Erykah Badu doubts that she's the muse behind 2000 OutKast classic "Ms. Jackson." She joked, however, that the song could be referring to her mother, Kolleen Gipson.
The song was mentioned during the Wednesday (Oct. 22) episode of the New York Times podcast, Popcast. Around the 30-minute mark of the episode, co-host Joe Coscarelli asked about Badu's "role as a muse."
The neo-soul vocalist has three children among former partners André 3000, The D.O.C., and Jay Electronica.
"So much great hip-hop has been made about you, including OutKast’s 'Ms. Jackson,'" Coscarelli offered.
"I don’t think 'Ms. Jackson' was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it," Badu replied.
But Badu jokingly said that the song could have been intended for mother, Gipson.
"Well, she thinks it was about her. She’s got the bumper sticker and the airbrush T-shirt," she joked, adding that the shirt reads "Sorry, Ms. Jackson."
The chorus to "Ms. Jackson" finds Andre singing, "I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh/I am for real/Never meant to make your daughter cry/I apologized a trillion times."
Badu and Three Stacks welcomed their son, Seven Sirius Benjamin, in 1997. The co-parents broke up two years later, although they've collaborated on songs like "Humble Mumble" and "Hello."
Badu eventually explained that she has inspired "many things" and has shared the "same path" with the fathers of her children.
"Any person that I’ve come in contact with—specifically the fathers of my amazing children—I think that they were on that already. That’s why we sympathetically vibrated together," she said.
Badu gave Three Stacks props during her visit on Drink Champs last month, choosing the rapper over Black Thought of The Roots.
"Black Thought, you know I got love," Badu said. "But I think I may be one of Andre 3000's biggest fans outside of being family. Super inspiring."
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