Outkast, Elevators (Me & You) | Bangerz N Bopz 🔥

In the 21^st edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we highlight “Elevators (Me & You)” performed by ATL rap duo, Outkast. 

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 21^st edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we break down “Elevators (Me & You)” performed by Outkast.

“One for the money, yes sir, two for the show / A couple of years ago on Headland and Delowe / Was the start of something good.” Indeed, indeed! “Elevators (Me & You)” marks one of the biggest hits by Grammy-winning, Atlanta rap duo, OutKast (André 3000 and Big Boi). It appears on their 1996 sophomore album, ATLiens. ATLiens marks one of several OutKast albums certified multiplatinum by the RIAA.  Focusing on “Elevators (Me & You),” it  reached no. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, good enough for their fifth biggest hit in terms of placement on the pop charts.  The single would ultimately be certified gold the same year it was released – a big deal at the time.  OutKast produced the single themselves, sampling a trio of songs: “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, “Black Country Woman” by Led Zeppelin, and “Please Let Me Stay” by The Joneses.

Simply put, André and Big Boi were on autopilot on “Elevators (Me & You).” 3000 kicks things off with a bang (hence those Perkins sampled lyrics), telling us about the beginnings of OutKast (“Writing rhymes, tryna find our spot off in that light / Light off in that spot, knowing that we could rock”). Big Boi follows up with an equally sick second verse, spitting, “Putting the South up on the map was like Little Rock to banging,” adding, “‘OutKast, yeah, them niggas, they making big noise’ / Over a million sold to this day; niggas, they take it lightly.” Of course, OutKast has far surpassed a million since then! Big Boi delivers a second verse (verse three), where he famously spits, “We moving on up in the world like elevators / Me and the crew, we pimps like ’82.” Likewise, André 3000 drops a second verse – the fourth and final one to be precise.  “I live by the beat like you live check-to-check / If it don’t move your feet, then, I don’t eat, so we like neck-to-neck,” he colorfully raps, adding, “Yes, we done come along way like them slim-ass cigarettes / From Virginia, this ain’t gon’ stop, se we just gon’ continue.” Beyond the honest bars, the centerpiece of this banger is the tuneful chorus, which shines against the distinct instrumental:

“Me and you

Your mama and your cousin, too

Rolling down the strip on Vogues

Coming up, slamming Cadillac doors.”

“Elevators (Me & You)” is nothing short of a hip-hop classic.

Outkast // ATLiens // Arista // 1996

Outkast, Elevators (Me & You): Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 21 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Arista; cottonbro studio, Harry Shelton, Kool Shooters, Lucas Pazeta, Mavluda Tashbaeva, Teddy Yang, Wesley Souza from Pexels]