Big Boi – The Studio March 16, 2018

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Atlanta rapper Big Boi is a busy boy these days. When he is not touring the world performing songs from his illustrious career, a career that included being part of the most successful rap duo in history Outkast, he is running a bulldog breeding business Pitfall Kennels.

With a career outside of rap, one could then question why Big Boi needs to come all the way down to Aotearoa seven years after he last made the trip. Well, the answer, was in the performance he put on at the Studio last night, a performance which had the audience reliving the glory days of Outkast.

The Auckland stop formed part of Big Boi’s Boomiverse tour, a tour showcasing his latest studio album from last year, as well songs from the rest of his solo career, and, of course, Outkast classics. I must confess I have not followed Big Boi’s solo career closely, but as a huge Outkast fan was very excited to see how he would do on some of the classic’s, especially without his friend and collaborator Andre 3000. Thankfully though he was joined by unofficial Outkast member and Organized Noize producer Sleepy Brown who provided backing vocals and filled in on Andre’s parts.

Dressed in a camo jacket and wearing a gold chain and shades, Big Boi and Sleepy took to the stage at 10.45 and from the get-go proceeded to take the jam-packed audience through hit after hit beginning with a medley containing ATLiens, and Aquemini classic’s Skew It on the Bar-B and Rosa Parks. Instantly it came to my attention how underrated Big Boi is as a rapper and how for so long he has lived in the shadow of Andre 3000 one of the undisputed greatest rappers of all time. The ease of his flow and how strongly he articulates the lyrics, often at breath-taking speed was a feature throughout the whole night, proving that Big Boi cannot be overlooked when you are talking best rappers.

Despite Andre 3000’s absence, Sleepy Brown did an excellent job filling in both as a hype man and as someone for Big Boi to lean on. Having sung and rapped on most of Outkast’s album’s, Sleepy new his job and did a more than adequate one throughout the night, even providing lead vocals on The Way You Move and SpottieOttieDopaliscious. It is a sure sign when a performer is constantly having to use a towel to wipe away sweat that they are throwing everything into their performance, and that was Sleepy Brown last night.

The only criticisms for me from the show was that there could have been more Outkast tunes in the setlist. I know that is being picky given this is a Big Boi show, not an Outkast show, but you could feel the energy drop in the crowd when Big Boi played tracks from his new album Boomiverse. However, when he kicked into tracks such as Miss Jackson, So Fresh, So Clean, and B.O.B. he had the whole crowd up and energized, singing along to every word like it was the year 2000 again. That was the difference between this being a great show and an amazing show, with every Outkast classic followed by a handful of okayish Big Boi solo tracks.

Then there was the eternal problem when it comes to gigs at the Studio, the sound. I had never been to a full show at the Studio but had heard rumours that the sound was usually bad. Last night confirmed that, unfortunately, and could have ruined what was a great gig by a rap legend. Thankfully, though Big Boi and Sleepy Brown’s stage presence, energy, and raw talent overcame the sound issue to the point that it became just a minor irritant. Despite this, in this day and age, you would think by now this venue would have sorted their sound system because it was obviously not up to scratch.

All up though, it was a terrific show and Big Boi delivered, for the most part, a perfect set full of spectacular energy and rap skill to a crowd that was very much up for it and in raptures at the chance to see a living rap legend. Big Boi also showed he can survive on his own without Andre 3000 and if anything, going solo has helped him showcase his skill more as an MC, a skill which should be marvelled at and applauded. Outkast was always two people and if last night’s performance was anything to go by there were always two truly great rappers in that group.

Sam Smith

 

 

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