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This is the lead single from OutKast’s 1998 Aquemini. “Rosa Parks” may not have been the duo’s most successful single, but it established OutKast’s legitimacy as pioneers of Southern hip-hop.
On 1 December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger. This incident is said to be one of the catalysts of the Civil Right Movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s.
Rosa Parks' legal team filed a lawsuit against OutKast and LaFace Records in a court case later known as Rosa Parks vs LaFace Records, but ultimately lost the case. Years later in 2005, the year Parks passed away, her family addressed the controversial lawsuit:
"I know, dementia or not, my Auntie would never, ever go to this length to hurt some young artists trying to make it in the world … As a family, our fear is that during her last days Auntie Rosa will be surrounded by strangers trying to make money off of her name."
André provided some insight into the creation of the song:
"I actually submitted that beat to Total – ‘cause I was going with Keisha from Total around that time – but they couldn’t use it, so we ended up using it."
Big Boi added:
"I took the beat home and I remember I was in my bedroom, and I was like, ‘I got the hook!’ I was playing the music loud as hell and I was just singing the hook: ‘Aah-haah, hush that fuss!’ Like, that’s it, we need to lay it down."
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