Nathaniel Lyrics

A real-life collect call from the bing features inmate and OutKast crony "Nathaniel" rapping a pungent, a cappella verse about the ills and ironies of doing time: "They treat you like a motherfuckin' slave/Dope fiends find Jesus, swear they saved." A perfect set-up for the next song, "Liberation." Andre 3000: "Nathaniel" had gotten locked up for a little trouble. It was Big Boi's idea to put him on the album, and half the time I had a cousin or somebody that was in jail [too] so we knew it would resonate with a lot of people. You look at these albums as time capsules, so when people go back and listen to them they can hear what you were going through. He was going through some trouble and he called Big Boi. Big recorded it [and] he put it down. Mr. DJ: He went to Banneker High School with me. He was in jail for DUI, I think. He might've been in boot camp. Nathaniel: I was in both, shawty. The idea really came from UGK's "Ridin' Dirty," when buddy's talking from jail. They really wanted me to do something like that. But see, I was trying to be a rapper, so I put a rap to it instead of just talking. I did it in one night. I talked to Big on Sunday, and I came back and called him collect on Monday and history was made.