Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson’s vaunted Bureau of Cultural Affairs was 20 years old in 1994, by the time OutKast dropped the third single from their classic debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik .
The album and the single, “Git Up, Git Out,” were recorded by the Atlanta duo and produced by a collection of kids from the city who grew up attending and performing in city-wide talent shows.
It was the culmination of everything Jackson wanted when the bureau opened in 1974 as an incubator to create, cultivate and nourish all forms of expressive art.
“Maynard was conscious about making sure that arts were supported,” said Camille Love, executive director of what is now the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “As someone who had grown up in an environment where he was well-educated and well-cultured, he felt it made him a better person.”
But the song, considered one of the early classics that helped launch Atlanta’s rap scene by carefully chronicling the city’s pre-Olympics grit and struggles, wasn’t particularly kind to Jackson.