HIP HOP CLASSICS: OutKast - Stankonia Album

Happy Sunday, folks! It’s that time of week again where we reach into the grab bag of hip hop classics and we discuss everything about it. And maybe even find some new fans for it. This week, we’re taking a trip to Atlanta to meet up with Big Boi and Andre 3000 and delve into the world of Stankonia...

Probably the album that put them on most of the map (until Hey Ya! put them on the rest of it!) for people outside of rap. Ms Jackson got them on the pop charts and Bombs over Baghdad had a RATM style remix (did a brief google and I can’t work out if RATM did or not haha) that was crossed over to the rock clubs. I would say it’s a modern classic, but the album is nearly 20 years old, so not sure the modern bit should be included!

@Henry to pin

 

My first Outkast album. Not one of my favorites but it’s still very good. They stripped a lot of the atmosphere of ATLiens and Aquemini on this one and went straight funk. Looove BOB, and Spaghetti Junction is a highly underrated song.

 

Dope

 

Love this album. I haven’t listened to it in a while so I need to change that this week.

 

My third favorite OutKast album. Aquemini and ATLiens get the edge over this one but goddamn what discography these guys had.

 

I had such a disdain for Ms Jackson growing up because of how played out it was. I've come around to it and love this album very much.

Couldn't really get into Speakerboxx / Love Below

 

one of the best albums of the 00s, maybe the best

 

They had imo a fantastic three album streak starting with ATLiens, and ending with this. Haven’t heard Speakerbox/love below, but I hear it’s somewhat bloated. Will listen

 

There’s a lot of good on speakerboxxx/the love below

 

The Love Below in particular is pretty influential. See how something like Prototype leads to IGOR, and A Day In The Life of Benjamin Andre leads to Good Kid Maad City

 

Incredible album.

 

Agree that this isn't quit as good as ATLiens or Aquemini (and it has WAY too many skits) but it's still pretty amazing. Besides the obvious huge songs (BOB is one of the best rap singles ever imo), Gasoline Dreams, Gangsta Shit, Xplosion and Snappin' and Trappin' have always stuck out to me

 

Also Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is amazing, just treat them as two separate albums instead of one long one. The Love Below was crazy ahead of its time, like @ComedownMachine said there would probably be no NERD, Tyler, Frank, etc. without it


I do have the potentially hot take that Andre 3000 is the actual GOAT rapper though. Like, he's my actual #1 pick

 

The first NERD album came out 4 years before The Love Below.

Sorry, but the pedant in me couldn't let that go haha. I have a problem.

 

I think the skits on this album is what stops it being a favourite of mine. I know they're not that long, but the songs are so good that the skits just end up being an interruption. Bombs Over Baghdad and So Fresh, So Clean are definitely up there as some of my favourite tracks from my teen years.

OutKast overall have never been a group i've truly loved. They have a tonne of songs I love and Andre is up there as one of the all time great emcees, but I rarely think "man, I really wanna listen to OutKast right now". I think it's southern rap in general that i've never really loved. I think they're willingness to experiment and be different is what sets them aside from a lot of southern rap, which is probably why they're one of the few acts I actively listen to.

 

Well if you were THAT pedantic you would have said two years, not 4 lmao

I did get my timeline mixed up though damn

 

FFS haha. I'm one of those rare, lazy pedants. We know when something is wrong, but don't pay attention to whether we're right haha

 

3K is definitely my favorite rapper of all time, no argument.

 

Don't think it's that hot of a take haha. Their whole discography is worth it. Them stepping away from it further solidifies it.

 

not very hot at all. he’s very high on almost anyone’s list.

 

Interesting tidbit about B.O.B. considering Zach De La Rocha went on to remix the song. Dre or Possum Aloysius Jenkins Andre 3000 for short says “I wouldn’t have done ‘Bombs Over Baghdad’ if it weren’t for Rage Against the Machine,” he said about the high-octane single. “Because I felt urgency in their music, so I was like, ‘How can I add urgency to what we’re doing?’ It doesn’t sound like Rage Against the Machine.”

 

always feel like speakerboxx/love below convos center on love below, but speakerboxx is like banger after banger

 

oh hell yes, the best OutKast album

 

Yeah Speakerboxx is amazing too, Bust is one of the hardest rap songs ever made

 

it’s unreal how good this album is. it’s hard to even know what to write that hasn’t been said. it’s difficult to find words to write about abject perfection lol