The world knows him as Big Boi – Antwan André Patton – one-half of multi-platinum, six-time Grammy Award-winning supergroup OutKast, whose albums and singles have sold over 25-times platinum in the U.S. alone. Now make way for SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT: THE SON OF CHICO DUSTY, Big Boi’s first stand-alone solo album, nearly four years in the making and finally set to arrive July 6th on Def Jam Recordings. 10 days later, Big Boi joins the lineup at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park, over the July 16-18th weekend.
Big Boi is already back in the picture with his Def Jam debut, “Shutterbug” featuring Cutty, produced by Scott Storch, the lead single from SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT. Last week, The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog elaborated on a few other tracks: “… the melodic ‘Turn Me On,’ produced by long-time OutKast collaborators, Organized Noize… the widely bootlegged ‘“Tangerine’ featuring T.I…. And the Lil Jon-produced ‘Hustle Blood’… complete with Jamie Foxx singing the hook.”
Big Boi’s signing to the Island Def Jam Music Group marks a reunion with the label’s Chairman, Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid, as officially announced throughout the media last week. “L.A. knows what time it is since I was a teeny bopper, so when I first started working on the record I talked to L.A.,” Big Boi told Billboard.com, referring to Mr. Reid’s near 20-year association with OutKast. The duo signed their first record deal with Mr. Reid, and his Atlanta-based LaFace Records, the label he founded with Babyface. He has been in OutKast’s corner since the creation of their first album, 1994’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, which was recorded when Big Boi was still a teenager.
“Working with Big Boi again is exciting and poignant for me on so many levels,” said Island Def Jam chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid. “This is an artist I signed when he was just 17 years old. Not only has he gone on to Grammy-winning and diamond-selling success with Outkast – an accomplished career few artists can boast – but he has remained one of the most creative talents in hip-hop today. His incredible solo debut proves how vital his music is to this culture. I’m proud to be back together with Big Boi.”
A decade later in 2003, OutKast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, their 5th studio album, a landmark double-CD containing solo albums by Big Boi and his partner André 3000, respectively. One of the biggest-selling hip-hop albums in history – 11-times platinum in the U.S., over 15 million worldwide – the album generated three Grammys (including Best Rap Album and Album Of the Year) and spun off two life-changing #1 hit singles, André 3000’s “Hey Ya!” and Big Boi’s “The Way You Move” (with Sleepy Brown).
SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT is essentially Big Boi’s first stand-alone solo album project since Speakerboxxx. As reported by New York magazine, “he started working on his solo album on Martin Luther King Day … three years ago.” Now the wait is over – and SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT walks amongst us!
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