JG Choice Cut: Big Boi "In The A"

Welcome back friends! This is the post series where my friend from Detroit recommends a song, and I review it! It always turns out great, except for when he recommends a commercial. Remember that one, JG? Remember when you blew it?

Anyway, to make up for it, JG has recommended a Big Boi track, and I genuinely like Big Boi. In fact he's one of the best ever. On the serious. He overcame his kind of dumb name and impressed the world. But even so I would be uncomfortable calling him Big Boi. "Hi, Big Boi!" - nope.

So the song is called "In the A" which is good. I hear they have bad drivers there, and real housewives. Dope. But even thought this track seems to have everything going for it, it also has a couple of big minuses: the FEATURING OF LUDACRIS and T.I.. I know they're from Atlanta and all, but I don't like to hear them rap! And I don't like to see them act. Stay out of my media, assholes.

Maybe this time they will be chill? Can Big Boi save the track (probably)...let's find out...






Oh. Pause at 0:14. I don't like this. Is this song done? I don't want to hear a slowed down old sample. Yikes. Who produced this? Showdown, DJ Aries, & Black Owned C-Bone. Good grief. Who? Black Owned C-Bone? Is that like collar bone? Frowny paint face. In the A in the A in the A in the A in the A.

Who raps that fist verse? I can't tell. This shit is insane, not in a good way. It's like a kid got on the soundboard and turned on all the fucking samples at once. I can tell three or more people produced this shit at the same time.

In the A in the A in the A in the A in the A.
In the A in the A in the A in the A in the A.
In the A in the A in the A in the A in the A.
In the A in the A in the A in the A in the A.

I hope "A" doesn't mean "Ass".

Big Boi has verse two. And guess what: it's dope. Can any beat trip up Big Boi? No. I think Big Boi was like, "Hey DJ Aries! Hey, Black Owned C-Bone! Hey Showdown! Make me the worst beat ever to fuck up whoever I have guest spot." And they were like, "Wait, Big Boi, it'll fuck you up too!". And Big Boi was like "I CAN'T BE FUCKED UP BY A BEAT. MAKE IT THE WORST"...and so they did.

Big Boi killed the beat without even showing up. He just probably rapped in his car on the speakerphone while he ate Taco Bell becasue he doesn't have to worry about it.

T.I. was overwhelmed by the beat. He stepped in front of it confidently and it grabbed him by the brim of his cap and sucked him in, then it shredded him up and he ended up losing an arm or some shit. Amputee shit.

So Ludacris saw all this shit going on, and heard the beat and called his manager and was like "Make Black Owned C-Bone tone down this bullshit ass beat or I'm walking." and it was done. The beat was tamed for Luda, and he was still maimed, but not as bad.

So that's the true story of how T.I. lost an arm. Only in the A, right?

IN CONCLUSION: What have we learned? 

1. When doing a beat with Big Boi, STOP. Think. Keep a safe distance and evaluate the beat to judge its danger level. Use a long stick to keep trickier parts of the loop away from your most vulnerable body parts.

2. Do NOT follow Big Boi. You'll sound like shit no matter what.

3. Give yourself plenty of time to lay your verse. Don't rush it or you'll sound like shit.

4. Eat a healthy breakfast and get plenty of sleep before writing your rhymes. Big Boi will make you look like a rookie if you're even a bit off your game.

5. Be prepared to abandon everything you wrote if the flow doesn't match the beat (which it probably won't).

6. Try not to think of how Big Boi killed the beat without even writing anything down. He's a pro. Worry about not sounding like shit on a bad beat.

Done. This song sucked except for Big Boi.

IN THE A SCORE 6/10

Remix Checker: Big Boi "Shutterbugg"

Fresh and Clean. Respect that.


Every single person that I know likes the song "Shutterbugg" by Big Boi. We all know it was a hit song off of his 2010 solo album "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty". My mom even knows that and she's in a home. I'm sure it's the same with you and your family. It's just one of those songs that transcends every boundry gets posted on everyone's playlist. It's universal. And you know what happens whenever a song gets that big, right. REMIXES! I hate remixes (unless they're dope), and I really hate remixes of good songs. So I'm sure that this post will "go negative" as the newspapers say.


But before we go negative and review some Shutterbugg remixes, we should check out the original!




Hahah! Insane. Was that beat inspired by looking into space and then slipping into another dimension? That's likely. Who produced this anyway? Well, that answer is perfect: Big Boi himself (also with Scott Storch - who you might remember as one of those responsible for screwing up Method Man's career - but he redeemed himself with this one a little). Good teamwork guys. Cutty is on there! Who is that? I don't know the singer? Good job singing! I guess. I'm partial to the rapping, which is triple OG status.

So the bottom line is this: THIS SONG IS PERFECT AND IT DOESN'T NEED A REMIX BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT IMPROVE THE ORIGINAL. DONE. End of sentence. Here's a little secret of this track: every element of the song is deceptively simple, and that restraint is what makes the song so good. A good remix of this song will have to be very simple, yet still creative. And remixers are not known for keeping it simple. By nature remixers have no restraint, they shouldn't be layering noise over a good track, nor should they be remixing already good songs. But just because something shouldn't happen, doesn't mean it won't. There are a LOT of really dumb people out there and some of them make remixes. But let's hold back on that judgement for a second and actually hear the remixes first. Right?


"Shutterbugg (Jack Beats Remix)"



Jack Beats should warn you that the music is inspired by LMFAO. Which is a cancer. So this is a terrible version of this track, which went the extra mile and ruined the best part of track: the rapping and substituted in EXTREME BULLSHIT party rock sounds. I'm glad we got the worst remix out of the way early, I strongly doubt that there could be anything worse than this. Next.

"Shutterbug (VibeSquaD remix)"



Who remixed this? VibeSquaD? What was the concept? "YO! Let's not change anything except add some bass, then stutter everything. Add in some slows and whatever. We'll be so cool!"

I like this version better than the last one. But it's a lot like someone screwing with the knobs on an old school radio: turning the bass all the way up, then the treble, balance, fade. Like a kid. A kid who knows how to identify a good song, but then doesn't have any concept of what makes a concept good. You failed VibeSquad, whoever you are. NEXT.

"Foals - Miami (Big Boi - Shutterbug Mix)"



Ah! Our first mash-up! I HATE MASH UPS SO MUCH. This one is no exception. It stinks. The music from The Foals sucks. It doesn't have that refined sound that Big Boi requires on this song, and the chorus sounds the worst on this shit. It's almost like someone was trying to show that Big Boi could sound bad on a terrible beat. Well guess what: Big Boi still sounds good, the Foals sound like shit. NEXT.

"Shutterbug (Mochipet Remix)"



This might be different from everything we've heard so far, but that doesn't mean it's better. In fact it's just as bad. I'll give credit for at least changing up the beat and getting the spirit of the track right. But this is just a noisy mess. Clearly these guys were oblivious to how classy the original is. This isn't classy at all, it's crass. CRASS! Mochipet, you blew it. Next!!!

"Shutterbug (Unlimited Gravity Remix)"



See, this is the problem with remixes. I've only reviewed five versions so far, and three of them are very similar. In fact, they scream "remix". It's like a fucking formula. We get it: ECHOS! Yep! There is nothing surprising at all here. Get fresh nerds. NEXT.

"Shutterbug (Ledoom Remix)''



Here we go AGAIN with the party rock nonsense. It's so formulaic. FUCK IT. Next.

"Shutterbug (Men's Needs Remix) - Big Boi vs The Cribs"



Wow. A mash-up worse than the other one I reviewed. How in the hell do the words "a man's needs" connect with the words "throw the deuce up in the sky for the shutterbug". They don't connect at all. Just like how the music on this song doesn't match up with Big Boi's voice at all. This is another mess. I give up.

IN CONCLUSION: Remixes stink. Mash-ups stink. Big Boi deserves better than what the remix world has to offer.  Actually, we all do. KEEP YOUR REMIXES TO YOURSELF. The scary thing is that this post barely scratches the surface, there are hundreds of remixes of this song and they're all awful. And I'm not even including the ones where some jackass raps an incompetent verse on top of the original. Those are even worse.

Shutterbugg Original Mix Score 10/10
Shutterbugg (Jack Beats Remix) Score 0/10
Shutterbug (VibeSquaD remix) Score 1/10
Foals - Miami (Big Boi - Shutterbug Mix) Score 0/10
Shutterbug (Mochipet Remix) Score 2/10
Shutterbug (Unlimited Gravity Remix) Score 1/10
Shutterbug (Ledoom Remix) Score 0/10
Shutterbug (Men's Needs Remix) - Big Boi vs The Cribs Score 0/10