Role Model gives another preview of 'Chuck Timely & The Hourglass' with 'Joy'•
Erin LeCount is hosting a free songwriting and production masterclass at Abbey Road•
Nia Archives has recruited Jorja Smith for her new single 'Get Me Down'•
The Linda Lindas' next album is called 'GOTTA GET OUT', and Hayley Williams is on the new single
•
Nell Mescal has released new single 'Settles' ahead of an intimate London pop-up show•
Jacob Alon has announced 'Live From The Roundhouse' and shared a cover of Nirvana's 'All Apologies'•
Frost Children have released their new EP 'Tweaker Poem' and shared a video for 'Creep'•
The Last Dinner Party have shared 'Knocking At The Sky' and its Hollywood-inspired video•
Lucy Dacus celebrates Richmond in her self-directed ‘Planting Tomatoes’ video•
Alessi Rose has shared vulnerable new single 'Dependent' ahead of her summer festival run•
KATSEYE are bringing new film 'WILD HEARTS' to cinemas worldwide•
Little Grandad have shared new 1940s-inspired single ‘Babe, We’ve Run Out Of Time’ and announced their biggest London headline show yet•
Gilla Band have announced their new album ‘Pugnello’ and two intimate UK shows•
Violet Grohl has upgraded her Manchester show and added a new Brighton date•
Beyoncé is celebrating 'B'Day' with her first new song in two years, ‘Morning Dew (Donk)’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Role Model gives another preview of 'Chuck Timely & The Hourglass' with 'Joy'•
Erin LeCount is hosting a free songwriting and production masterclass at Abbey Road•
Nia Archives has recruited Jorja Smith for her new single 'Get Me Down'•
The Linda Lindas' next album is called 'GOTTA GET OUT', and Hayley Williams is on the new single•
Nell Mescal has released new single 'Settles' ahead of an intimate London pop-up show•
Jacob Alon has announced 'Live From The Roundhouse' and shared a cover of Nirvana's 'All Apologies'•
Frost Children have released their new EP 'Tweaker Poem' and shared a video for 'Creep'•
The Last Dinner Party have shared 'Knocking At The Sky' and its Hollywood-inspired video•
Lucy Dacus celebrates Richmond in her self-directed ‘Planting Tomatoes’ video•
Alessi Rose has shared vulnerable new single 'Dependent' ahead of her summer festival run•
KATSEYE are bringing new film 'WILD HEARTS' to cinemas worldwide•
Little Grandad have shared new 1940s-inspired single ‘Babe, We’ve Run Out Of Time’ and announced their biggest London headline show yet•
Gilla Band have announced their new album ‘Pugnello’ and two intimate UK shows•
Violet Grohl has upgraded her Manchester show and added a new Brighton date•
Beyoncé is celebrating 'B'Day' with her first new song in two years, ‘Morning Dew (Donk)’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Dork
News
Features
Reviews
Magazine
Shop
Listings
Directory
Festivals
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
Festival Guides-YOUR ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL COMPANION
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Mixtape-DORK'S BEST NEW TRACKS
Play-DORK'S NEW MUSIC FRIDAY EDIT
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
Playlist Covers
Playlist Directory
Recommender
Before Doors-LIVE SESSIONS
Music Video Directory
Down With Boring-THE DORK PODCAST
Chart Attack-UK NUMBER ONES, DISSECTED
Dork Live
Dork Radio
Live
Live 24/7
Dork Radio
Dork
Down With Boring

Join thousands of music lovers getting the best new tracks, exclusive interviews, and breaking news delivered straight to your inbox every week.

In print now

August 2026

Latest issue variants

View archive
Dork, August 2026 (Fat Dog cover)

Fat Dog

Dork, August 2026 (Ravyn Lenae cover)

Ravyn Lenae

Dork, August 2026 (Yard Act cover)

Yard Act

Advertise
|
Support|
About Dork|
Privacy Policy|
Genres|
Years|
Sitemap|
RSS|
Cookie settings
© 2026 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Powered by PlaywireAdvertise on this site.
  1. Tracks
  2. OutKast
  3. ATLiens
  4. Mainstream
Mainstream by OutKast

TRACK

OutKast

Mainstream

Release date: 25th August 1996

From ATLiens
Track 10
5:18
Hip-Hop/RapMusicAlternative RapHip-Hop
Spotify Apple Music More on OutKast

About This Track

"Mainstream" is a track by OutKast, from the album ATLiens, released 25th August 1996. The track is 5:18 long. It's filed under Hip-Hop/Rap. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 1 article about OutKast.

About the Artist

OutKast

OutKast

Lyrics

Mainstream

Uh, y'all know what it is

Uh, y'all know what it is

Uh, y'all know what it is

Revolutionary, scary
Thought provoking, spoken
Words of a change I don't feel, but I see
Visions from me at 23
Making it free in my community
One day is what I live fo'
Ain't thinking about no hope no mo'
I got my boots I kick it 'til I get with
Adapt and overcome, oh hum hum
Go get my gun, load up for fun, and put it down with the frown

What goes round comes round from M.L.K. to Cascade
I know it's through them plenty figures
Cocaine dealers walk the wrong side
Up in they rides
Looking cleaner then I seen 'em the last time
Then selling dimes, now its quarter ki's, stacking G's
In the South Indies
My nigga them folks riding bicycles among vehicles
Off in the hood
Knowing each and every nigga selling, but can you blame?

The fact the only way a brother can survive the game
The block hard to get by the dope dealing
Fatal killings, and fed time, to writing rhymes
It ain't just the police
We kill each other just lost another brother
Fast living will get you took
Thinking it can't happen to you and then it do
Off crooked schemes it's just a dream
Floating face down in the mainstream

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

They swan diving
As if they name be Gretchen von Ivan
Volkoff rushin' to finish their album then you find them
Lost dog paddling, backstroking, what done happened?
Be rhyming "Catch of the day" when the recipe calls for "Blackened"
Wrong ingredients
Maybe too much herbs and spices
Maybe you got hungry for the wrong dish
Of them greens and it's enticing how them Jones's sing
So I'm gonna sing just like them to get where they at

I'll even break my by back to touch their rim, if I gotta
My alta mater be that I follow
I bite whatever that's looking tasty, water it down and then swallow
I hope you vomit, won't call no names 'cause that's not my job
It just applies to whom it may concern, you know who you are
But if you don't you never will, you just receive the steel
But then it might get ugly 'cause trust me niggas do feel
The way that I felt when I wrote this, but we must stay in focus
We kings and queens up in this thing, get rid of all them jokers
Face down, face down, face down

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

I let you stay in my crib
Now you know where I live
When you was hungry, fed you a hot meal
Look at the hand you deal
Me crudball business, niggas giving inches, so here, take a foot
Luck only counts in rabbit's feet and horseshoes
Experience is sometimes the best teacher until we get our own plate
I hope you don't mind me eating off of yours
Process sm-m-moking like Jerry
Meanwhile, fairies up the street sprinkling pixie dust over greenery

Never to attain another level of conscience
Only to test, the potency
Why laying here, they scheme over one another mouth to feed
Deceased with a decision to make, now words shake your destiny
But one miss will take it all the way, just as quick as you can say
"I wish I never did what I did," now face this bid

It was the company you kept, the many places you slept
When you shouldn't have, geeking like a rat, jumping like a trap
Contributing to sin and yo' nigga bitch in the club showing pink for ten
They got you niggas where they want you again
Floating face down in the mainstream
That's why, that's why, that's why

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Everybody's a player, wearing them Kangols on they heads
Thinking it's all about yo' clothes, nigga, it's all about yourself
The way you feel about yo' life (life), the times that you done shared with
Yo' friends and family, up and down like hoes give head
To dicks, oh, six, serving them in the mix, but ain't no mystery
You know the history about this clique, bitch
Oh, what, you want me to call you slut?

Then why you fucking all them niggas letting them all up in your guts
But see that AIDS I'm afraid that's why I play the quiet role
I lay in the cut, every month thinking I'll let that fire roll
Like chimneys, and smoke signals, maybe peace pipes even
My partners call me Big Boi and my first name is not Steven
In the mainstream, home team banging them with these hits
In the mix, flowing like some motherfucking swordfish

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream
Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream
Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream
Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream
That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From ATLiens

5:181996
Listen
Album
ATLiens
ATLiens
OutKast
26th August 1996
Track number
10
Release year
1996
  1. 1You May Die (Intro)
    1:06
  2. 2Two Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac)
    2:42
  3. 3ATLiens
    3:51
  4. 4Wheelz of Steel
    4:03

More from OutKast

Albums & EPs

Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
2025
ATLiens (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
ATLiens (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
2021
Cadillac Music
2014
Live From Los Angeles
Live From Los Angeles
2013
Idlewild
Idlewild
2006
Speakerboxxx / The Love Below
Speakerboxxx / The Love Below
2003

Explore

More tracks by OutKast

  1. ?Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    1:29
  2. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    5:04
  3. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) [Beat Bullies Remix]Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    4:21
  4. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) [Cutmaster Swiff Remix]Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    6:08
  5. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) [Instrumental]Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    5:07
  6. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) [Zack de la Rocha Remix]Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    4:37
  7. D.F. (Interlude)Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    0:27
  8. Drinkin' Again (Interlude)Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    0:25
  9. Gangsta Shit (feat. Slimm Calhoun, C-BONE & T-Mo)Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    4:41
  10. Gasoline Dreams (with Khujo Goodie)Stankonia (25th Anniversary)
    3:35

Showing 10 of 50

If you like OutKast

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest

Big Boi

Big Boi

JAY-Z

JAY-Z

Common

Common

The Roots

The Roots

Mos Def

  • 5Jazzy Belle
    4:12
  • 6Elevators (Me & You)
    4:25
  • 7Ova da Wudz
    3:48
  • 8Babylon
    4:25
  • 9Wailin'
    1:59
  • 10Mainstream
    5:18
  • 11Decatur Psalm
    3:58
  • 12Millennium
    3:09
  • 13E.T. (Extraterrestrial)
    3:07
  • 1413th Floor / Growing Old
    6:51
  • 15Elevators (ONP 86 Mix)
    4:37
  • Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Guitar
    Martin Terry
    Keyboards
    Marvin "Chanz" Parkman
    Vocals
    Khujo Goodie, T-Mo Goodie
    READ MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKAST
    READ MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKASTREAD MORE ABOUT OUTKAST
    The White Stripes, Oasis, OutKast and more are among the 2025 Rock Hall of Fame nominees
    News

    The White Stripes, Oasis, OutKast and more are among the 2025 Rock Hall of Fame nominees

    The full list of nominees also includes Joy Division/New Order, OutKast, Soundgarden, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Idol, and more.

    12 Feb 2025 • 11:49 am