The lyrics are a message to the mother of singer Erykah Badu. Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin), one of the rappers in the group, had a child with Badu out of wedlock named Seven Sirius Benjamin. He wanted Badu's mother to hear his side of the story, as he felt he was being portrayed as a bad father. He felt Badu kept him away from their child on purpose.
Andre 3000 explained in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I probably would never come out and tell Erykah's mom, 'I'm sorry for what went down.' But music gives you the chance to say what you want to say. And her mom loved it. She's like, 'Where's my publishing check?'"
"Ms. Jackson" is a name Outkast made up. Badu's mother is really named Kolleen Wright. She knew it was about her the first time she heard it.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.