OutKast

OutKast is the Atlanta-based duo of rappers Dre (Andre Benjamin) and Big Boi (Antwan Patterson), who met in high school and developed somewhat of a lyrical rivalry before teaming up out of respect for each other's skills. Good thing, because the group would go on to put the South on the hip-hop map and -- as of this writing -- release four albums without a clunker among them, exploring different styles of rap and pushing sonic boundaries while exercising two of the dopest flows in the game.

The cover of the group's 1996 album Aquemini characterized the two rappers as the player (Big Boi) and the poet (Andre). This dichotomy well describes their respective rhyming styles. Big Boi's deep, slick voice slips skillfully through his dextrous raps with a laid-back gangsta cool. Andre, he of the flamboyant, Bootsy-style outfits, drops flows dripping with a wide-mouth Southern drawl. But while oozing with grease like good fried chicken, his delivery is always crisp and smooth, even when tackling rapid-fire tongue-twisters.

From the group's dirty-South debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik through the THC-laden meditations of ATLiens, the breakthrough bump of Aquemini, and the wide-screen experimentalism of Stankonia, OutKast has contributed enough to hip-hop's canon to be considered one of the most productive and important groups of its era.

Album reviews

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Arista (2003)
The fifth OutKast album is a double; one by each member of the duo. The Gangsta Mack and Cupid Valentino are at it again.

Stankonia
LaFace (2000)
When Andre Benjamin spits, "We are the coolest mutha-funkers on the planet" on the trippy "So Fresh, So Clean," he's perfectly described his group OutKast and their fourth record Stankonia.

Aquemini (Recommended)
LaFace (1998)
For years the rap game only had two teams -- the West coast and the East coast. But Outkast not only put the Dirty South into the running, they have given it a distant lead.

ATLiens
LaFace (1996)
Outkast really threw their fan base for a loop with this sophomore LP.