Big Boi: the OutKast rapper behind The Way You Move | Ultimate Hip Hop Reunion

Why fans still care

BIG BOI is the rapper who kept OutKast’s feet on Atlanta’s streets while the duo pushed hip hop somewhere new. He has two Hot 100 No. 1s with the group, a share of a Grammy for Album of the Year and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early years

Antwan André Patton was born in Savannah, Georgia, on 1 February 1975, according to Encyclopedia.com. He went to Tri-Cities, a performing arts school in East Point near Atlanta. There André Benjamin, later Andre 3000, Who’s Who number 27, became his close friend.

The breakthrough

He was 16 when he and Andre rapped for the production team Organized Noize, home of the Dungeon studio, as he told the Bullseye podcast. L.A. Reid’s LaFace Records signed the duo, and on Bullseye he confirmed that their first single, “Player’s Ball”, was first on a Christmas compilation.

Career chapters

1. 1994Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
2. 1996ATLiens
3. 2000Stankonia
4. 2001“Ms. Jackson” tops the Hot 100
5. 2003Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
6. 2004“The Way You Move” reaches No. 1, and Album of the Year
7. 2025Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with OutKast

The LaFace years 1994 to 2001

OutKast made Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, ATLiens, Aquemini and Stankonia for LaFace, working first with Organized Noize. The duo later owned Stankonia Studios in Atlanta, where Stankonia was made.

At the Grammys in February 2002, Stankonia won Best Rap Album and “Ms. Jackson” won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. “Ms. Jackson” topped the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart of 17 February 2001, as Billboard and Stereogum both record.

Speakerboxxx 2003

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was a double album, with each member taking one half. Big Boi’s half was Speakerboxxx. “The Way You Move”, with a hook sung by Sleepy Brown, took over at No. 1 from Andre’s “Hey Ya!”, as Grammy.com and Songfacts both tell it, and Billboard dates its week at No. 1 to the chart of 14 February 2004. The album won Album of the Year in 2004, and the RIAA certified it 13x Platinum in September 2023, as the RIAA and iHeart both report.

Solo and beyond

His solo albums include Sir Lucious Left Foot (2010) and Boomiverse (2017), where his old mentor Ray Murray of Organized Noize made beats. He also ran the Purple Ribbon label, and Killer Mike was part of that circle.

Craft, sound and the studio

Lyrical surgery

He told Grammy.com he calls his writing “lyrical surgery”. He sits with a beat for days, writing and recording line by line. The Ringer reports that he writes on extra-long yellow legal pads, noting in the margins the time of day he started and stopped writing each verse.

Hitting the pocket

“Ray is the guy who taught me how to hit pockets in rap,” he told XXL, crediting Ray Murray.

Two halves, one group

By the Speakerboxxx sessions he and Andre were largely working apart. The Stankonia engineer John Frye told Sound On Sound they still came together to critique each other’s music. Big Boi summed up the partnership simply to Okayplayer: “We’re equally matched.”

Stories people still tell

1. The Christmas song.

   “Player’s Ball” started as a track for a holiday compilation, then became the duo’s first hit.

2. Swapping places at the top.

   “The Way You Move” ended the long run of his partner’s “Hey Ya!” at No. 1, so OutKast replaced themselves at the top of the chart.

Legacy

OutKast entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 8 November 2025 in Los Angeles, with Donald Glover giving the tribute. Killer Mike made his recorded debut with OutKast, and Big Boi told XXL, “Killer Mike, I’m so proud of him.”