Hey Ya!

Hey Ya! is a very popular song by the Atlanta hip hop duo OutKast, from their 2003 dual-solo release The Love Below/Speakerboxx. There is a lot of popular music that is really forgettable - predictably raunchy or lovesick lyrics, uninteresting instrumentation, whatever else.

Hey Ya! is a little different. When oldies stations are playing our generation's music in 30 years, I think they just might still be playing this song. Mixing hip hop backbeats and sensibilities and with acoustic guitar and rock chord progression, Hey Ya! sounds rather unusual musically. The slightly nonsensical lyrics seem to loosely describe a failing relationship, but eventually it degrades into the usual commands for the audience to dance. This song is also responsible for the phrase "shake it like a Polaroid picture", which you might've heard here or there.

Also interesting - this particular song has no real profanity or inappropriate lyrics. Which is nice, because it shows that while profanity is one thing, it isn't strictly necessary to create a fun and well-loved hip hop anthem (a marked difference from the hard-hitting 50 Cent and other similar artists). Hey Ya! is further proof that one shouldn't write off hip hop as incapable of legitimate musical merit.

Here's the first verse (anything more would constitute more than 33% of the writeup):