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A poem by Shel Silverstein, chronicling the giggly travels of the eponymous Tom.

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Atlanta, Georgia natives André “André 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton are OutKast, one of the most successful rap groups of all time. Along with the production crew Organized Noize and the Dungeon Family collective, André and Big Boi helped popularize and expand the sound of rap in the “Dirty South.”

The duo connected at Tri-Cities High School, and after the names “2 Shades Deep” or “The Misfits” didn’t work out, they went with OutKast as a synonym of “misfit.” They signed to LaFace Records in 1992 prior to finishing high school and their first official appearance came on a remix to TLC’s hit single “What About Your Friends.” This led into their debut single “Player’s Ball” being released in 1993 and their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik following in 1994. They had a pivotal moment early in their career as they were named New Artist of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards, leading them to be booed by the New York crowd and André responding with his iconic statement: “The South got somethin' to say.”

Their next two albums, ATLiens (1996) and Aquemini (1998), have sparked debates as to which album is superior. ATLiens saw the duo begin to produce their own music and increase their profile, while Aquemini received a perfect “5 Mic” rating from The Source magazine. Their next album, Stankonia (2000), further solidified their superstar status with the hit singles “B.O.B.,” “So Fresh, So Clean” and “Ms. Jackson,” which won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, while Stankonia won a Grammy in the Best Rap Album category.

The group’s biggest commercial success was the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the “solo” albums from Big Boi and André 3000, respectively. The release was certified diamond with over 10 million sales and won the Album of the Year Grammy Award in 2004. Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx was led by the R&B funk hit “The Way You Move”, while André’s The Love Below was led by the pop-rock hit “Hey Ya” and also featured Big Boi on the single “Roses.”

In 2006, the group released an underwhelming movie musical and soundtrack, Idlewild, and they have yet to release a project together since. While Dré is essentially semi-retired aside from a handful of attention-stealing features over the years, Big Boi has released several solo albums, including Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010), Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors (2012), and Boomiverse (2017), as well as Big Sleepover, his 2021 collaborative album with Sleepy Brown. The duo made headlines when they reunited at Coachella 2014 and continued to play festivals across the world for the remainder of the summer in celebration of the 20th year since the release of their debut album.

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“Just the Two of Us” is the fourth single from Will Smith’s debut solo album, Big Willie Style. The rap song was inspired by Bill Withers' and Grover Washington, Jr.’s love song of the same title; Smith’s version samples and incorporates lyrics from the original. Instead of love between a couple, this song focuses on the relationship between a father and son.

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At the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon which was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, an Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, comprising an Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon’s last. The defeat at Waterloo ended his rule as Emperor of the French, marking the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.

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In the Men In Black series, the eponymous MiBs fight the forces of intergalactic evil, and do their best to keep the human race safe while in their trademark black outfits.

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Will Smith’s ode to one of the many party capitals of the world, Miami. In early 1999, it reached #17 in the US, #3 in the UK and made the top 40 in several other countries.

One of the song’s producers told GQ that Nas was a ghostwriter on the track, but in the same article Nas denies this.

This song heavily samples “And The Beat Goes On” by The Whispers.

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In Ya'meen, with Fat Joe and Styles P, Johnny Blaze speculated,

And, if life’s a bitch, then I bet she bitter and cold"

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No track is safe with the combination of Killer Mike’s aggressive flow straight from the ATL and the lyrical backflips and dense production by Brooklyn son and underground legend El-P.

The duo were first acquainted on Mike’s fully El produced and critically-acclaimed 2012 LP, R.A.P. Music. The two came together in 2013 to release an outstanding self-titled album that was widely considered one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the year. The name of the group is from the intro to LL Cool J’s “Cheesy Rat Blues”:

Just throw your hands in the air
And wave ‘em like you just don’t care
Keep 'em there
Yo, run the jewels, run the jewels, run the jewels

One year later in 2014, they launched an even more brutal sequel, Run the Jewels 2. Later that year, El-P got stoned and dared people on Twitter to make a Kickstarter campaign to remix the album. Eventually, the remixed album was named Meow the Jewels (featuring, you guessed it, cat sounds) and it surpassed its goal of $45,100. The money from the campaign went to charity, and they released it for free like their previous albums and even pressed it on vinyl.

In 2016, they returned once again and dropped “A Christmas F@cking Miracle” with Run the Jewels 3. This album displays Mike & El still dropping all of those crazy verses and dope rhymes as expected, but the third instalment is much more personal and touches on politics.

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David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is an infamous 1970s New York City serial killer who killed six people and wounded several others. His crimes became legendary because of the bizarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for committing the attacks.

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