When talented teenaged school kids André Benjamin and Antwan Patton first met each other at Atlanta's Lenox Square shopping mall in 1992, they couldn't have possibly envisioned the journey that their friendship and, soon, genre-altering musical partnership would take. Under the banner of Outkast, André 3000 and Big Boi wouldn't just put Southern hip hop on the map, upending the East and West Coast monopoly of 90s rap in the process, but would forge one of the most adventurous and influential discographies in all of modern music.
Over the course of six albums, Outkast would both define the Dirty South movement and transcend it, André's insatiable appetite for experimentation and genre-fusing exploration seeing the duo tackle all manner of sonic left-turns, always looking forwards but forever grounded by both 'Dre's unique, whimsical flow and Big Boi's bulletproof, smoother-than-silk bars. Incredibly, it's been 18 years since we got a new Outkast album, but their influence remains as central to hip hop as ever. Here, then, is every Outkast LP so far, ranked from worst to best.
6. Idlewild (2006)
Three years removed from dropping their squillion-selling double-album and confirming themselves as the most successful rap duo in history, Outkast were still determined to offer hip hop something fresh and new. That something proved to be a bold but flawed movie/album double-header, as rap's preeminent twosome finally saw their ambition get the better of them. Don't get it twisted: Outkast's sixth LP is still packed with interesting ideas and some undeniable, all-out bangers, but its explorative fusion of classic Dirty South beats with NOLA jazz, funk and boogie-woogie blues doesn't always hit the mark. Plus, much like its predecessor, there's just not enough Outkast on here, its members crossing paths fleetingly on a small handful of tracks.
Still, when Idlewild does hit, it hits hard: Andre's Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me) is an irresistible slice of hoedowny, propulsive Delta blues; Big Boi's Morris Brown is a delightfully daft burst of big band bluster, while The Train sees Outkast's smoothest MC drop bars over a warm, woozy wall of parping horns, thrumming beats and psychedelic swirls of sitar. It speaks volumes of just how unpredictable Outkast were that the LP's final song, A Bad Note - possibly the final Outkast song we'll ever hear, no less - is a lurching, doomy, nightmarish, predominantly instrumental nine-minute monster. As bow-outs go, Idlewild is far from perfect, but it was certainly not lacking in ambition.
5. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)
Purists will insist Outkast's debut album is their best, and to be fair, on its own merit, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is a world class first offering that officially put Dirty South hip hop on the map. Comfortably Outkast's most straightforward LP, it nonetheless hints at plenty of the dizzying creativity and boundary-pushing shenanigans that were to come while introducing a generation of rap fans to the sounds, styles and mannerisms of the South ('Ain't no thang but a chicken wiiiiiing!' anyone?). While there's an undeniably laid back, drawling tempo to much of the record, the sheer dexterity of Big Boi's bars and poetic cadence of Andre's vocal style made it immediately clear that Atlanta could serve up MCs every bit as creative and technically proficient as their East and West Coast equivalents.
Lyrically tackling everything from street life to institutionalised racism to gang violence to education in the US to strip club culture, Outkast's first full-length covered plenty of the same ground that hip hop had been ploughing for years by that point, but it all came smothered in a warm, Southern glaze merging funk, soul, jazz and boom-bap sonics, given extra weight by the use of live instruments and brought to life by the stellar production of Organized Noise. 'Deep, ya wanna go deep? I'll take ya deep!' the duo promise on D.E.E.P., foreshadowing the sonic exploration that was to follow. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is a classic debut by any measure, but most importantly, it proved that the South had something to say.
4. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
It says a lot of the general quality of Outkast's output that an LP widely regarded as one of the best and most influential double albums ever released is this far down the list. Both sides of this two-headed monster are pretty stellar, with The Love Below probably maintaining the most impactful legacy thanks to Andre being given the opportunity to let all his most impish, Prince-bent impulses run wild. That means we get everything here from the sexy, dynamic funk of Happy Valentine's Day to the buzzy electro-pop of Dracula's Wedding (featuring a delightfully weird cameo from Kelis), woozy dream-bop Prototype and even a madcap, jazzy drum 'n' bass instrumental redub of My Favourite Things. It's all brilliantly batshit, and capped off by two juggernaut singles: the impossibly silly and irresistible Roses and, of course, Hey Ya! one of the definitive pop songs of the 2000s.
And yet, as much as Andre's half of this album is unquestionably more interesting, there's a serious argument to be had that Big Boi's half is actually better. While nowhere near as freewheeling as its sister disc, Speakerboxxx still takes Antwan Patton's incredible skills as an MC down some bold new paths, be it the thumping, bassy rave-up of Ghettomusick (complete with wonderfully bonkers Patti Labelle midsection drop), the brassy, clattering funk of Bowtie and The Rooser, the fiery conscious hip hop of War or the dangerous, lurching alt rock of Bust, which deploys a furious-sounding Killer Mike to full effect. It also packs another all-time classic Outkast single in The Way You Move, a track whose bars and video surely confirmed Big Boi as the coolest MC of his era.
If anything stops Speakerboxxx/The Love Below from troubling the Ouktast album podium, it's that it can only just about be considered a 'proper' Outkast album at all. As much as there's a wealth of killer material across its mighty two-and-a-quarter hours' running time, so precious little of it features Big Boi and Andre together that their incredible chemistry is sorely missed. Still, though, the stats don't lie: at over 11 million units sold, it remains one of the biggest-selling rap albums of all time.
3. ATLiens (1996)
Where Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik showed that Outkast were already main event contenders in the Dirty South, ATLiens had them reaching for the stars - almost literally. Andre and Big Boi flexed their hip hop outsider status to the Nth degree by adopting an extraterrestrial gimmick that seeped into everything from the album's comic book-y artwork to the spaced-up, futuristic production job by Organized Noize and cute, tinny 'Greetings, Earthling!' line on the luscious Two Dope Boyz (In A Cadillac).
It all made for a fun bit that suited Outkast to a tee, but none of it would have mattered without the music. Luckily, ATLiens is the first entry in one of the greatest three-album runs in the history of rap, stacked with killer cuts, humdinger lyrics and, with its irrepressible title track, a shout for the coldest hip hop single ever recorded, Andre's 'Ssh, ssh, softly, as if I play piano in the dark' a jaw-dropping moment of momentum-shifting clarity.
2. Aquemini (1998)
Where ATLiens brought in a more polished and refined dressing up of Outkast's Southern-fried sound (albeit via sci-fi aesthetics and bleepy production), it was with Aquemini that the duo firmly established themselves as one of the most creative, boundary-pushing and thoughtful hip hop acts of the 90s. From Andre's devastating opening bars on Return Of The G - an emotional, trope-flipping takedown of the soon-to-be all-conquering gangsta rap scene - it was immediately clear that Outkast were in no mood to play along with their peers. Instead, they wove a masterful, intricately crafted LP that threw in smatterings of funk, soul, country, rock 'n' roll, gospel music and reggae, smothered in a lush, warm, Southern blanket and seasoned with lyrics that ranged from the introspective to the philosophical to the mystical.
The guests on Outkast's third LP were as heavyweight as the songs they appeared on: Wu Tang's Raekwon fits the stuttering, sped-up boom-bap of Skew It On The Bar-B like a glove; George Clinton's verses on cyber-funk trip Synthesizer sound like an eccentric shaman floating through a cocktail bar run by Star Wars droids; Cee-Lo Green, Eryka Badu and Big Rube add contrasting, thoughtful layers to the extended lounge jam of Liberation. Other notable highlights include the outrageously smooth Rosa Parks, packing the most unlikely yet hilariously pulled-off, harmonica-driven hoedown midsection, and Da Art Of Storytellin' (Pt. 1), which so deftly weaves two separate tales into its cosmic narrative that a third, similarly great verse from Slick Rick didn't even make it to the album version. Truthfully, though, there are no misses here: as futuristic as its predecessor but with even more depth, experimentation and insight, Aquemini is an iron-clad classic.
1. Stankonia (2000)
If Aquemini was the sound of Outkast firmly indulging their most creative urges, Stankonia was the moment Andre and Big Boi went full kitchen sink. Jazz, blues, heavy metal, EDM, funk, disco, soul and gospel are just some of the sideways genres brought into the house of rap on this freewheeling, deliciously madcap one hour and 13 minute masterpiece. Both men are on peak form, Andre's effeminate dandyisms swirling around Big Boi's streetwise swagger in perfect sync as the duo produce some of the hardest, most thoughtful and most hilarious bars of their career (who else could make the tender broken romance of the timeless Ms. Jackson sit comfortably alongside the tongue in cheek daftness of We Luv Deez Hoez?).
There's just so much going on here: the hazy, acid rock blast of Gasoline Dreams; the ice-cold, spaced-out grooves of So Fresh, So Clean; the off-kilter, proto-trap rat-a-tat of Snappin' & Trappin'; B.O.B.'s incendiary drum 'n' bass mosh; Humble Mumble's tribalistic beats and frenetic scratches; Red Velvet's thrumming electronica and menacing percussive swings. In lesser hands, it could have resulted in an ambitious but messy dog's dinner of a record. For Outkast, it was second nature to craft a world where all these disparate elements could work in unison.
In a mainstream space dominated by gangsta rap's blinged-out victory lap and the controversy-courting antics of hyper-edgy firebrands like Eminem and DMX, Stankonia confirmed Outkast as a completely different type of hip hop force, utterly unique and unafraid to mix their peculiar brand of braggadociuos posturing with layers of vulnerability, eccentricity and straight-up silliness. Arguably, it also marked the last time Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton released a true Outkast album. In that sense, Stankonia represents both the end of an era and the most enthralling statement from one of the greatest rap groups of them all.
