#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

In the early '90s, Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown came together in Wade's mother's basement, or what would become known as "The Dungeon." Thus, Organized Noize was born, the subterranean energy of "The Dungeon" became baked into their unique brand of southern sauce.

In the course of their illustrious 25 year career, Organized Noize produced TLC's "Waterfalls," Ludacris's “Saturday," and all of Goodie Mob's seminal album Soul Food. (NBD.) But today we're focusing on their vital work with Andre 3000 and Big Boi.

Click through the gallery to revisit 10 classic Organized Noize X Outkast collaborations. To learn more about Organized Noise, check out the 2016 Netflix documentary The Art of Organized Noize.

Crumblin Erb

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Crumblin Erb" | Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

"There's only so much time left in this crazy world," Sleepy Brown sings on the hook of Outkast's "Crumblin Erb." "I'm just crumblin' erb, I'm just crumblin' erb." It's a sentiment that other artists have echoed countless times, but never so agreeably -- due in part to the timeless Isaac Hayes flip executed by Organized Noise.

Players Ball

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Player's Ball" | Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

The seed for "Player's Ball" sprouted when LaFace Records boss L.A. Reid asked that Outkast make a Christmas song. Rico Wade, as told by Complex:

I told OutKast, 'We gotta do a Christmas, song but we'll just talk about what we don't do on Christmas, or what it means to us.' And while we were in the studio working on it, I had to go meet Ray at another session, cause he was working on a song for this group called The Drip Drop.

I went over to the studio and I heard the beat he was doing. We took that beat and took it to the studio and turned it up. We ended up using that for 'Players Ball.' There were samples at the beginning, and we were like, 'We know we can't clear these samples' so that's when we got Big Rube to talk on the beginning. But that song ended up jumping off OutKast's career.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" | Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

Organized Noize produced SPCM in its entirety. Here's what that said about the album during a 2015 interview with NPR:

And I give credit to Dr. Dre and what they used to do with the NWA albums, as far as putting together a certain commercial breaks that split up the songs to kind of make you stop and take it in for a moment, appreciate the record. That's why I think that we always show a lot of love to Dre cause he really was, really is, a great organizer or orchestrator of music. And visuals. That was very important to Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to kind of make the little breaks in between. They were like — hit me up. Give me the one. We might not explain it deeply but people knew, "Oh those supposed to be some junkies on the street." Or, "That's supposed to be this kind of vibe."

13th Floor/Growing Old

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"13th Floor/Growing Old" | ATLiens

ON on "13th Floor/Growing Old," as told by Complex:

Rico Wade: "We had just done 'Waterfalls' for TLC, so in our mind we were like, 'We want to do something big for OutKast.' So we rented this condo in downtown Atlanta, the Biltmore, and we just kind of worked on some of the songs for that album, and that was one of them that we worked on down there. We got out of the Dungeon and rented that condo because we wanted it to be different when we made that beat. We were listening to a bunch of Sade and stuff at the time. We had Marqueze write the hook for it. But the original hook was the end of 'Growing Old' where it's fading out and we have Andre doing, 'See all them leaves must fall down, growing old…' That was the hook that they originally wrote to it, and we changed it. We wanted that to be a special song."

[ON associate producer] Mr. DJ: "During the making of that whole second album, we just knew… We kind of knew that we were on to something, and that song just made you feel that. So the cut that I was cutting at the end, I was saying, '96 gon' be that year,' cause that was confirmation that it was going down. No one had to tell me to add scratches to it. Everybody had a role in the camp. And it was an unsaid role, you just knew what you did best and what you had to offer—and that was just what it was. It wasn't nobody questioning it, it was no problem with it. When it came to OutKast laying verses in the studio, I was probably like the only person there with them. Most of the time we did verses at Stankonia Studios. In the early days, I stayed in the studio most of the time, even when OutKast were on the road doing something.

"Lyrically, Big's a faster writer than Dre. When Big goes in to do his verses, he takes off all his jewelry. He takes everything off before he goes into the booth, and that's his little ritual before he lays his verses. My assumption was, he did that before making music because it's, 'as you were when you started.' You know? To have that feeling of pureness. You standing there in a booth with all your jewelry on, you kind of lose touch."

Jazzy Belle

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Jazzy Belle" | ATLiens

Funny story: a teenage Ludacris attempted to sneak onto the set of the "Jazzy Belle" music video shoot. He was rebuffed.

Return of the G

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Return of the G" | Aquemini

"Return of the G" gets some of its gravitas from Organized Noise's sample of the theme from "Midnight Express," a film about an American college student who gets locked up in a Turkish jail and attempts to escape. The

Skew it on the Bar-B

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Skew it on the Bar-B" feat. Raekwon | Aquemini

Organized Noise on the genesis of "Skew it on the Bar-B," as told by Complex:

Rico Wade: "One thing really stood out about that song. I remember we had to meet with OutKast to play them some beats for the new album. When Dre showed up, he had Erykah Badu with him because they were dating at the time."

Mr. DJ: "I can remember the times where Erykah was around. She was just like one of the boys. I mean, she was Erykah Badu—but to us she was just family. Even though she didn't dictate the songs, she might've been the influence for some of the lyrics. Her part that she sang on 'Humble Mumble' was all her idea, but she wasn't giving advice to OutKast for like hooks or anything."

Rico: "When Dre and Erykah walked into the studio, Ray turned on the beat and Erykah flipped out… she went crazy. We were all digging the song, but she had to [have] been the loudest one up in there. That's something I'll always remember. That was fly to me."

So Fresh So Clean

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"So Fresh, So Clean" | Stankonia

Rico Wade on "So Fresh, So Clean," as told by Complex:

"Sleepy came by the house one day and sang me a melody. The next morning I was in the shower and came up with a beat for it. 3000 is raw; that's why we fuck with him. But Big, he's tangible…he's touchable. Like Dre, you can't touch him, you can't get to him. With Big, it's almost like he's the people's champ. But what's raw about Dre is, he can turn down a $10 million tour—where Big Boi can't. Him and Dre stand side-by-side. Tide wanted to do a commercial using the song, and then Dre didn't want to be on the song. And I actually respect Dre for not falling for the money. I mean, Big had money, so it wasn't like he was tripping."

Peaches

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Peaches" | Idlewild

Idlewild catches a lot of flak, but there's no denying the flavor Organized Noize packed into "Peaches," a tale about a dysfunctional marriage and the children that it produced. Perhaps due to the retro nature of "Idlewild," the film, "Peaches" sounds like it came from an earlier era than the futuristic, foreboding southern free jazz of the SPCM intro "Peaches."

Fo Yo Sorrows

#TBT: Organized Noize X Outkast Collabs

"Fo Yo Sorrows" feat. George Clinton, Too Short, & Sam Chris | Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Arguably the stankiest song of the '10s. I heard it for the first time when I had just come home after finishing my first year of college. The homie and I had gotten slightly zooted off the purple grape, and we were sitting in the parking lot of the local burger spot. The homie pressed play. In the first 12 seconds, my life changed for the better.