Featuring Dr. Joycelyn Wilson | Shot & edited by Shawn Craig
Filmed on location at Stankonia Recording Studios in Atlanta, October 2020
On Oct. 31, 2000, OutKast, the dynamic duo André 3000 and Big Boi, released its 4th album “Stankonia.” Dr. Joycelyn Wilson, and most Southern hip hop afficionados would agree that this was OutKast’s “magnum opus,” in a series of albums that began in 1994 with the release of their debut “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik”. In this episode of her series “The Hip Hop Snob,” Dr. Wilson, assistant professor of hip-hop studies and digital media at the Georgia Institute of Technology, addresses what “Stankonia” is and what this album reveals about the politically-charged, culture-shifting times we are experiencing.
Dr. Wilson made this master class for the Bitter Southerner tracing the impact of “Stankonia” over the past two decades. And, if you have no idea what we are talking about you can remedy that by watching this series, listening to the “Stankonia” album, and mind-traveling to the center of “the Stank”, 7 light-years below sea level.
You can watch the full 20-minute master class here,
or enjoy it in three parts below:
Part 1
Explores “Stankonia’s” origins, what makes this album so important to the South and the world, and a deep dive into the song “Gasoline Dreams.”
Part 2
Dr. Wilson discusses her personal favorite, “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).” (Fun fact: she's waving her hands in the air like she just don’t care on minute 2:55 of the official B.O.B. music video.)
Part 3
Dr. Wilson examines “Humble Mumble,” which may be a not-so-subtle critique of institutionalized racism.
Joycelyn Wilson is a hip hop expert, integrated curriculum designer, digital producer, and essayist. She is an assistant professor of hip hop studies and digital media in the Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech. Dr. Wilson has studied the impact of the American South on hip hop culture for two decades across public and academic platforms. She is in the final stages of "The OUTKAST Imagination," her first book with the University of Georgia Press. You can learn more about her at www.drjoyce.net and her digital media research at www.fourfourbeatproject.org. Follow on Twitter and Instagram @iamdrjoycelyn
