‘I'm sorry Ms. Jackson (ooh!), I am for real…’
It was the song that put Outkast on the map with its poignant but damn catchy lyrics about the break-up of a couple. During the chorus, the man in the relationship addresses his ex’s mother, saying: ‘Never meant to make your daughter cry, I apologize a trillion times.’
The song was inspired in part by band member Andre's relationship with singer Erykah Badu and her mother. Andre and Erykah had a child together in the 90s named Seven Sirius Benjamin, who is now 19. They broke up in 1999 and Ms. Jackson came out the following year.
The hit single was released 16 years ago and earlier this week, Erykah spoke about how she and her mother felt about the song.
Speaking with podcast Rap Radar, Erykah was asked for her reaction when she heard the song and answered: ‘I was working on Mama’s Gun [one of her singles] at the time when [exec producer] James [Poyser]’s boys busted in saying, “have you heard Ms. Jackson yet??”
‘They started playing it and it kind of hit a sore spot. I didn’t wanna hear that. But when I heard Andre’s verse, I felt very good, because it was really inspiring, that “Me and your daughter, got a special thing going on…” He just told how he felt and it was his honest feelings and I respected that. I appreciated it.’
She then went onto how her ‘mama’ felt: ‘Baby, she bought her a Ms. Jackson license plate, she had the mug, she had the the ink pen, she had the headband, everything. Just loved it.’
So there you go - everybody loved it!
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