Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture: The True Story of Oukast's 'Hey Ya!'

In 2003, It is fair to say that rap duo Outkast were at a bit of a creative crossroads.

Their 2000 album Stankonia had people rethinking what hip hop music could be - with songs such as B.O.B., Ms. Jackson, and So Fresh, So Clean winning them Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album.

“Ms. Jackson”; their Billboard hot 100 hit from Stankonia was a sultry, tongue in cheek affair that gave the duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi a rare trifecta of accolades in pop culture: Hip Hop Cred, Mainstream Pop Appeal and Hipster Acknowledgement all at once.

But Andre 3000 was looking for new avenues to express himself creatively, and moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles to begin his acting career.

When acting didn't work out, Andre 3000 envisioned a new kind of project- a solo project, one influenced by, but also completely different than the Outkast records before it - a pop record, a jazz record, a funk record all in one; A record and a concept that would come to be known as “The Love Below” 

Originally written as Andre 3000 and his guitar, and inspired more by bands like The Ramones, The Hives and The Smiths than by what was going on in hip hop; Hey Ya! Was part of the grander cinematic vision of The Love Below and the complexities and frustration with modern relationship dynamics. Or, as Andre 3000 would day in the song: 

"Don't want to meet your daddy, just want you in my Caddy."

This is the true story of Outkast's Smash Hit 'Hey Ya' with newly unearthed audio from Andre 3000 in 2003.

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