Are You Experienced?: Frank Ocean, Big Boi & André 3000 - "Pink Matter" (OutKast Remix)

While Speakerboxx/The Love Below (2003) was a great album, it kinda seems more like 2 re-packaged solo albums, rather than a cohesive collection of Southern Hip-Hop. In my eyes, OutKast effectively "broke up" after the release of Idlewild [film-soundtrack] around 2006 and they've just been fucking with us all these years since, making empty promises of a long-delayed new album. That was most likely the original post-Speakerboxxx/Love Below plan: Big Boi solo album, followed by an André 3000 record, and then finally, an album full of new OutKast tunes. Now, Big Boi has whole-heartedly kept his promise unleashing Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Sir Lucious Left Foot, and Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors back-to-back since about 2005! Meanwhile, André 3000 has kept busy doing pretty much everything BUT rapping... cartoon shows, selling Gillette razors, acting roles, random left-field remixes, etc. But André 3000 was in fact featured on "Royal Flush" (2008), which Jive/LaFace Records subsequently had removed from Sir Lucious Left Foot due to conflicting contractual agreements.


Looks like Odd Future's resident R&B crooner, Frank Ocean managed to facilitate a pseudo-OutKast reunion to kick 2013 A.D. off with a BANG! André 3000 originally appeared on "Pink Matter" from Ocean's critically-acclaimed debut from last year, channel ORANGE. I guess both André 3000 & Big Boi were supposed to appear on the track outta the gates, but "Dre didn't want an OutKast record coming out on anybody [else's] LP." It seems that after hearing his old pal's apologetic verse on that new T.I. track, "Sorry," Big Boi finally came around and started penning an appended verse. Now, just nearly 2 short weeks later, we have "Pink Matter" (OutKast Remix), which Big Boi uploaded to his Soundcloud page over the weekend. While it isn't really the proper OutKast reunion die-hard fans have been patently waiting to hear ... Big Boi & André 3000 sound pretty great rapping back-to-back, juxtaposed against John Mayer's[?] Funky guitar lick! I kinda feel like OutKast's repeatedly "shelved" seventh studio album is either never going to be released or just appear outta the blue one day; So, stay tuned and keep your eyes/ears peeled, my friends!