The Story Behind the Lyrics

If you wanted to make an apology and didn’t know how to make one, how would you do it? “Ms. Jackson” is a hit song of a popular group of the 2000s, OutKast. The song details a man apologizing to his ex-girlfriend’s mother. 

The lyrics of the song were written as a message to the mother of Erykah Badu by Andre 3000, one of the members of Outkast. Badu and Andre 3000 dated for a while and ended up having a child together. They eventually broke up, and he wanted Ms. Jackson (her actual name is Kollen Wright) to hear his side of the story and apologize for what went down. Andre 3000 felt he was being portrayed as a bad father and also felt that Badu was keeping him from meeting his baby on purpose. 

Andre further explained in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I probably would never come out and tell Erykah’s mom, ‘I’m sorry for what went down.’ But music gives you the chance to say what you want to say. And her mom loved it. She’s like, ‘Where’s my publishing check?’”
The intro at the beginning of the song was dedicated to her from the line, “This one goes out to all the baby’s mamas’ mamas’. “Ms. Jackson” is underpinned with an entire track that was played back in reverse, giving it an unusual, distorted feel to mesh with the disquieting lyrics. The reverse effect is most prominent in the percussion, especially the congas. The song won a Grammy in 2002 and Outkast performed live with a complete band, backup singers, and a stage full of children playing on a playground. In 2016, Erykah Badu admitted the song hit kind of a sore spot about what went down between them, but she also added, “I didn’t wanna hear that, especially when I heard Big Boi’s verse. When I heard Andre’s verse, I felt very good because his verse was really, really inspiring. He just said how he felt and it was his honest feelings and I always respected that and listened to what he felt and appreciated it.” She also said, “How did my mama feel? Baby, she bought herself a ‘Ms. Jackson’s license plate,’” Badu told Fact magazine. “She had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, everything. That’s who loved it.”