The triumphant return of OutKast

Image: OutKast

2014's big musical event is undoubtedly Kate Bush getting back on a stage to perform. The ethereal chanteuse, absent from live music for a criminally overlong 35 years, sold out the dates for her residency that started yesterday at the Hammersmith Apollo in 15 minutes earlier this year, the reviews filtering through suggesting that it's every bit worth the wait.

She isn't the only leftfield genius making a come back this year, with hip hop's oddball couple OutKast taking to stages to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of debut album Southernplayalisticcadalicmuzik, following a hiatus not quite as long but for many equally as missed. 

The duo have been busy of course, Big Boi's solo rap career touching similar heights to his work within the group, and Andre 3000 toing and froing between looking utterly convincing as Jimi Hendrix in the forthcoming biopic Jimi: All By My Side (above), and keeping his hip hop credentials high with a flurry of brilliant guest verses.

It was one of those, on T.I.'s 'Sorry' in 2012, which first hinted at a reunion between them, Andre apologising for "f*ckin up all the tours". The next twelve months saw more and whispers finally become concrete, with the start of this year seeing the revelation that they'd go on a 40 date festival tour, our very own Wireless and Bestival included.

Looking at the reasons why they remain feted, it’s hard to overstate the impact of the group not only in hip hop but in the wider reaches of music as a whole. Since that debut emerged, painting them as typically mellowed out Gangster rappers backed by live instrumentation just as much as samples, they've been on an ever expanding trope of self-discovery and artistic evolution, pushing further and further away from hip hop's stylistic conventions with each recording. 

Two years later they hit the jackpot with ATLiens, a masterpiece of smokey beats and rhymes interpolating gospel and dub, but it was 1998’s Aquemini (stream it above on Spotify) that really started the ball rolling in terms of their scintillating ability to rewrite the hip hop rulebook.

Exploding the sonic convention of the genre and subject matter, it's a release that remains one of hip hop's most creative works, and one lauded by rock critics just as heavily as the hip hop vanguard.

It had controversy in the shape of civil rights legend Rosa Parks suing for defamity over the track that bore her name (despite the group insisting it was a tribute), a stellar set of guests that included legendary New York rappers Nas and Raekwon alongside P-Funk talisman George Clinton, and a five mic rating in hip hop bible The Source – back at a time when that accolade meant something.

Those three albums would be enough to carve them a sizeable place in hip hop history, but the turn of the century saw Outkast taking a different route by entering into the realm of pop. 2000's Stankonia might have had incendiary rap in the shape of 'Gasoline Dreams' and 'Xplosion', and the club banger 'B.O.B', but it was the silky smooth radio vibes of 'So Fresh and So Clean' and, in particular, 'MS Jackson', that would open them to a wider audience.

This wasn't identikit R&B with rapping over obvious samples either, 'MS Jackson' explored the difficult relationship between Grandmothers and erstwhile fathers in a beautifully simple way, and sample wise flipped Robert Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus' - utter genius in light of the song's subject matter.

Two years later though and they went into the stratosphere. The double album Love Below / Speakerboxxx fanned the flames of their creative split, with two solo efforts (featuring each other nevertheless) coming together as the definitive Outkast LP.

Big Boi kept the hip hop backbone on his effort Speakerboxx, boasting the brilliantly catchy groove 'The Way You Move' and guest slots from hip-hop heavyweights Ludacris, Lil' Jon and Jay-Z. Andre took the opportunity to bore even further into the weird with The Love Below.

Eschewing rap almost altogether on his effort, he indulged his funk and experimental rock alter ego, as well as wrapping it all up in a dreamy pop lacquer. 'Roses', with it's deliriously fun refrain the flowers "really smell like poo poo", is one of the most gorgeous records to grace the charts this century.

Then there's 'Hey Ya'. Everything about the track, from it's upbeat Motown aping live instrumentation, infectious chorus, and the brilliant Beatles parodying video (above) exuded pop class. It even managed to give dated Photograph company Polaroid a much needed shot up the arm, and you could quite legitimately claim it's the finest song since we kissed goodbye to the nineties.

2006's patchy but still likable Idlewild followed, but it's those breathtaking quintet of releases which has earmarked the group as one of the most illustrious and influential of their generation, their style in particular opening up the genre to new realms.  

Whilst Kanye West and now Drake are credited with showing male hip hop can be in touch with its feminine side and be fashion icons beyond standard ghetto clichés, Andre 3000 was way ahead of the curve. He was rocking sarongs at award shows in 1998 and showcasing an eloquent and articulate rapping style that went well beyond the thugged out stereotypes that engulfed the genre at the time. 

That style though is never better evidenced by that morphing and mutating back catalogue, the group always one step ahead of the rest. Their live shows this year have been warmly received after a slow start, with the live backing which makes their music so much more human gifting (check out their appearance at Hangout Festival below).

It's fitting then that they'll make their UK swansong for 2014 (and perhaps for ever) at Bestival in early September, a festival thoroughly wrapped up in the same magic, charm and mystique that underpins the group themselves.

They'll be bringing that stardust to the festival's main stage on Friday 5th September, and we feel you'll be hard pressed to find a better moment, Kate in Hammersmith aside, in music this year.

A limited number of tickets are still available for Bestival; head here for more details.

Like this? Try Bestival 2014 Spotify playlist.

Tickets are no longer available for this event