Take a musical journey with me, as this series reveals the soundtrack of my life. Up first. ‘Player’s Ball’ by Outkast.

The music we listen to has the ability to permeate our very existence, especially in our youth. We absorb music in a way that we do few other things. I can remember the lyrics of entire songs from my youth, while I have trouble remembering my own cell phone number!

First up in the Soundtracks… series is ‘Player’s Ball’ by Outkast. This track stands out to me for several reasons. First off, this was the first time I was privy to hearing dudes from the southeast flat out spittin’! These two guys from ATL were nice…and they sounded like the dudes I talked to in my everyday life. As much as the song was just dope, it stood as a representation that the south was no longer just about booty music and bass music in the mainstream of Hip Hop. Until this point, the major Hip Hop influences I knew of were from New York and L.A. But, to see cats wearing Braves hats and jerseys, spittin’ with a southern twang was a major thing to me.

In addition to the comforting lyrics from Big Boi and Dre’, the soulful beat (which became a staple of Organized Noize) was absolutely on point. From the second I heard Rico Wade say, “Lowriders, ’77 Sevilles, El Dawgs. Nothing but them ‘Lacs. All the players, all the hustlers. I’m talking bout a black man heaven here”, IT WAS ON!!! This was definitely a sign of things to come!

Player’s Ball served notice to the Hip Hop world that the South was something to be reckoned with in this industry. To be blunt, “Player’s Ball’ changed the way I looked at and listened to music. This song changed my life in 1994!

Check out the classic video and lyrics of “Player’s Ball” below:

[Intro: Rico Wade]
Man, the scene was so thick
Lowriders, ’77 Sevilles, El Dawgs
Nothing but them ‘Lacs
All the players, all the hustlers
I’m talking bout a black man heaven here, nahmsayin, yeah

[Verse 1: Andre 3000]
It’s beginning to look a lot like, what? Follow my every step
Take notes on how I crept, I’s bout to go in depth
This is the way I creep my season, here’s my ghetto rep
I kept, to say the least no, no it can’t cease
So I begin to piece my two and two together
Gots no snowy weather, have to find something to do better bet
I said subtract, so shut up that, nonsense about some silent night
I gots it crunk, if it ain’t real, ain’t right
I’m like no matter what the season
Forever chill with Smith
I sip my fifth, I chill with Wesson, got my reasons
So tell me what did you expect
You thought I’d break my neck, to help y’all deck the halls
Oh naw, I got other means of celebrating
I’m getting blizzard at HoJo, I got that hoochie waiting
I made it through another year can’t ask for nothing much more
It’s OutKast for the books I thought you knew so now you know
Let’s go
[Hook : Sleepy Brown]
All the players came from far and wide
Wearing afros and braids, kicking them gangsta rides
Now I’m here to tell you there’s a better day
When the player’s ball is happening, all day ery’day

[Verse 2: Big Boi]
Halle-lu-jah, halle-lu-jah
Y’know I do some things more different than I used to
‘Cause I’m a player, doing what the players do
The package store was closed, okay my day is ruined
This is ridiculous, I’m getting serious, I’m getting curious
‘Cause the house is smelling stank, the chitlins old as bitches
I made no wishes cause I’m mobbing folk niggas in the back
Getting tipsy off the nog and high as hell off the contact smoke
They having a smoke out in my back seat
They passing herb rewinding verses ’cause it’s in the air
I hit the parks, I hit the cuts, I’m hitting switches
‘Cause I’m switching from side to side looking for hoes and snitches
I’m wide open on the freeway, my pager broke my vibe
‘Cause a junkie is a junkie three-sixty-five
It’s just another day of work to me the spirit just ain’t in me
Grab my pistol and my ounce see what them junkies gotta give me
‘Cause it’s like that, yeah
Forever pimpin’, never slippin’, that’s how it is

[Hook: Sleepy Brown]
All the players came from far and wide
Wearing afros and braids, kicking them gangsta rides
Now I’m here to tell you there’s a better day
When the player’s ball is happening, all day ery’day

[Verse 3: Big Boi]
Ain’t no chimneys in the ghetto so I won’t be hanging my socks on no chimney
I’m fit as a tick, fix me a plate, I got the remedy
Some greens and that ham, not
Don’t need no ham hocks, don’t play me like I’m smoking rocks
I got the munchies, we got the Mary Jane in the Dungeon
Just to let you niggas know in ’93, that’s how we coming
So ho ho hoes, check my king-ass ‘fro
The gin and juice has got me tipsy so, um…

[Verse 4: André 3000]
It goes, give me ten, and I’ll serve you then, now we bend
The corner in my Cadillac
My heart does not go pitty-pat for no rat
I’m leaning back, my elbow’s out the window
Coke, rum and indo fills my body, where’s the party?
We roll deep, we dip to Underground, see a lot of hoes around
I spit my game while waiting countdown
A five, fo’, a three, two, here comes the one
A new year has begun, P-Funk, spark another one..

[Hook: Sleepy Brown]
All the players came from far and wide
Wearing afros and braids, kicking them gangsta rides
Now I’m here to tell you there’s a better day
When the player’s ball is happening, all day ery’day

[Outro: Peaches]
Here’s a little something for the players out there hustling
Getting down for theirs
From East Point, College Park, Decatur, Da ‘Briar
You know, niggas worldwide
Down, for theirs

[Hook: Sleepy Brown]
All the players came from far and wide
Wearing afros and braids, kicking them gangsta rides
Now I’m here to tell you there’s a better day
When the player’s ball is happening, all day ery’day