Big Boi, In The A | Bangerz N Bopz 🔥

In the 14^th edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we highlight “In The A” performed by Big Boi featuring T.I. and Ludacris. 

Bring on the bold, fierce songs! Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 serves up background info and insight into songs of various styles, especially songs that raise eyebrows and/or stir the pot.  Featured records can be classic or brand new. In the 14^th edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we break down “In The A” performed by Big Boi.

“I keep it play while some choose to play it safe / Boy, check the resume, it’s risky business in the A / In the A, in the A, in the A, in the A, uh!” WOO! There’s nothing like a hard-hitting, southern rap banger. Big Boi, with the help of some of his Atlanta rap contemporaries, T.I. and Ludacris, drop the potent, five-minute tour de force,  “In The A”. “In the A” appears as the fifth track off Big Boi’s 2012 LP, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.  Fueling the fire of the rappers is malicious, minor-key production courtesy of Showdown, DJ Aries, and Blackowned C-Bone.  Worth noting, “In The A” samples three songs: “Shutterbugg” (by Big Boi himself), “Dr. Gill’s Song” (Chumei Watanabe), and “Be Thankful for What You Got” (William DeVaughn).

With Big Boi setting the tone with a hook for the ages, T.I. takes the reins in the first verse. He delivers no shortage of ear-catching one-liners like “I’m a Bankhead nigga, you can bank that, nigga,” referencing his neighborhood, “I just met my connect, dropped off snow in the bluff,” referencing hustling, and “Blowing presidential, twenty bricks off in the rental 💨.” Following another iteration of the kick ass hook, Big Boi drops the second verse, which like T.I.’s, has no shortage of memorable bars. “King shit, Buckingham Palace 👑, ‘Til I’m bucking on a motherfuckin’ beat goddammit,” he spits early on, setting the tone for his epic verse. Towards the end, he delivers some of his very best raps: “From the birthplace of MLK where everything ain’t okay but KKK / I’m more Malcolm than Martin, come get some, be a target / Standing in the kitchen with the AK, a.k.a, this Georgia!” And finally, Ludacris gets his moment in the third and final verse, not to be overshadowed by his fellow ATL contemporaries. “And I love chicks with ass, so it arch like St. Louis / Who’s it? Got chicks hugging my nuts like a Speedo / ‘Cause when I’m on the mic, I go for broke like T.O..” Worth noting, the jam-packed “In The A” concludes with a unique, spoken word outro courtesy of pastor James David Manning, criticizing the kids (“If practice makes perfect, why do you just specialize in fun things / And not in the things that require effort, commitment and sacrifice?”)!

🎙 Big Boi • 💿 Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors • 🏷 The Island Def Jam Music Group • 📅 2012

Big Boi, In The A: Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 14 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; The Island Def Jam Music Group; cottonbro studio, Harry Shelton, Kool Shooters, Lucas Pazeta, Mavluda Tashbaeva, Teddy Yang, Wesley Souza from Pexels]