[Current Issue]

 Front Page
Campus News
A & E
Sports
Opinions
Q & A...
NC Sees U
Letters
Sound Off

 Archives

 Staff
Ad Rates
Contact us

NCCU Year
in Pictures

NCCU home

Outkast wows audience with their soulful music and real life stories at concert.

Despite sound problems and tensions between house technicians and artist management, multi-platinum rap group Outkast performed to a crowd of over 2000 at Carmichael Auditorium.    

The Nov. 12 concert capped UNC-Chapel Hill’s homecoming weekend celebration.

Chapel Hill rap collective Tyfu tried to begin the concert, but it was marked with problems. After 10 minutes of call-and-response chanting, a disappointed Tyfu left the stage due to faulty sound equipment.

“We couldn’t hear our music or our microphones in the stage monitors,” explained Lovejoy, a member of Tyfu.  “I’m sorry we couldn’t perform for our fans.”

At the end of Tyfu’s shortened performance, a DJ played music to keep the  crowd’s attention.  Then Sankofa, another Chapel Hill hip-hop band,  tried to rejuvenate the listless audience.

Throughout their performance, Sankofa kept the crowd moving and chanting along to their energetic hooks.  

UNC student Corey Bell  provided comic relief as he danced with Sankofa frontman Stefan Greenlee, and tossed T-shirts into the audience.

After a 30-minute set, the group left the stage and made way for Outkast.

Opening with the guitar-driven “Gasoline Dreams,” Outkast attacked the stage with unbridled intensity.  

Composed of rappers Big Boi and Andre 3000, the group exchanged rapid-fire verses with remarkable timing and chemistry.     Bouncing off of each other like a hip-hop version of Abbott and Costello, the duo wowed the audience with classics such as 

ATLiens,”“Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,” and “So Fresh, So Clean” from their latest release Stankonia.  

The audience rapped each song word for word and sang along. At several points in the show, Outkast talked openly and built a rapport with the audience.  

Big Boi commented briefly on the group’s pending lawsuit against civil rights activist Rosa Parks.  (She is suing the group over the use of her name in their 1998 hit single “Rosa Parks.”)

“We goin’ through this lawsuit thing now, but in no way do we mean any disrespect to that lady,” said Big Boi about Parks.
Later in the show, Andre 3000 paused to tell a story. 

“We all grown in here, so I think I can tell y’all a grown folks story about this girl I know,” he began.  

When the uncertain crowd reacted with silence, he was humorously shocked.

“Damn, y’all looking at me serious as hell!,” he exclaimed.  The crowd  laughed and the duo went into “The Art of Storytellin’,” off their 1998 release Aquemini.

However, things turned sour during the performance by guest rapper Slimm Cutta Calhoun. Big Boi, angry with the poor sound system, tossed a faulty mic into the crowd’s empty seats and disrupted the show. 

The group’s manager took the stage and pleaded with the uneasy audience to give the sound men 5 minutes to correct the mic levels.  

After a brief intermission Outkast returned to the stage and ended the show with “Bombs Over Baghdad,” a frenetic drum and bass track.  

The song’s breakneck pace had the crowd bouncing and pumping their fists in appreciation.    

Despite sound problems, Outkast’s powerful music left the crowd wanting more.