The album did have songs that were radio-friendly, most notably “Rosa Parks,” but two of the main reasons that, in my mind, it will always be the Outkast album is the spoken word and trumpet tour de force “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” (7:07) and the socially relevant “Liberation” (8:46) with the help of Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu, and Big Rube. With 1998’s Aquemini, Big Boi and Andre took rap in a fantastically weird direction that no one was prepared for. When it comes down to it, there’s Outkast and then there’s Kanye West.
Again, it’s not completely nonexistent, but it’s a rare feat with only a few popular artists identifiable as repeat, successful offenders. The need to produce this type of song has seemed to fade over the past two decades, especially in the genre of hip-hop. Yes, Michael Jackson and Prince have a treasure trove of classics to choose from, but the presence of a few of those long, highly emotional songs in their respective catalogs is crucial to their overall legacy. To be able to hold an audience’s attention for that amount of time is no easy task, so figuring it out says something about the quality of artist and the product that they’ve produced. If done well, it served as an important way to distinguish themselves from their peers. Looking back on these classics, it almost seems as if each artist understood the legitimization that came with successfully producing a comparatively long piece of work. As time progressed, the R&B/pop ballad became a more welcoming space for long singles, from Prince’s “Purple Rain” (8:41) to Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” (5:18). Curtis Mayfield - “Move On Up” is nine minutes, “(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go” is nearly eight - and most notably, Isaac Hayes - “Walk On By” and “I Stand Accused” both hover around the 12-minute mark - were repeat offenders, with Hayes often not hitting his seduction stride until the 10-minute mark (case in point, “Do Your Thing,” which clocks in at 19:30). But these long tracks haven’t been solely reserved for those with guitars, drums, and vocals. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” clocking it at 8:02, is the classic example of an artist’s seemingly never-ending magnum opus, with The Doors’ “The End” (11:40), Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” (9:10), The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (8:33), CSNY’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (7:28), The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” (6:18), Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (5:56), and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (5:54) also serving as timeless examples.Īll of the above are rock standards - not surprising, since “jamming out” on minute-long instrumental breaks is easier to pull off for a band than for a solo singer or rapper. Yes, purely looking at a song’s number of minutes and seconds can, at times, be daunting (like when Khaled Khaled decides to round up everyone in his Google+ circle for a remix), but sometimes it isn’t, and we get that rare, epic, beautiful song that organically pushes beyond the five-minute mark, frequently with distinct sections that function more like acts in a play than verses in a song. While I don’t see this happening anytime soon (there are just so many bad songs), occasionally a lengthy, multilayered, roller coaster ride of a song comes along that allows us to forget about all the trash. In a perfect world, after we find a way to make sure there are no more bad songs, the void that is left behind is filled with a bunch of great, 7-to-13-minute songs.
Regardless of the genre, it’s one of the better sung songs I’ve heard in quite some time.Īll of these aspects of “Pyramids” are important as far as its staying power, but none of them are what stood out the most. I’m saying this song definitely causes pregnancy. Am I saying this song might cause pregnancy? No. There will be an unusual spike in births in about nine months.
So clever, in fact, that all of the following are referenced, alluded to, or explicitly stated in the lyrics: Cleopatra, Mark Antony, the Pyramids, Samson, Isis, the skin complexion and controversial ancestral history of Egyptians, mummification, the Battle of Actium, Adam and Eve, Ra, The Luxor Las Vegas, pimps, prostitutes, and motel rooms with only VHS players. The singer, occasional rapper, and eldest member of hip-hop angst collective Odd Future (OFWGKTA), Frank Ocean, released a song this past Friday, titled “Pyramids,” from his highly anticipated debut album Channel Orange.