The first question I ask guests for my Outkasted Conversations project is how they became Outkasted (a fan of Outkast). I�ve been Outkasted since 1998. But it wasn�t until this past Sunday at Counterpoint Music Festival that I was Outkasted for real: I finally got to see them perform live on a rainy Sunday night in Georgia.

It was worth the wait and the rain claiming my curls.

I saw my favorite group with my favorite husband who serenaded me with �Prototype� and winked at me throughout �International Players Anthem,� the first song that played as we were introduced to the world as Mr. and Mrs. Bradley. For the record, I STILL blush whenever Mr. Bradley winks at me AND when folks call me Mrs. Bradley.

But I digress.

You are not reading this post to hear me gush over my prototype status or why Outkast is the secret weapon for a successful marriage. You�re here for some nerdy thoughts on Outkast�s Counterpoint performance.

�It�s good to be back in the dirty:� Home site and Collective Memory
Outkast at Coachella 2014
There was a lot of love at Counterpoint. I�d wager most of the folks at Counterpoint Sunday were there for Outkast. Them boys needed a bit of love: the lukewarm response to their first performance at Coachella still loomed among questions of whether or not they still had the ability to move the crowd. Counterpoint was ready to show Outkast some appreciation: leading up to the performance one could hear snatches of Outkast choruses and lyrics across the grounds. Outkast shirts, A-town fitted hats, and hoodies (some with sandals and socks) hinted at the Outkasted ones convening for fellowship. �Hootie Hoo� was akin to a call to worship. People who may have been strangers previous to spontaneous exchanges of Outkast lyrics became folk. Blunts and Black and Mild cigars passed through the crowd like collection plates.

Counterpoint�s audience edges out Coachella in this regard: the gathering was not largely comprised of radio single fans or those with little familiarity with the group�s catalogue: these were (southern) FOLK. The collective memory of memorized verses only hinted at a larger collective memory of southernness and existence that very few understand if you ain�t from here. Folk are ride or die, culturally knowledgeable, and possess a sensibility that makes them that much more in tuned with the marginalized story being told. Counterpoint was very much a call-and-response to Andre�s emphatic �the South got something to say� back in 1995: Counterpoint proved the south is still listening.

Much like Outkast used their music to establish a home site for displaced southern hip hop listeners twenty years ago, Counterpoint symbolized Outkast�s return to a space of familiarity with little explanation needed to comprehend their point of reference. �It�s good to be back in the dirty,� the duo quipped after a turnt-up performance of �B.O.B.� Their performance indicated comfort (possibly relief) being back amongst the folk: �Stank talk� between them (a mix of country slang, fast talking, and chortles of laughter) and a smiling and engaged Andre 3000 indicated the group�s understanding that they were home.

The giving and reciprocation of love during Outkast�s Counterpoint performance made me think about the connection between love, home, and memory and the need to mobilize these elements of one�s identity to function. How much different would Outkast�s Coachella performance be if there were more folk and love for them at their set?

The Funky Black Boxxx: Outkast�s Presentation of Time and Memory
In a larger academic piece I�m working on I argue about the significance of time and memory in Outkast�s body of work. Because Outkast established themselves as a counterpoint to a northeastern and west coast urban definition of hip hop, they existed outside of a cultural spectrum that did not recognize the overlap of time and experience that dictates southern identity. Their use of time refreshes itself via the construction of imaginary communities like Atlantis (ATLiens) and Stankonia or their use of personal memory to construct a space of social-cultural critique i.e. �Claimin� True,� or �Git Up Git Out� from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.

For this post, I�m interested in the role time plays in staging Outkast�s live performance. Their sensitivity to temporality and space takes center stage (literally and figuratively) in the form of a prominent see-through black box on stage. The large box, four large screens for visual effect, subverts multiple definitions of a black box: the black box as an epicenter of memory, the collection of information to establish one�s trajectory, and the push back against �boxing in� scripts of race and gender as seen in larger society and hip hop.

A particularly striking use of the box in this capacity is how the black box helped the group �stage� women�s bodies as they aligned with the music: from a hologram of a bare breasted woman walking across the box to placing the box between a large display of a woman�s open legs to pun a woman�s vagina as a �hot box.�

Further, the minimal use of props � with the exception of Big Boi�s Aunt Renee�s kitchen table and a Headland and Delowe street sign � suggests Outkast�s mastery of timelessness while sustaining a grasp of the current moment. The black box on stage make Outkast�s personal and cultural memories physically tangible. The memories-as-markers of Outkast�s trajectory to superstardom are kept in the black box: their struggle to find their voices and retain a connection to their roots (like Aunt Renee�s kitchen table) are protected and showcased onstage using this box.

If I could go to the remaining 37 Outkast performances (anyone got a hookup?) I would love to watch the organic development of their stage presence and performance. If Big Boi and Andre 3000�s performance this past Sunday night in G-A is ANY indication of the wells of genius that still exist in Outkast�s funky minds, the world ain�t ready.