What’s your favorite Outkast track?? Have you ever experienced them in concert?
Diehard Outkast fans know that there is only one DJ behind the legendary hip-hop group, and that is DJ Cutmaster Swiff!
I had a long phone chat with Swiff after the Atlanta Outkast concerts and we ended up talking for almost an hour about the who, whats and whys surrounding the 3 day groove fest.
[READ: Outkast #ATLast = 3 Days of ATL Memories + Surprise Performance By Erykah Badu (VIDEO)]
After our phone conversation, I thought it would be cool to sit down with him for a one on one that I could share with my readers.
[Sidebar: Dre?and Big aren’t doing press about the festival tour, so who better to talk to than the man behind the two legends?]
Swiff and I discussed Outkast’s historic ‘reunion’ tour that started back in April with Coachella (click HERE if you missed that), as well as how the ‘ATL Roundup’ segment during Day 3 of #ATLast came about, and his 20 year+ history with the group, which started way before Big & Dre were called ‘Outkast.’
Details + watch ideo of my exclusive one on one with DJ Cutmaster Swiff below…
VIDEO: One on One with DJ Cutmaster Swiff
It started back in Coachella last April.
It was good… 100 thousand people. It was beautiful. I think Dre was kinda nervous but the 2nd week, we worked it out. Everything was good.
Up until ‘ATL Roundup’… Gulf Shores was the best. It seemed like all of Atlanta came to Alabama! The weather was right… the ocean as your backdrop… it was sick!
Swiff on which of the three #ATLast Concert dates was the best:
I gotta say Sunday, because that show was kind of in my hands and the whole ATL Roundup thing was a concept that Dre and I went back & forth with.
[WATCH:?VIDEO: Outkast #ATLast Day #3 (Atlanta Roundup)]
Swiff reveals:
There were so many people that I wanted to have onstage. A couple of people were just committed to doing other things… like the Ludacris’… the T.I.’s and the Jeezys…
But we worked it out. I called all of the other cats…. some of the young cats. Guys that have made great songs over the years that you done forgot about, like Joc, Pastor Troy, Kilo Ali, YoungBloodz, Crowd Pleasers… Smurf!
It was some last minute action going down like Fabo… Fabo was like… I guess maybe he heard about it, but I worked it out. Between me and Greg (Street)… I mean a lot of it was like free styling a little bit, believe it or not.
Cutmaster Swiff on Outkast song selections:
After 20 years of doing shows with Outkast since day 1, and doing shows with Big for the last 9/10 years, you kinda get a feel for what the crowd wants as a majority.
I know it’s some diehard fans that want to hear those b-songs… the humble mumbles, the liberatations… and sometimes we squeeze them in.
Cutmaster Swiff On Erykah Badu’s Surprise performance:
Another thing… like ATL Roundup, that was a VERY last minute call.
There was a discussion about maybe she (Erykah Badu) was coming, but she got stuck in traffic and she wasn’t. Then all of a sudden, in the midst of the show…(she shows up). I was trying to get her to come up there and do a DJ set with us too… that was like a last minute thing to and it worked out. Everybody’s professional. The band knows how the fall into place and of course I know what I’m doing.
Shoutout to DJ Cutmaster Swiff for the one on one! He definitely knows what he’s doing and he’s been doing it for a loooooong time!
DJ Cutmaster Swiff Online:
BTW… if you missed Outkast so far, you still have two more chances to see them perform LIVE:
Las Vegas (Life is Beautiful Tour) – October 24-26, 2014
New Orleans (Voodoo Festival) – October 31- Nov. 2, 2014