Photo: Cam Kirk
Big Boi has been extremely busy cooking up some special concoctions lately.
One of those delectable creations arrived earlier this month. The Atlanta native recently teamed up with Papa Johns to create the pizza chain's theme song for its "Better Get You Some" campaign following the launch of its new, limited-time offerings, the Crispy Cuppy ‘Roni. Lucious Left Foot whipped up the jingle inside "the place where allll funky tha'ngs come from" Stankonia Studios. The bass-heavy, dubstep-type instrumental allows Big Boi to rap about the "ooey-gooey, crispy, crunchy, mouth-watering" items from PJ's menu, which come to life in its vivid, extraterrestrial visuals.
His recent pizza-inspired jingle is just an appetizer for what he's got coming up in 2024. The seasoned MC is set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of OutKast's debut LP Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik this week. Big Boi and André 3000's first studio album was released on April 26, 1994 with songs like the title track, "Player's Ball" and "Git Up, Git Out" featuring Goodie Mob. The album was produced by the late Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown a.k.a Organized Noize. Wade unexpectedly passed away just two weeks shy of the album's anniversary.
Nearly 30 years after OutKast dropped their debut album, Big Boi finds himself fully invested in two upcoming projects. He's currently working with electronic rock duo Phantogram on a second Big Grams album. The 49-year-old rapper is also putting together his next solo album. He previously released his joint album with Sleepy Brown Big Sleepover in 2021, but it's been seven years since he dropped his last solo album Boomiverse.
During our conversation, Big Boi opens up about his partnership with Papa John's, his upcoming tour with Trombone Shorty and sheds light on everything else he's got in the works.
iHR: Let’s just get right into it, man. How did it feel when Papa Johns contacted you to make the jingle for the Better Get You Some campaign?
Big Boi: I was honored, man. Being that Papa Johns is headquartered in Atlanta and they wanted some of this Atlanta sauce — the real Atlanta, that true Atlanta sauce. You know we gonna kill everything we partner up with and I think it turned out beautifully.
What were some of the musical inspirations that inspired this jingle?
They sent the beat over with the visuals and it was mesmerizing. I mean, it was hypnotizing in a way, almost like the alarm was going off. Once it kept just was showing all the references to the pizza and the cartoons and the people and how cool it looked with the video games. It was just a hodgepodge of creations that made you want pizza after you watch.
Hey, I want pizza right now. What's your favorite Papa Johns item?
I'm a basic type of guy. I like a cheese with extra cheese, with bell Peppers and onions. I make sure to get my daily veggies.
I feel like hip-hop culture has been a lot more integrated into modern day advertisement a lot more over the past few years. What are your thoughts on that?
Hip-Hop is the language of the youth and of the future. So it crosses all genres, all races and it's fun. For artists out there to have brands that they've been working on for decades that are polished and pristine, I think these corporations find it useful to kind of tap into those audiences to get some of those eyes, ears and mouths on the product.
I know you’re an entrepreneur outside of music and Papa Johns. What else are you're involved in nowadays?
Oh yeah man of course. I’m doing real estate. I’ve been in real estate for a while. I got a couple of key properties on Airbnb right now that are very special — one being The Dungeon House where OutKast first started out. I renovated it and made it like a dream escape for die-hard fans. It’s been up for a couple of years now. It’s crazy. Then my home from “MTV Cribs” where I had the shark tank and the pole and the boom boom room, that’s up and it’s called “Big Boi’s Funhouse” and it’s been booked, booked, booked!
Of course, I’m in Stankonia studios right now. I've been doing some renovations to the studio, just got a brand new SSL board in my A room so we got the best room in the southeast, working on new music with Phantogram and about to go on tour with Trombone Shorty. The new Big Grams album coming. New Phantogram album. New Big Boi album and I'll be on tour with Trombone Shorty this summer.
Wow you said a lot there. I know you’ve been working with Phantogram for a minute. How's that album coming along?
It's all new, man. We don't recreate. We refresh the page so it’s definitely gonna be banging. It’s gonna be funky. We're just trying to just tap into uncharted territory, man. What we've been working on so far has been great.
You also said Big Boi album coming soon. You recently dropped the joint album with Sleepy Brown. Can we expect to hear more collaborations with him on this album?
Of course. Yeah, I'm gonna have a sprinkle of Brown on there and I'm bringing some new characters too — some fresh voices. I like to always try to work with people who I haven't worked with so far.
Who would you want to work with that you haven't worked with so far?
The only person right now would be Sade or Anita Baker. I done worked with everybody, man.
I know man. Honestly just imagining a Big Boi-Sade collaboration is mind-blowing to me right now. I really hope you get that done for this album.
We gon’ see. We gon’ see.
You also mentioned that you going on tour. What can fans expect from those shows?
With me, it's high end. It's high impact energy, man. Just make sure you stretch before you come to the show ‘cause it's gonna be a lot of 808’s. You gon’ wanna jump. You gonna wanna bounce around. You wanna do a little bit of everything. It's all high vibrational music man and I'm looking forward to it. We just gonna tear it down.