talent in Atlanta, like when you heard Cee Lo and his voice was so dope. Hearing that reminds me of the time I was being at middle school, smoking weed, fuckin' with girls, just getting my introduction to life. That song's one of those special records that takes me back to smoking weed on the corner, gang bangin'. When that record was playing, it definitely takes you back to that era.

Gangsta Boo: I love Cee Lo, I love Goodie Mob. Cee Lo's voice is rare, like turbo rare! [The song] made me think to go get some money, don't waste your time sitting at the house getting high, don't let time fly by if you haven't done anything.

Trae Tha Truth: [Singing] "You need to get up, get out and get something..." Yeah, yeah, yeah! Goodie Mob was another group that came through and with the whole Dungeon Family. I think that was a great set-up that OutKast had, with the Dungeon Family and having each one of them being embraced in so many different ways but coming through all together. It was a beautiful movement.

Big K.R.I.T.: "Git Up, Git Out" reminds me of motivation, man. I actually used that saying on one of my projects, Return of 4eva, which was my introductory record. It was a point of time in my life when you couldn't sit still and I think they was really conveying the sentiment that if you want something in life you have to go and get it. The music definitely spoke across the board to a lot of people as far as following in your dreams and also being positive in your music. Back then, there was a lot of aggression in rap but they were able to step to the side and say, "Hey, man, go and get something for yourself too, go and make something for yourself too." OutKast were telling us to be proactive.

David Banner: In 1994, I was going through a real bad time and specifically in Jackson, Mississippi, we were the number one murder capital of the United States around that time. To see a group of guys that came from a similar situation, that was hope for me. When I hear it now, this song reminds me of hope.

Bubba Sparxxx: With Cee Lo and Big Gipp, you have two of the most original voices in hip-hop that you've ever heard.

13. "True Dat (Interlude)"

Big K.R.I.T.: I think everybody after that point wanted Big Rube to do a poem on their record. His poetry on songs like "Liberation" and this, he gave more of an understanding into the music and he was dipping into spoken word and the true form of [hip-hop] music.

Rittz: Big Rube is dope, man! It wasn't just that what he was saying was deep, but the sound and tone of his voice and his accent just sounded totally like Atlanta—at least it did back then. Whenever I heard Big Rube's voice it signaled to me that OutKast was about to come on. Even now, if you hear Big Rube, you know OutKast is coming.

14. "Crumblin' Erb"

Big K.R.I.T.: When I first started producing, I tried to recreate a lot of OutKast beats. "Crumblin' Erb" was one of those ones I always tried to recreate. How did it come out? Not so well, you know! Back then, I was making beats on a PlayStation when I was trying to recreate those records, trying to recreate those snares. After a while I learned that the music wasn't digital but analog—it had a lot of warmth to it—and it took me further on in my career to really dive into how they got the music to sound that way. They weren't so confined to what a computer would give you.

Freddie Gibbs: You got to have that smoke vibe in every record! I probably put all kinds of smoke songs on my records because of OutKast. They always did that, always have at least one.

Rittz: I was so young then and the album was so influential so I was starting to imitate people and different sounds. As a 12-year-old kid, even the words "crumblin' erb"—I wasn't smoking erb back then, I didn't even know that it was called erb, you know? So when you hear shit like that you learn and as a kid, you pick things up.

15. "Hootie Hoo"

Bubba Sparxxx: "Hootie Hoo" is my favorite song off the first OutKast album. I think a lot of people will probably agree. Again, it's just that bassline. And then there's the raps: "Follow the funk from the skunk and the dank that is crunk in the Dungeon..." That shit was crazy and it was following the bassline and then when 'Dre came in with "Now playing these bitches is my favorite sport..." Man, it was elite emcees and it was elite production and that was an absolute moment in hip-hop.

Rittz: "Hootie Hoo" was huge. We were all screaming that shit. It wasn't part of my day-to-day slang but a lot of people caught on to that. Next thing you know I'm going to school and all I'm hearing is, "Hootie hoo!"

When Big Boi is rapping on "Hootie Hoo" he's like, "I be thinking about the good old days when I was a whippersnapper..." It's just something Big Boi used to always do. My whole thing is like Big Boi does this thing where he goes "Yeah" and it's like his trademark. My trademark is to go "Yeppa-yeah." My whole trademark is damn near based on Big Boi but I put a couple of syllables in front of it, you know? It's just something that I've become known for and some people don't realize that's where I got it from.

16. "D.E.E.P."

Trae Tha Truth: Back in '94, I was listening to a bit of everything. I was only 14 years old. I was just running the streets, man. My father, he used to wait until the weekend and then I'd get in his car with him and we'd have all the gangsta music playing and run through the streets with the homies. I was a Rap-A-Lot fan, I was a 2Pac fan, I was most definitely a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony fan—just really street music in general as a whole. OutKast became part of that 'cause you feel their situation and it makes you want to go and add your situation to it. They were opening their minds on "D.E.E.P." and just rapping that realness they were seeing around them, and doing it from a street music perspective but still talking knowledge.

17. "Player's Ball (Reprise)"

David Banner: What's funny is, the reprise [of "Player's Ball"] is actually my favorite beat. It was just so soulful, the way they arranged the pianos over something that was already amazing—the drums was so banging.

Big K.R.I.T.: When you listen to the whole album from the start to the ending, it is just so soulful but organic at the same time. Being introduced to Organized Noize back then was like hearing the live basslines and the 808s with cowbells and the snares. Back then I was into a lot of 2Pac and Biggie, but OutKast's music had a different kind of swing to it and a different type of vibe to it with the live instrumentation going on and the background vocals, but they also incorporated these hip-hop drum patterns. However they made these records, the album all came together and was so cohesive.

 

Check out OutKast's entire catalog with our epic Canon Ballin' feature.