Released October 3, 2000 Recorded 2000 | Format 12"
CD Genre Alternative hip hop | |
B-side "Sole Sunday"
"Elevators (Me & You)" Length 4:30 (album version)
4:03 (radio edit) | ||
"Ms. Jackson" is a song by American alternative hip hop duo OutKast. It was released on October 3, 2000, as the second single from their fourth album, Stankonia. It topped the US charts, and won a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. It also reached number one in Germany and number two in the United Kingdom, held from the top spot by Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again". In October 2011, NME placed it at number 81 on its list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" and in June of the same year Rolling Stone ranked it at number 55 in their "100 Best Songs of the 2000s".
Contents
The single helped sell the album following the commercial underperformance of the lead single "B.O.B.", which, despite nearly universal acclaim from critics, failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 and only reached number 69 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Background and writing
In Vibe, a few years after the fact, Andre recalled creating the song; "'Ms. Jackson' was an acoustic guitar song that I was doing at home. Then I just converted it over into something people could understand a little bit more." The song was inspired, in part, by Andre's relationship with Erykah Badu and her mother.
Content
The song discusses the problems that break-ups, separation, and divorce can have on a couple, and the animosity that a woman's mother can have for her daughter's former boyfriend or husband.
The lyrics are a message to the mother of singer Erykah Badu. Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin), one of the rappers in the group, had a child with Badu out of wedlock named Seven Sirius Benjamin. He wanted Badu's mother to hear his side of the story, as he felt he was being portrayed as a bad father. He felt Badu kept him away from their child on purpose.
The video works as a possible metaphor for the duo's "stormy" relationships with the mothers of their children and their families (themes expressed by the duo in the song). The storm theme is alluded to in the song, particularly by André 3000: "Me and your daughter, got this thang going on/You say it's puppy love, we say it's full grown/Hope that we feel this, feel this way forever/You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather..."
The song samples The Brothers Johnson's version (with pitch shifting and reversing) of "Strawberry Letter 23" by Shuggie Otis and features an altered version of a tune from "Bridal Chorus" from the opera Lohengrin by German composer Richard Wagner (also known as the "wedding march"), played on piano.
Track listing
- "Ms. Jackson" (UK Radio Edit) – 3:36
- "Elevators (Me & You)" – 4:56
- "Ms. Jackson" (Video) – 4:58
- "Ms. Jackson" (Radio Mix) – 4:03
- "Ms. Jackson" (Instrumental) – 4:34
- "Sole Sunday" (Radio Mix) - 4:41
- "Sole Sunday" (Instrumental) - 4:41
- "Ms. Jackson" (Radio Mix) – 4:03
- "Ms. Jackson" (Instrumental) – 4:34