The group dipped their toe into pop music on 1998’s Aquemini. When fans grew to love the duo for playa anthems on 1994’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, 1996’s ATLiens followed up with themes of extraterrestrials and philosophy. Nearly a decade deep into their professional careers, Big Boi and André 3000 had a firm reputation for delivering the unexpected. With OutKast’s 2003 double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the south was finally heard by the world. This is the same rapper who stood alongside his partner, André 3000, at The Source Awards in 1995, when the famous words “The south got something to say” were uttered to a hostile New York City crowd. Outkast had just stepped on the Grammys stage to accept the Album of the Year award. “All thanks due to the most high for this one, all day long,” declared Big Boiat the Staples Center in 2004. Awarded a GRAMMY® for Album of the Year in 2004, this was one of OutKast's (and pop music's) finest hours.Photo Credit: Arista Records We break down the creation of Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below double album, through stories from many of its coveted collaborators In mashing up so many sounds so successfully, the album closed the door on hip-hop's boom-bap '90s period, ushering in an era of sonic cross-pollination between hip-hop and pop that persisted into the next decade. Selling more than 10 million copies, Speakerboxx/The Love Below was OutKast's least classically hip-hop album to date it was an ambitious amalgam of funk, soul, R&B, disco, and rock (try classifying the snarky kiss-off "Roses"). Two of OutKast's most enduring and innovative tunes are here: Big Boi's "The Way You Move" (a '70s funk throwback in the style of Cameo and Chic) and "Hey Ya" (André 3000's kaleidoscopic, decade-defining rave-up). It was essentially two solo albums: André's The Love Below and Big Boi's Speakerboxx, packaged as a double record. While it showed the growing divide between André 3000 and Big Boi (and presaged their long hiatus), OutKast's fifth studio effort was a highwater mark for the group all the same.
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