Jacksonin the fall of 2000, the world was stunned.
Nobody had ever heard a hip-hop song that sounded anything like this.
But theres never been anybody like OutKast before.
Andre 3000 and Big Boi at the The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000.Rick Diamond/WireImage
It comes in at Number 145 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The first single from Stankonia was B.O.B.
(Bombs Over Baghdad), a radically inventive Afro-futuristic behemoth that proved too much for radio to take.
exploded out of the speakers with elements of gospel, rock, and drum-and-bass beats.
For many fans, it still remains the peak of their jam-packed catalog.
But it was too revolutionary to make it on the radio.
This time, the radio couldnt resist.
Ms. Jackson sounded daringly confessional, with Andre 3000 sending a song out to all the babymamas mamas mamas.
He addressed his real-life broken romance with Erykah Badu, and his strained relationship with her mother.
Im sorry, Ms. Jackson, I am for real, he sings to his exs mama.
Never meant to make your daughter cry / I apologize a trillion times.
Andre was going for deep soul, writing the song on acoustic guitar before bringing in the beats.
Ms. Jackson was so vulnerable and open, it made everything else on the radio sound a little half-hearted.
Big Boi comes in with a very different perspective on breaking up and moving on.
The groove comes from a Seventies funk classic, Strawberry Letter 23 by the Brothers Johnson.
Everybody loved this song even the real-life inspiration.
How did my mama feel?
Badu said on theRap Radarpodcast.
Baby, she bought herself a Ms. Jackson license plate.
She had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, everything.
Thats who loved it.
Its our celebration of the greatest songs ever made and a breakdown of what makes them so great.
