Taking Sides: Andre 3000 vs. Big Boi

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It's a dialectic.

― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

You're right Tracer, and divorcing the two feels kinda uncomfortable but I see that audiogalaxy (where music writing is really at!) has chosen Andre as one of their Top MCs (and not Boi) and it got me thinking.

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

That Audiogalaxy list is not very good or interesting, even though I like or love almost everyone on it: Andre 3000, Black Thought, Chuck D, Common, Ghostface Killah, KRS-One, Posdnous, Q-Tip, Rakim, Slick Rick. (And if it's such an "old school" list, then where's Melle Mel?)

― Ian, Saturday, 8 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I agree. I mostly like the emcees here but it seems "Greatest emcee" lists tend to cluster around certain eras of rappers rooted in a similar vein. Black thought, Common, Posdnous, and Q-tip is a pretty standard clump (all thats missing is Mos Def possibly). KRS, Chuck D, and Rakim are safe bets... Ghostface is the token Wu acknowledgement. etc. What about Slick Rick as #1? Seems like a deflated stab at controversy or something.

As for the original question, I can't decide either, but in terms of style I quite like Andre 3000's galaxy weirdness.

― Honda, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dre all the way, man. While ole' Daddy Fat Sax lays down a heavy foundation and has far better narrative flow; Dre's got that sci-fi poet thing going on, and I like his voice better.

― Dan I., Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Not a single problem with Big Boi, but the glammish, space-obsessed, ET conscious persona of Andre 3000 drew me to Outkast in the first place.

― badger, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

how ironic.

― ethan, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Like rain on your wed-- *dodges blunt instruments hurled in fury, retires hastily*

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I really think they're both essential; each would wither without the other. That said, I was lucky enuf to see them live at SOB's just before Stankonia dropped, and Andre was CLEARLY the performer-in-chief. He worked that crowd over. Came on stage in his space-funker duds but had the top ripped off after one song. B Boi just sort of hangs back cause he's a playa. He's the anchor. Even in between-song chitchat when Andre's like "now this song's about how some cats can't rap about nothin but how much their car cost, like a nigga give a damn" and B Boi had to reign him like "ay ay, whoa", thinking through the politics of who they know, thinking about his own purple Buick or whatever, bringing Andre back to da real world. Pragmatism and idealism. I guess I can't decide either.

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Doubtless b-boi. I never know with Dre if he'll blow me out of the water or come of as just plain weird, but b-boi's flow is so self-assured, so full of rubato and rhythmic trickery, and his rhymes are so consistantly poetic that he's pretty unbeatable.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

nine months pass...

I agree with tracey because outkast is a group, therefore they depend on each other to do their own thing. both posses qualities that the other does not. for instance, while fat sax has a more cosistent, straight-forward flow, dre has more of a spacey, laid back feel in his voice.

― X Funk 3000, Saturday, 5 October 2002 00:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...

I definitly agrre with tracer imagine dre and fat sax going solo.Dont get me wrong they would do just fine but together they make great ,impossible to duplicate music.

― Yomamaluvsme, Sunday, 24 November 2002 17:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

big boi's solo album will feature ludacris, jay-z, etc.

andre's solo album will be "rock-oriented" andre said that his favorite band is the hives, and that they inspired him to learn guitar.

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Sunday, 24 November 2002 18:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

andre said that his favorite band is the hives, and that they inspired him to learn guitar.

!!!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 24 November 2002 18:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

pharrel and at the drive in, timbo and papa roach, now this! what are they seeing that we're not?

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 24 November 2002 19:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

now change those to that one linkin park single, the strokes and weezer we might be on to something..

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

yes mitch why do people like things you dont like!!

― s trife (simon_tr), Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

they haven't heard 'only in dreams', sung along maniacally to 'someday' at 5am while driving home on the highway or gotten to steal tim finneyisms and call 'linkin park' the "'nsync of nu-metal", plus some boring shit about subjectivism blah

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

five months pass...

Mc Sal is a lot better than Big Boi. But not as good as Andre.

― Sal, Tuesday, 20 May 2003 17:07 (twenty years ago) link

ten months pass...

Andre is one of the maost talented artist I know. I think that if it weren't for him Outkast wouldn't be Outkast. I remember reading an article about them and reading that most of the songs were written by Andre. Andre, definitely.

― Brittany Rienne, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:11 (twenty years ago) link

Andre is one of the most talented Maoists I know.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 9 April 2004 20:38 (twenty years ago) link

three years pass...

class of 3000 christmas special with lil jon as santa was awesome

― m bison, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

When the fuck was this even a question?

― Peter "One Dart" Manley (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 17 November 2008 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link

Once again, I know *DICK* about Hip Hop (although seem to be warming back up to it these days), but I think Andre 3000's style and delivery is refreshingly different from anyone else's. Not to knock the estimable Big Boi, but Andre's just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, December 7, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― using a click track yanks you out of the realm of live drumming (n/a), Monday, 17 November 2008 23:19 (fifteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

Unless Andre breaks out some koala shit, Big Boi is gonna win:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFnNbS3O-0U

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 30 July 2009 21:59 (fourteen years ago) link

lots of ppl now say big boi just cos they know most people will say dre3000. but dre3000 *is* better as a solo artist. obv tho, theyre both better together.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:11 (fourteen years ago) link

didn't Big Boi write Morris Brown? if so, then him.

― Turangalila, Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:13 (fourteen years ago) link

The thing is, Andre was so crazy with his fashion choices that it kind of overshadows the fact that Big Boi is also crazy; he's also the one who takes more risks with his rapping (all of Andre's "experiments" have been rooted in singing; he's actually a pretty conventional rapper in terms of flow).

― Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:14 (fourteen years ago) link

bbs risks are often gimmicky and unnecessary though - that choppiness in his flow is just jerky and serves no real purpose.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link

dres flow might be 'conventional' (tho you must be forgetting that ? song on stankonia and dozens others) but his language makes up for it.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, Andre's genius absolutely lies in the words he chooses; that's pretty much a given.

I disagree that the choppiness in BB's flow serves no real purpose.

― Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:19 (fourteen years ago) link

― Sterling Clover, Sunday, December 9, 2001 8:00 PM (7 years ago)

Gotta go with the Clove'. He answered it correctly way back in the day.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:40 (fourteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

Only one of them has his own line of dog shampoo:

http://www.bigboiandbobbi.com/products.html

― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 26 October 2016 12:33 (seven years ago) link

and has a son named bamboo

― ANU (sisilafami), Wednesday, 26 October 2016 21:58 (seven years ago) link

Me and Bamboo and our dog shampoo,
travelin' and livin' off the land

― PappaWheelie V, Wednesday, 26 October 2016 22:02 (seven years ago) link

shampoo for my real dogs, real poo for my sham dogs

― yokohama fuckdolphin (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 26 October 2016 22:04 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

https://www.gq.com/story/andre-3000-outkast-gq-style-interview

― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Tuesday, 31 October 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link

ten months pass...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdHgq3oBD8

― Ross, Friday, 14 September 2018 06:14 (five years ago) link

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