English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Jackson, MS

As Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” celebrates its 25th anniversary on Friday (Oct. 24), Erykah Badu revealed her doubts about being the muse behind the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit.

Badu joined Popcast for an interview earlier this week, where she discussed being the subject of hip-hop songs. While the neo-soul icon doesn’t think “Ms. Jackson” is about herself, her mother, Kolleen Gipson, certainly is taking credit.

“I don’t think ‘Ms. Jackson’ was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it,” she said. “[My mom] thinks it was about her. She got the bumper sticker and the airbrush t-shirt. I think it says, ‘Sorry, Ms. Jackson.'”

For years, there’s been fan speculation and theories that “Ms. Jackson” was an apology letter from André 3000 to Erykah Badu’s family following their split. The former couple dated from 1995 to 1999 and welcomed a son in 1997, Seven Sirius Benjamin.

“Ms Jackson” arrived about a year after the Three Stacks-Badu break-up, fueling rumors connecting the track’s content to their relationship. It was the second single on Outkast’s Stankonia album, which was released a week later on Halloween in 2000.

“Ms. Jackson” topped the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for best rap performance by a duo or a group. The anthem has stood the test of time over the course of a quarter-century and feels embedded in the DNA of pop music with an earworm of a chorus.

Watch the interview below. Talk about “Ms. Jackson” takes place just shy of the 30-minute mark.

I’m sorry, Ms. Jackson, this song may not actually be about you!

Erykah Badu isn’t so sure OutKast’s iconic 2000s hit song “Ms. Jackson” is about her mom. The 54-year-old neo soul artist revealed her suspicions during an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of “Popcast,” when co-host Joe Coscarelli brought up the song.

When Coscarelli noted, “So much great hip-hop has been made about you, including Outkast’s ‘Ms. Jackson,’” the “Bag Lady” singer replied, “I don’t think ‘Ms. Jackson’ was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it.”

She then jokingly suggested that it could have been about her mother.

She added, “Well, she thinks it was about her. She’s got the bumper sticker and the airbrush T-shirt.”

Originally released on October 24, 2000, as the second single from OutKast’s “Stankonia” album, “Ms. Jackson” quickly became one of the rap duo’s biggest hits, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning them a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The song, which turns 25 today, remains one of the most recognizable earworms of the early 2000s.

For decades, fans have believed the heartfelt apology track, chronicling the strained relationship between a man and the mother of his child, was inspired by Badu’s mother, Kolleen Gipson. Badu and OutKast’s André 3000 (André Benjamin) dated from 1995 to 1999 and welcomed their son, Seven Sirius Benjamin, in 1997. With their relationship ending shortly before the release of “Stankonia,” and “Ms. Jackson,” there has been long-running speculation that the song served as André’s musical apology to Badu’s family.

While André has admitted the song was drawn from his personal experiences, both he and Big Boi have emphasized over the years that it was ultimately meant to honor and address all “baby mamas’ mamas,” not just one.

After years of turf wars and court fights over land surrounding Jackson’s airport, the city is ready to draw the line — literally.

The Jackson City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 21 approved in a 5-2 vote a settlement finalizing a negotiated compromise with the cities of Flowood and Pearl over how airport-owned land in Rankin County will be incorporated. The Jackson Municipal Airport Authority’s followed on Wednesday, Oct. 22, also approving the settlement in an unanimous 5-0 vote.

Jackson and the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority (JMAA) will continue to own all of the land surrounding Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport — including the portions that will now fall inside Flowood and Pearl’s city limits. The settlement doesn’t transfer ownership; it only sets new municipal boundaries for taxation and development.

Flowood and Pearl have already signed off on the deal, leaving the council’s vote as the final step on Jackson’s side. City Attorney Drew Martin said all parties have agreed, and the city now only needs to file final motions in Rankin County Chancery Court.

Once the court signs off, each city will be able to incorporate specific areas around the airport while Jackson continues leasing the land itself to developers. City leaders hope the compromise can stabilize a historically tense relationship and open the door for new development across the airport corridor — rather than another round of courtroom battles.

How we got here: the annexation fights

For decades, Jackson has owned the land around its airport — hundreds of acres in Rankin County — but much of it sat outside city limits. That meant no one collected sales or property taxes there, and neighboring cities kept trying to bring it into their boundaries.

The settlement changes that. Jackson and the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority will continue to own all of the land around the airport, but the agreement allows each city to incorporate a portion within its municipal boundaries. Roughly 40% of the total acreage will fall inside Jackson’s limits, with the rest incorporated into Flowood and Pearl. Each city can collect tax revenue from commercial property within its own boundaries. JMAA — which owns all of the land — will earn lease revenue from developers who build on it.

Flowood and Pearl get the benefit of sales and property taxes from what’s developed inside their boundaries, while the airport itself will finally begin generating rent from land that’s spent years showing nothing but zeros.

Airport CEO Rosa Beckett emphasized that this lease revenue will go directly to the airport authority, not the city’s general fund — a requirement under Federal Aviation Administration rules that prohibit airport income from being used for non-airport purposes.

"Because the airport is an independent authority, federal regulations state that leased revenue itself has to be reinvested into the airport, so that money goes strictly to the airport," Beckett said.

City Attorney Drew Martin and Chad Mask of Carroll Warren & Parker, the law firm representing Jackson in the annexation cases, told council members the settlement was the only practical way forward.

In 2023, the Mississippi Supreme Court sided with Rankin County after Jackson tried to annex land around the airport. The justices ruled that because the airport property sits entirely within Rankin County, Jackson couldn’t expand its city limits without the county’s approval.

State law gives that approval authority solely to the Rankin County Board of Supervisors, and the court made clear that the city’s attempt to annex the land without their consent was invalid. That decision effectively boxed Jackson out, and Rankin officials were unlikely to let the capital city claim hundreds of acres inside their county.

Martin said the compromise gives Jackson a foothold it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise — and for the first time, the airport could see real revenue from land that had long generated none.

"We've owned this land going on 70-years and so far we've made nothing on this," Martin told the Clarion Ledger. "We are now set to start making money on this in the next year, two years and that's a big win for the city and the airport."

A city-owned airport in a neighbor’s county

At the heart of the dispute is the airport — city-owned, Rankin County-based and a seemingly constant source of friction. Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is owned by the City of Jackson, managed by the airport authority and sits entirely in Rankin County — surrounded by Flowood and Pearl.

Built in the 1960s to boost regional growth, its location has instead fueled decades of tension. Jackson collects no property taxes there, while its Rankin County neighbors have profited from development around it — hotels, warehouses and retail that thrive near the airport.

But the tension isn’t new. The airport has been the subject of multiple lawsuits — including a still-unresolved case between the City of Jackson and the state of Mississippi over who controls the airport authority’s board. The annexation disputes only added another layer to a long-running tug-of-war over jurisdiction and economic power.

Beckett and Martin both said they see the annexation settlement as a step forward, even if it’s legally unrelated to the state takeover case.

“They’re just not connected,” Martin said. “The takeover case is all about the city finding a way to say that legislation is unconstitutional. Who is responsible for providing municipal services and who is permitted to recover those taxes just has nothing to do with it.”

The new settlement doesn’t change ownership but finally clarifies the ground rules: Flowood and Pearl can tax what’s inside their borders, and Jackson’s airport can lease the land to developers. Supporters say that’s a step toward cooperation after years of rivalry.

“Because they are two separate lawsuits, one doesn’t impact the other,” Beckett said. “But we are hopeful that signs of collaboration will filter over into the takeover lawsuit as well.”

Opposition on the council

Not everyone on the council saw the settlement as a win.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay and Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes voted against the agreement, saying Jackson gave up too much ground and would see little financial benefit.

As soon as the discussion opened, Clay questioned whether the deal truly benefited the city.

“My question is — and I know this is a settlement and we think it’s a good settlement — but in reality we are only getting the sale value of the land,” she said. “We still own it, I understand that 100%, but we will only get funds from the sale and development. We will not get any taxes, which is what cities need to grow.”

Mask and Martin pushed back. Both explained that Jackson will collect taxes only on the land incorporated into its own city limits, and that the underlying airport property is tax-exempt because it’s owned by the city and the airport authority.

“Absent this settlement agreement, Jackson isn’t going to annex anything,” Mask told the council.

Clay seemed to argue that the city could still win its annexation case in court, but Martin disagreed. He said the decision ultimately rests with Rankin's board of supervisors, not a judge, and that the board has shown no indication it would ever allow Jackson to annex that land. The settlement, he said, secures that approval through compromise.

Stokes shared similar concerns as Clay, pointing to what he called “a bad deal” years ago when Jackson sold airport property near Lakeland Drive — land that’s now home to restaurants, a movie theater and other developments in Flowood. He said the city lost valuable long-term revenue from that sale and warned against repeating the same mistake.

Martin said those worries were unfounded. He told the council there are no plans to sell any of the airport land involved in the settlement and that he would strongly advise against it.

"That was a bad deal," Martin told Stokes. "It was a bad deal because the city sold its land and by selling its land it lost control of what it can do with that land. That's why this is so important, what we did fight for here…The city will not give up one inch of ownership of any of this property."

Whats next?

The settlement now heads to Rankin County Chancery Court for final approval. Once the court signs off, the newly defined boundaries will be recorded and finalized by the Rankin County Board of Supervisors.

After that, the Jackson City Council will still need to adopt an ordinance formally annexing the portion of airport land that falls within the city’s new limits — a procedural step Mask said will finalize Jackson’s part of the deal.

In a statement, Mayor John Horhn called the agreement “a major step forward for cooperation and shared economic growth” across the metro area. He emphasized that the deal does not transfer or surrender any Jackson property but instead allows each city to incorporate surrounding land for planning and taxation purposes.

“Jackson is not giving away land,” Horhn said. “We’re putting it to work for the people of Jackson.”

is the Jackson beat reporter. Contact him at cdrape@gannett.com.

doesn’t believe she was the muse behind Outkast’s record, “Ms. Jackson,” but believes it was actually about her mother.

During an episode of “Popcast,” co-host Joe Coscarelli brought up the record while discussing Badu’s role as a muse.

"So much great hip-hop has been made about you, including Outkast’s 'Ms. Jackson,'" Coscarelli said to the neo-soul artist.

Badu interjects, replying that she doesn’t feel the record was centered around her.

"I don’t think 'Ms. Jackson' was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it," she offered.

She jokingly follows up, sharing how her mother, Kolleen Gipson, fancies the song being about her.

"Well, she thinks it was about her. She’s got the bumper sticker and the airbrush T-shirt," the “On & On” singer expressed.

RELATED:

The “Appletree” singer shares a child with Andre 3000 out of the three children she has, birthing a song named Seven Sirius Benjamin in 1997. Although the couple broke up in 1999, the two continued to collaborate on music together, working together on the two records “Humble Mumble” and “Hello.”

She continued in the conversation with Coscarelli, sharing that she feels she has inspired “many things” and has walked the same path as the fathers of her children.

"Any person that I’ve come in contact with—specifically the fathers of my amazing children—I think that they were on that already. That’s why we sympathetically vibrated together," she expressed.

Watch the episode in full below.

Erykah Badu doubts that she's the muse behind 2000 OutKast classic "Ms. Jackson." She joked, however, that the song could be referring to her mother, Kolleen Gipson.

The song was mentioned during the Wednesday (Oct. 22) episode of the New York Times podcast, . Around the 30-minute mark of the episode, co-host Joe Coscarelli asked about Badu's "role as a muse."

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The neo-soul vocalist has three children among former partners André 3000, The D.O.C., and Jay Electronica.

"So much great hip-hop has been made about you, including OutKast’s 'Ms. Jackson,'" Coscarelli offered.

"I don’t think 'Ms. Jackson' was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it," Badu replied.

But Badu jokingly said that the song could have been intended for mother, Gipson.

"Well, she thinks it was about her. She’s got the bumper sticker and the airbrush T-shirt," she joked, adding that the shirt reads "Sorry, Ms. Jackson."

The chorus to "Ms. Jackson" finds Andre singing, "I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh/I am for real/Never meant to make your daughter cry/I apologized a trillion times."

Badu and Three Stacks welcomed their son, Seven Sirius Benjamin, in 1997. The co-parents broke up two years later, although they've collaborated on songs like "Humble Mumble" and "Hello."

Badu eventually explained that she has inspired "many things" and has shared the "same path" with the fathers of her children.

"Any person that I’ve come in contact with—specifically the fathers of my amazing children—I think that they were on that already. That’s why we sympathetically vibrated together," she said.

Badu gave Three Stacks props during her visit on last month, choosing the rapper over Black Thought of The Roots.

"Black Thought, you know I got love," Badu said. "But I think I may be one of Andre 3000's biggest fans outside of being family. Super inspiring."

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