Big Boi’s Tour Bus Playlist: E-40, Slick Rick, Parliament-Funkadelic, More

Big Boi and Killer Mike are wrapping up their rescheduled Shoes For Running Tour tonight in Buffalo, and on their recent stop in New York at Brooklyn Bowl, Big detailed some of his favorite songs to play on the tour bus. "I put this on shuffle, man and just anything comes up," he said, flipping through his iPhone. "My phone only holds a couple thousand songs, but on my iPod I got like, 15,000 songs. So I just put it on, and whatever pops up when I push play." Relaxing after a stellar show, Big put his phone on shuffle and dished on what he's been listening to and why. —As told to Dan Rys (@danrys)

Parliament, "Mothership Connection"
They're just funk, you know what I'm saying? Definitely a fan of funk music, it's one of my greatest influences. My top two artists of all time are Bob Marley and Kate Bush. And George Clinton and Bootsy come in at a close second. I just love music just to vibe, man, the instrumentation, the musicianship. It's the freeness of the music, how it just flows; there's no time limit to it, the whole track is just on a vibe. We just vibe out—when we're on the bus for 12, 13, 14 hours, shit, we just play music. Sometimes there's ten people up here and a couple people in the back asleep, sometimes there's just two of us trading back and forth songs on the iPod.

E-40 and B-Legit, "Carlos Rossi"
I loved E-40 ever since "Captain Save A Hoe," but this is one of the toughest songs ever, "Carlos Rossi." E-40 is one of my favorite artists; I love him, Too $hort, the guys from the Bay. He actually came by the studio a couple weeks ago, came by Stankonia. But this is just one of the songs I love, me and Dre used to bump this shit when we were on tour for Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, "Carlos Rossi" was the shit. Then when we did a song with E-40, called "Ham Sammiches and Coupe Devilles," he was just buyin' gallons of that shit and drinking it in the studio.

Slick Rick, "The Ruler's Back"
One of the greatest storytellers of all time—it's classic. I was in middle school when this album came out, and I would listen to the tape on my headphones, and I would listen to this shit on the way to school and back and the whole nine yards, and it's still playing. I just love the way you can visualize his storytelling, the way he changes his voice up, from the male voice to the female voice and going back and forth, it's just so animated. I love it. I got a chance to work with him on a song called "Street Talkin.'"

Kate Bush, "The Dreaming"
Love it, man. I was introduced to her from my Uncle Russell, who's like a weirdo. You got uncles that's pimps, then you got uncles who are like the Woodstock type, and they all just introduced me to music. And my grandmother at the same time, too, she was a big Bob Marley fan and that's how I came on to that. But what I like the most about her is her production and the meanings behind her songs. Her lyrics are dope, and her vocal range is ridiculous, and also the changes in the music. It never stays on one vibe; that shit will break down and change into something else, and morph into something totally different, and that's what I like about it, it's different.

Devin The Dude, "Briar Patch"
One of my favorite songs, when we were shooting Idlewild I used to listen to this shit and just vibe out. Just sit on the beach and just listen to it. He's another one who, to me, is just so diverse, both rap-wise and melodically, he can put songs together so good, and "Briar Patch" is one of my favorite songs of his.

Funkadelic, "Maggot Brain"
Of course, that's my shit. George Clinton, like I said, he's my favorite man, he's like Uncle George, the father of the funk. First chance I got to work with him was on "Synthesizer" on Aquemini, and then I worked with him on "For Your Sorrows" on my first record. He's the grandfather of funk, man, and he's still doing it. It's awesome. Eddie Hazel, it's the best guitar solo. I'ma tell you who else did a good rendition of this who killed it, John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He had a song called "Before The Beginning," it's stupid. You listen to it and it was inspired by "Maggot Brain," and that shit was fucking crazy.