The Best Big Boi Verses

Between his work with OutKast and his solo albums, Big Boi has too much great material to draw on for his best verses.

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What seemed to happen in the post-“International Player’s Anthem” OutKast narrative is that too many critics and observers, while rightfully crowning Andre 3000 as one of the best rappers of his era, started to leave Big Boi out of the discussion as a more than formidable rapper who pulled more than his share of the weight.

Big Boi, however, soldiered on, releasing two critically acclaimed solo albums in 2010 and 2012, and a joint album with Phantogram in 2015. With OutKast largely dormant for over a decade now, and a new Big Boi album, Boomiverse, on the horizon, here is a look at his best verses to date. 

25. OutKast, “Aquemini” (Verse 1)

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Album: Aquemini

Producer: Organized Noize

This verse gets somewhat overshadowed by André’s verse at the end of the song, but it is, in some ways, Big Boi at his core best: boasting by way of unsolicited advice. It’s a short verse that packs a lot of gems, most notably “go get your work in/Keep your beeper chirpin’/That’s a must.”

Aquemini proved to be the great separator—the album where the styles of the two MCs began to diverge, which made for a thrilling ride over the course of the next two albums after this one.

24. Cool Breeze f/ Witchdoctor, Goodie Mob, and Outkast, “Watch for the Hook” (Verse 6)

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Album: East Point’s Greatest Hit

Producer: Organized Noize

In the second great era of rap crew cuts, this one is both undervalued, and one of the best there is. The majority of the Dungeon Family jumps on this track to provide an assist to then up and comer, Cool Breeze, adding to his first single. Here, Big Boi plays fast and loose with rhymes, breaking patterns and leaving a line hanging right before unexpectedly picking up the rhyme where he left it.

23. Big Boi, “The Thickets” (Verse 1)

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Album: Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors

Producer: Big Boi

Big Boi the solo artist, unrestrained by the visions and expectations of OutKast, took a delightfully more experimental route, though his writing and lyrical entry points remained largely the same, over a different soundscape. The highlight here: “Been a handsome a** n***a since my mama wiped my bottom.”

22. Rich Boy f/ Big Boi and Pastor Troy, “And I Love You” (Verse 3)

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Album: Rich Boy

Producer: Mr. DJ

This song, buried underneath the buzz from “Throw Some D’s” on Rich Boy’s formidable debut album, is a song that felt made for Big Boi to come in and wreck, something that would have sounded at home on Speakerboxx. True to form, he comes in to close out the track with sexual wordplay that doesn’t feel uncomfortable or awkward.

21. Youngbloodz f/ Big Boi, “85” (Verse 2)

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Album: Against Da Grain

Producer: Big Boi, Lil Jon

1999, when Big Boi was arguably in a window of his best rapping, he brings this classic rhyme stack to this guest verse: “Stab out to the cajun crab house/Or the Jamaican cat house/Or the college, frat house/For the gul you just, mad house/That rat house.”

20. OutKast, “Da Art of Storytellin’ Part 1” (Verse 1)

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Album: Aquemini

Producer: Organized Noize

Like the title alludes to, this song highlights an underrated trait of Big Boi’s ability: his skill as a narrator. He demonstrates his ability to weave a tale with several characters and moving parts. He is, at least here, more of a Slick Rick disciple than anything else.

19. Trae Tha Truth f/ Lupe Fiasco, Big Boi, Wale, Wiz Khalifa, and MDMA, “I’m On” (Verse 3)

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Album: Street King

Producer: CyFyre

By the time this song was released, late in 2011, Big Boi was an elder statesman of the genre, especially on this song, going toe to toe with some rappers who maybe had him on their dorm room walls. He starts out hot here (“Never letting go, although sometimes I slip/Like banana peels for heels, my spill is so legit”) and never lets up.

18. OutKast, “The Mighty O” (Verse 2)

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Album: Idlewild

Producer: Organized Noize

“Congratulations, I’m a playa/I thought you was too, but now I hear you loud and clear.”

 

17. Janelle Monáe f/ Big Boi, “Tightrope” (Verse 3)

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Album: The ArchAndroid

Producer: Nate Wonder

The art of the rap verse in the R&B or pop song feels like a lost art, at least from the heyday of the late ’90s and early 2000s. And it makes sense—there’s not a lot of space for a rapper to operate and catch a lyrical groove. But here, Big Boi makes great work out of a short amount of time. This verse is somewhat forgotten in the song’s history, but it was vital to pull it all together.

16. The Game f/ Big Boi and E-40, “Speakers on Blast” (Verse 3)

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Album: The R.E.D. Album

Producer: Mars

Though a listener has to get through two somewhat tedious verses by Game to get to Big Boi’s verse, Big Boi shines on a horn-heavy beat that was made for his voice, easily stealing the show on this one, even with a classic E-40 verse to battle.

15. OutKast, “Ain’t No Thang” (Verse 2)

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Album: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

Producer: Organized Noize

Even with André’s classic “It’s André/Can your punk a** come out to play?” line in the first verse, Big Boi outduels him here with “I’m quick to stop a sucker’s flow like menopause,” which is the first and perhaps only time a menopause punchline has worked.

14. Big Boi, “General Patton” (Verse 1)

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Album: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Producer: Jbeatzz

Four years after OutKast released Idlewild, Sir Lucious Left Foot is the great triumph from Big Boi’s career, giving him the critically and commercially lauded solo effort that showed he could stand on his own, outside of the OutKast machinery. “General Patton,” booming and assertive, is a great Big Boi solo song. A statement track, with hardly a bar wasted.

13. Tash f/ B-Real, OutKast, and Phil da Agony, “Smokefest 1999” (Verse 2)

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Album: RapLife

Producer: E-Swift

Tash, formerly of West Coast rap group Tha Alkaholiks, released his first solo album in 1999, and got a heavy assist from Big Boi, who by then was beginning to branch out into guests spots from rappers on the coasts. He shines here on a slow, hazy beat that he slides into comfortably. 

12. Dungeon Family, “Follow the Light” (Verse 1)

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Album: Even In Darkness

Producer: Organized Noize

The Dungeon Family album, Even in Darkness, hasn’t aged well. It’s an album of too many ideas and too many people who are all gifted, but all tripping over each other. This song is a highlight, a song kicked off by a stellar Big Boi verse before it goes off the rails. 

11. Killer Mike f/ Big Boi, “My Chrome” (Verse 3)

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Album: Ghetto Extraordinary

Producer: Mr. DJ

It may be hard to imagine on Killer Mike’s mixtape days now, as he basks in critical acclaim and political relevance. But just under a decade ago, he was getting washed by Big Boi on very Atlanta songs about cars and rims.

10. UGK f/ OutKast, “Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” (Verse 4)

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Album: Underground Kingz

Producer: DJ Paul, Juicy J

A corrective: Big Boi’s “Int’l Players Anthem” verse is actually extremely good. The problem with a song opening with a once-in-a-generation verse is that the rest of the song, even a song as great as this one, feels like a downhill slide. But, at the end, there is Big Boi, offering somewhat shaky advice on marriage and commitment. 

9. OutKast, “Wailin’” (Verse 1)

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Album: ATLiens

Producer: Organized Noize

There’s a part of ATLiens that feels like it descends into true greatness—the run of tracks from “Babylon” until the end. Playing the album from start to finish feels like listening to OutKast shift from very good to nearly perfect. This verse, kicking off the sparse and soulful “Wailin’” finds Big Boi molding the beat to his needs, and riding it smoothly through the verse.

8. Outkast, “Red Velvet’” (Verse 1)

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Album: Stankonia

Producer: Earthtone III

In retrospect, it is commendable to hear how much of Big Boi’s aesthetic still worked, even as OutKast’s sound began to pull away from his perceived comfort zone. Here, he shows his ability to find a home in any sound, in any era of OutKast or beyond.

7. Goodie Mob f/ OutKast, “Black Ice” (Verse 4)

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Album: Still Standing

Producer: Organized Noize

“Boy, don’t beep me/If you ain’t got that work/I’m strictly about these verses/Like the ones you hear at church.”

6. Run the Jewels f/ Big Boi, “Banana Clipper” (Verse 8)

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Album: Run the Jewels

Producer: El-P

The first Run the Jewels album had few guest spots—likely by design—as the duo established themselves and their sound. That makes this guest verse stand out, highlighted by the line, “My bank account obese as fuck while yours sits on a diet.”

5. OutKast, “Snappin’ and Trappin’” (Verse 2)

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Album: Stankonia

Producer: Earthtone III

Summoning vintage LL Cool J, Big Boi raps: “Even loving, lavish, ladies, leaving, landmarks/Of lemon lime lip gloss on your lavender lapels/Leaping lizards, keep me slizzard, my mind’s expanding/Readily rappin’ and snappin, snappin and trappin”

4. Slick Rick f/ OutKast, “Street Talkin’” (Verse 2)

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Album: The Art Of Storytelling

Producer: Jazze Pha

With Slick Rick fresh out of prison, it made sense for him to unite with Big Boi who, as previously mentioned, sits firmly in Rick’s lineage as a rapper invested in storytelling. This great guest verse feels, especially now since it has aged, like a nod to a hero.

 

3. OutKast, “ATLiens” (Verse 1)

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Album: ATLiens

Producer: Organized Noize

It is here where we praise the infamous “Cooler than a polar bear’s toenails/Oh hell /There he go again/Talkin’ that s–” line.

2. Goodie Mob f/ Big Boi and Cool Breeze, “Dirty South” (Verse 2)

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Album: Soul Food

Producer: Organized Noize

In our mainstream introduction to Goodie Mob, Big Boi steals the show, fresh off of OutKast’s triumphant stand at the 1995 Source Awards.

1. Big Boi, “Daddy Fat Sax” (Verse 1)

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Album: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Producer: Mr. DJ

If there is one song to introduce people to Big Boi with, it would be this one, the first proper song off of his first solo album. It does all of the work: serves as an intro to his mission statement as a solo artists, it has all of his boastfulness, his clever wordplay, his triumphant confidence, and his reliance on southern imagery to tie it all together. Never to be underestimated, he is at his most potent here.

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