Friday, September 3, 2010
VIDEO / randomania Will Big Boi's 'You Ain't No DJ' get spins?
Posted by Rodney Carmichael @Rappin_Rodney on Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Someone told me this song actually got some play on Atlanta radio (whether it was V [103] or Hot [107.9], I'm not sure) the other day. I almost swallowed my tongue.
Never thought we'd make it through the entire summer without Big getting a true mainstream embrace. But here we are at the second official single. It's produced by Andre 3000 and features Yelawolf. The video is aight, definitely made on a shoestring budget compared to "Shutterbugg."
Could it be the same thing that kept Big on everyone's mind over the past few years was a double-edged sword? The Sir Lucious Leftfoot album leaks, viral videos and resulting blog love probably went a long way in helping him ink the deal with Def Jam after Jive jumped ship. But maybe all that exposure made it hard to create new energy for the project once it was officially released?
Don't mind me. I'm just thinking out loud — and making unnecessary excuses for Def Jam's lack of promotion. A label's promotional push is usually based on its sales expectations for the release. And it's possible that the industry just doesn't have as much faith in an OutKast-associated product without Andre 3000's vocals attached. Of course, Jive Records guaranteed that outcome by contractually blocking him from appearing on the album. Sasha Frere-Jones made good points about it — specifically the lowered expectations resulting from Andre's absence — in his New Yorker feature on Big Boi last month. (He also said Big's Speakerboxx was a better album than Dre's The Love Below, which is like saying you prefer McCartney over John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.)
Whatever the reason for the slag (sucky promotions? sucky corporate radio? over-the-hill hop? clueless industry/DJs?) it's another prime example of Southern rap being ignored and, well, outcast. But this time, it seems that the industry's new definition of Southern rap (i.e. Gucci-Waka-Travis Porter — you know, the Atlanta cats who actually get radio play these days) could be the culprit.
The real irony here is that Big's song "You Ain't No DJ" actually takes contemporary DJs (and hip-hop?) to task for perpetrating the funk.
Hook:
"Yo DJ ain't no DJ he just make them fuckin' mixtapes
Where dey at, where dey at, where dey at, where dey at....
Yo DJ ain't no DJ he just hit that instant replay
There dey go, there dey go, there dey go, there dey go....
But the only fault is that he sorta keeps that critique to the hook, while he and Yelawolf's verses veer off into a fun and unleashed, but off-topic, lyrical mosh. Whereas a verse from Andre on the same song would've — if true to OutKast form — gone in on the perpetrators.
At least then radio would've had a real reason to turn a deaf ear.
Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
"You Aint No DJ" definitely isn't one of the album's best tracks, but SLLSoCD is a pretty good album. It's a damn shame that diligent promotion of an established artist took a backseat to some very shitty music.
like
dislike
this song is not good, and yelawolf could rap but his lyrics don't impact me, and 3000 use to write for bigboi, so to me he should not be on his own. now if 3ooo came out next week he would go platinum in a week. and jojo peligreeno, or machine gun kelley, or asher roth have real lyrical content, back to yela, he's good, but i wont buy his album, period
STRAIGHT UP! BIG BOI CAN'T STAND ALONE, HIS ALBUM SALES ARE TERRIBLE, LET'S BE HONEST, HE NEEDS DRE AND 3000 KNOWS THIS, BUT BIGBOI ON THAT FLY STYLE AND DRE IS SOAKING UP ALL KINDS OF INFO LIKE 2PAC. BIG DIFFERENCE, AND DRE WOULD NEVER GET ON A TRACK WITH YELAWOLF! AND THIS SONG IS NOT MARKETABLE BECAUSE EVERYBODY WHO GOTTA PLAY IT MAKES MIX TAPES. AND AS FAR AS YELA, HE COULD RAP REALLY GOOD, BUT SO CAN EVERYBODY ELSE, THE LYRICS DON'T CATCH ME. AND I PERSONALLY KNOW YELA AND I DONT THINK HE HAS THE HEART AND HE WEARS HIS EMOTIONS ON HIS SHOULDERS WHICH WILL ALLOW HIM TO NOT FOCUS ON A TRACK. I'LL BE PATIENT FOR 3000 OR A OUTKAST ALBUM.
@mcbrains:
Big Boi's album is a damn classic and everyone knows it. Even with limited promotion, he's still managed to sell 150k-- and this is during a time where everyone downloads music and ALL artists are having a hard time breaking 100k (except for people like Eminem and Drake, who have long since bent over for the record companies).
Also, why do you care so much about this that you're commenting up on some random news article? Big's already addressed people like you in his verse in Hollywood Divorce:
"Just ain't the same gang of nerds on the internet
Slandering your name behind that screen name,
They're lame and their life is pretty plain"
Thing is though, this album is for true Outkast fans, and you obviously aren't one of those. Outkast is a duo. Both parts have made the name what it is today. If you can't appreciate the art that Big Boi is dishing out to quench his fans' thirsts, then stfu and go elsewhere.
I agree w/ mc brains, this album is not all that great,no substance. He needs 3000 to create a balance that can truly make what he is all about!
and I'll go there and say that 3000 needs Big Boi just as bad in order to make what he is all about too!
neither can't stand alone, real talk.
the other songs i've heard off this album are outstanding, but this track is forgettable.
oh. almost forgot - real talk.
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