the battle's just begun

This is from Outkast's 1994 album ATLiens, the title track of which has that line, "now throw your hands in the air/and wave 'em like you just don't care" which would get stuck in my 9 year old mind all day. Not that I was a major fan of Outkast at 9, I probably couldn't have told you whose song it was then. 11 years later, it's still a great song, but lately I have been paying more attention to the rest of the album. "Babylon" is an interesting song both musically and lyrically. The lyrics deal with conflicts and contradictions implicit in acting on lust and living faithful to God. The title itself is a reference to the city of the bible where sex was part of the pagan worship there. As much as the topic of sex comes up in hip hop, the amount of self-examination in this song is much less frequent. The music itself is reflective of this same spiritual introspection, with a chant like loop for the verse and a gospel chorus for the hook inbetween dark beats and shimmering hi-hat.

Outkast - Babylon