OutKast

The band Outkast was formed in early 90’s by two friends Andre Benjamin (performing under the pseudonym Dré or André 3000) and Antwan Patton (better known as Big Boi). The initial band’s name was The OKB (The OutKast Brothers), but later the musicians decided to shorten it to the well-known nowadays Outkast. The sound of the duo was also changed during the development: the original southern hip-hop was accompanied by elements of funk, soul, jazz and even blues. Thereby such a versatile sound became the signature feature of the band.

In 1994 Outkast released their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik that already became the classics of hip-hop. That record attracted attention in no time and the musical experts gave it the very fair reviews. The main theme of album’s lyrics was the pimping and all the corresponding attributes, however in the following works Andre and Antwan preferred to share their thoughts about moral topics and lyric poetry. The band’s second studio work titled ATLiens was issued in 1996 and it demonstrated much more confident sound. Thus it predetermined the future development of Outkast creativity, and the ATLiens success was proved by peaking at number one of American hip-hop albums chart.

In 1998 Outkast issued one of their most successful albums – Aquemini. Only two months after the release Aquemini got the Platinum status and the famous musical magazine Rolling Stone added it into the list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Quality and the high level of that studio work were also proved by the composition Rosa Parks which was nominated to Grammy Award in 1999 in the category Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. In 2000 Outkast’ discography was enlarged by the album Stankonia, which was certified quadruple-platinum. That record was acclaimed by the critics and it included the well-known song Ms. Jackson. In 2001 the musicians got two Grammy Awards in a row: Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Ms. Jackson and Best Rap Album for the record Stankonia.

In 2003 Outkast released an incredibly strong album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, consisting of solo works of André 3000 and Big Boi. The sound of that record turned out to be very versatile: The Love Below (part of André 3000) included elements of such styles as soul, pop, funk and even jazz, while Speakerboxxx (Big Boi’s project) presents compositions with southern hip-hop stylistics. The original Speakerboxxx/The Love Below became one of the most successful rap albums of all time with the sales over fifteen million copies all over the world.

The sixth studio work of Outkast titled Idlewild was released in 2006. That record was very well received both by the musical experts and fans and pretty soon it was certified Platinum. There is no doubt that Outkast music is unique and original, so it is hardly possible to mix them up with someone else. Idlewild embodied the musicians’ best ideas and it will be enjoyed by all the good music lovers.