Top 100 Favorite Songs of the 2000's (Part XVI)

Hi everybody,

Well, it's about that time again. Time for me to take up some space on the interwebs and bring you my favorite songs of this past decade. Ninety-seven have gone down so far; three to go, with each getting its own entry. Hope you've enjoyed the list -- not to say everyone will agree with everything, but I think it's an interesting project nonetheless.

And here we go with today's post:


3. OutKast, "Ms. Jackson" [2000]

Me and your daughter/Got a special thing goin' on/You say it's puppy love/We say it's full grown

In 1997, singer Erykah Badu gave birth to Seven Sirius Benjamin, her son with OutKast's Andre 3000. The couple's subsequent breakup, which resulted in a somewhat fractured upbringing for the toddler, provided the inspiration for "Ms. Jackson," which first appeared on OutKast's now-legendary 2000 album Stankonia. A few points that should be made clear right off the bat: number one, "Ms. Jackson" is rivaled by few rap songs in terms of its crossover appeal through the years. And number two, without any further qualification to this statement, it is truly one of the most creative and distinctive singles in the entire history of recorded popular music. Period.

On OutKast's previous album, 1998's Aquemini, the song "Rosa Parks" had garnered national attention for its reference to factual events (as in, "ah ha, hush that fuss, everybody move to the back of the bus") and its obvious name-dropping, which led to a lawsuit against the group's record company by Parks herself. For "Ms. Jackson," Andre and Big Boi decided to keep their allusions a bit more veiled -- though anyone who followed celebrity gossip back in 2000 knew exactly what the song was about. I'll admit that I didn't know the subject matter until about three years later; I thought it had something to do with Janet Jackson, who in an early single once asked men to refer to her as "Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty." Indeed, how naive and silly I was.

Built both rhythmically and melodically around a modification of Wagner's "Bridal Chorus," the chorus of "Ms. Jackson" is directed at Badu's mother, apologizing for the transgressions of the breakup and its consequences on Seven's childhood. This hook contains a Michael Jackson-like "Hooo!" and the line "I am for real" in falsetto, surrounded by two conventionally-sung phrases. All three lines of the chorus are instantly memorable, and together they might be the most well-constructed hook of the decade.

The verses feature some fantastic rapping, with of course the wonderful one-liners that Andre and Big Boi have become famous for as songwriters. These include: "Let her know her grandchild is a baby, and not a paycheck," "Yes, I will be present on the first day of school and graduation," and the priceless "Cheating, beating, in the end to the G they be the same thing." Of course (and forgive me if I go all James Lipton on you here for a minute, folks), the most oft-repeated line outside of the chorus has become an irreplaceable American colloquialism, a la The Sandlot: "Forever? Forever ever? Forever ever?"

There is really not that much more to say about "Ms. Jackson." It is without question the most entertaining rap song of the 2000's, and even though OutKast hasn't majorly impacted the music world for nearly six years now, their legacy is secure because of songs like this. Proving that in many cases, true stories make the best songs, Andre 3000's baby mama's mama makes "Ms. Jackson" a once-in-a-lifetime track.


Tomorrow -- and I promise I'll get to it earlier on in the day -- song #2. (Not to be confused with the hockey-arena staple, "Song 2" by Blur, which came out in 1997.) It's from the same year as this one, and the album from which the song comes has already produced another entry on this list. Any thoughts?

-- pl