Walking through the Atlanta office/studios of Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon Productions it was no surprise to see the case full of Grammy, BET, and seemingly every other music biz award an outstanding artist can win. Especially since Outkast’s seminal Speakerbox hit the airwaves, Andre 3000 and Big Boi seem to be charting a similar path to the Beatles.

What did suprise us was an old photo of the pair working on an Analog 24•8Bus and a MPC60 drum machine. These were the basic tools the wildly talented pair made magic with which made them rich and famous and caused VIBE magazine to opine in their July issue Outkast is the most important act in HipHop history. The Deke concurs and from a gear perspective it feels great to have been even a microscopic part of that.

The Deke is sad though. Fans ended up caring a lot more about the durability of the Beatles than John, Paul, George and Ringo did. If the level of brilliant original music collabaration and act longevity the Fab 4 established is any guide, Outkast could be a too short lovely memory. Hope not.