In the Private Investigator section of my home library, I find no PIs anywhere who will admit. All confidence which is not absolute and entire is dangerous. PIS AND TRUE LIES. Now we come to the gray area—the hiring of a private investigator (PI). The shades of gray vary from light to just a millimeter above inky black.

There’s a record on the album you made on the day after the presidential election. Is it a political record? No, it was just me blowing off some steam.

[ Laughs] It was the day after the election, the world was sad. I was still happy because I was alive and breathing, and just blessed to have my family in the middle of this record.

It’s just like one thing can’t control the other. The working title was 'The Day After the Election' and it ended up being the intro to the album. It just starts off with some good ol’ fashion rap.

Are there going to be other messages on the album? It’s sprinkled throughout. We touch on everything [like] the madness that is police brutality but you gotta listen to the record because if you know anything about any OutKast records or any records that we do, you gotta decode [it] like hieroglyphics sometimes. That’s why you don’t put it right there.

The listener can go back and now, they are still discovering things that we said or different sounds or whatever from different songs in ATLiens, Aquemini, Stankonia, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. It’s like an Easter egg hunt. Some things are forefront, right in your face.

Some things are kind of subtle. But we touching on everything -- from relationships to police brutality to partying too hard, women’s rights, life. Did you record most of the album at Stankonia Studios? It was a 60-40 between Stankonia and we went to record in L.A. For like a week. Like every other month, we’d go out to L.A.

Just to change the scenery and to change the vibe. And they got the best collard greens, broccoli, and trees in the U.S. Of A so we had to switch it up.

Our smoker’s taste buds yearning for something else. Do you like creating in those environments that are familiar to you? Actually, I’m not really partial to it. I’m comfortable in my space, and I found a spot out there that I really like. At the same time, I ran into some really dope producers that were out there that they wanted to work with me. We kind of switched it up. Me and Ray [Murray] from Organized Noize go behind the boards the whole time and we hooked up with a DJ Dahi or a Scott Storch would come through or my man Eric Bellinger so we were kind of politicking with different people and they were coming through catching the vibe.

All of them had been fans of the catalog and everything that we’ve done so we gel real nicely with some of these cats. It just made for some cool, cool music friends. Organized Noize is executive producing this project with you.

They were on the first album and the second one. Probably on all of the projects, right? From the beginning. Organized Noize signed us.

They were our big brothers, and they did a production deal with LaFace Records. They were the ones that gave us our first shot and we been doing music with them since the beginning. Sleepy Brown is one third of Organized Noize, and you got Rico Wade and Ray Murray. Organized Noize got a dope a-- [ ONP] EP coming out on Friday.

Great f--king music on there, man. I’m on there as well on a song called “We the Ones” with Cee-Lo, Big Rube, and Sleepy Brown. What was the thought process behind the 'We the Ones'?

“We the Ones” is basically talking about the powers that be abusing power. Innocent people being shot down by the police. Politicians not listening to the people. It’s a song where you can put your fist in the air and get righteous. There's a collaboration on the album with Gucci Mane and Pimp C, which is fitting because you and Gucci did “Shine Blockas” back in the day.

Yes, yes, yes! And that was short-lived because he went to jail so we didn’t get a chance to fully exploit the record. So to have 'In the South,' [it's] the second coming of Big Boi and Gucci. It’s definitely one of the top three songs on the album.

Celebrity Ovation Serial Numbers. And if you got any kind of speakers in your car, you better goddamn make sure you got that motherf--ker modified. It will tear your s--t up. You mentioned working with Scott Storch on the album. He hasn’t been around in a while. Why did you want to work with him?

Me and Scott Storch ain’t never miss. When I got to L.A., he was one of the first producers I hooked up with. We cut about three or four records. We got one on there that’s so crazy. It’s for the [hip-hop] heads. They gonna love it.