Package Deal

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So, two crazy things happened yesterday. The first thing, that I won’t be discussing, is the insurrection that occurred yesterday in Washington, D.C. The second thing is that Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were named victorious in their U.S. Senate runoff elections.

While Joe Biden won his election two months ago, the two Senate elections for Georgia were both sent to a runoff. Warnock took on and defeated Kelly Loeffler in a blowout, but the other race was much closer. Ossoff needed a second day to finalize his narrow victory over David Perdue. The victory has huge implications as this now evens out the Democrat and Republican count in the Senate, which gives Vice President Elect Kamala Harris the deciding vote in Congress now. This was a monumental day for Georgia, similar to the day when OutKast won their Grammy.

OutKast, the legendary Atlanta hip hop duo, received tons of plaudits throughout their career. Most notably, they were the first rap artists to win Album Of The Year at the 2004 Grammys for their double album “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.” The album was significant because it consisted of solo albums by the duo’s members, with Big Boi releasing “Speakerboxxx” and Andre 3000 unveiling “The Love Below”. “Speakerboxxx” never strays too far from the proven OutKast sound, while “The Love Below” ventures into brand new territory with Andre testing out his Prince-esque melodies and composing. I can’t help but see the similarities between the OutKast album and the recent Georgia elections.

Warnock reminds me of “The Love Below”, where Warnock’s candor, honesty and integrity are seemingly a breath of fresh air in relation to all other 2020 politicians. Warnock also promises to only fix a handful of things, as opposed to most politicians who promise to fix everything under the sun. On the other hand, Ossoff reminds me of “Speakerboxxx”. “Speakerboxxx” sounds like a poor man’s version of “Aquemini” or “Stankonia”, because Andre is missing from the tracks and I miss his unique flow and wordplay. Ossoff loves invoking the names and legacies of John Lewis and Barack Obama, but he sounds like an imitation of both rather than the carbon copy. I can’t help but wonder if Ossoff would’ve emerged victorious if his election wasn’t so closely tied to that of Warnock and to the Democrats’ success in general. Much like I wonder who would be a fan of “Speakerboxxx” if it didn’t come pre-packaged with “The Love Below”.

Regardless, Georgians are the real winners today.

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Author of The Powers That Be

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