Watch Nu Deco Ensemble rework OutKast songs in a new orchestral suite
Nu Deco Ensemble is a contemporary orchestra who have collaborated with Kimbra, Ben Folds, and more, and interpreted the works of Daft Punk, Nina Simone, Bill Withers, The Police, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and more, and one of their latest endeavors is "Outkast: A Symphonic Portrait," a 20-minute piece featuring reworkings of several OutKast classics.
"What an honor it was to reimagine the music of OutKast," said Nu Deco Ensemble co-founder and creative director Jacomo Bairos. "Simply one of the all time great duos, iconic heroes of hip-hop, Outkast managed to both innovate with styles, lyricism and melodies, but applied and fused the genres of funk, jazz, drum and bass, techno, and even Broadway into a whole new, distinctively original sound. It was so hard to narrow this down, but adding a DJ, a rapper, and having the orchestra groove in ways never done before, in what was our first hip-hop influenced suite, was such a fun ride to take our Miami audiences on. It's so thrilling that we now are able to share this with the world!"
Co-founder and creative director Sam Hyken added, "On the 20th anniversary of their landmark album Stankonia, we are thrilled to share our re-imagining of the eclectic and highly engaging music of OutKast. OutKast pushes and pulls, and at times even steps outside the boundaries of hip-hop which is one of the many reasons we are such fans and that their music has become a key part of our repertoire."
The suite includes versions of "Rosa Parks," "SpottieOttieDopaliscious," "Elevators (Me & You)," "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)," "The Whole World," and more, and it breaks down barriers between hip hop and classical and should appeal to fans of either one. The video of the performance premieres in this post and you can check it out below.
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