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Both of which were probably the point, I'm sure. There's certainly nothing on here that informs the listener that this disc will be nothing like The Love Below. This rap album intro makes it sound as if Speakerboxxx will sound almost exactly like the previous two Outkast albums. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below would eventually go on to sell over fifteen million motherfucking units, winning a Grammy award for Album Of The Year and sealing the fate of Outkast as we knew it. The double A-sided single 'Hey Ya!'/'The Way You Move' whetted appetite of popular music fans everywhere, with both garnering tons of spins on radio airwaves, although 'Hey Ya!' was far more accessible (more on this later). Dre's half of the project explores musical territory only hinted at on previous Outkast releases: funk, R&B, rock, jazz, drum and bass, polka, new wave, synth pop, and, yes, even rap are represented on here (the latter coming across as an afterthought, as if he snapped and realized that he didn't want to alienate his audience entirely), while Antwan stuck with what he knew. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx showcased a philosophical pimp who paid much more attention to the political events of the world around him than one would believe, and he surrounded himself with guests who shared his views (Killer Mike, various members of the Goodie MoB, Sleepy Brown) and folks who would guarantee sales (Jay-Z, Ludacris, Lil' Jon), while Andre's The Love Below only features three cameo appearances, one of which barely registers. When you subtract one or the other from the mix, you get a rapper (or in Dre's case, a 'musician') who is unencumbered by the trappings of the other's conventions, causing them to spiral out of control within their own ideas. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was both hailed and criticized by the general public: hailed because the music was good (at least, when it actually worked), but criticized because it isn't really an Outkast album. This led me to believe two things: (1) Andre's egomania had finally reached new heights, and (2) critics would be all over themselves sucking at the cock of Andre 3000. However, one strange fact stood out for me while I was reading through the liner notes: Andre helped Big Boi write and produce Speakerboxxx, but Antwan's assistance was largely ignored for The Love Below. What I expected was two albums that didn't sound even remotely related, which is what I received. LaFace Records marketed this project, rightfully so, as two solo albums packaged together: Speakerboxxx by Big Boi, and The Love Below by Andre 3000. (Shit, I may want to go listen to Aquemini after this write-up just so I can remember how good they once were.) Stankonia, Outkast's fourth effort and their most successful to this point, only drew the lines between Big Boi and Andre 3000 with a thicker Sharpie, although Andre was more willing to play ball, spitting verses as if Antwan put a gun to his boy's head, but still managing to craft memorable bits (such as 'Gangsta Shit').īy the time album number five, the double-disc Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was announced, Andre 3000 had, apparently, moved on musically. Their contrasting points of view meshed beautifully, though, resulting in what I find to be the duo's finest hour. This division on the front lines of hip first reared its ugly head on Aquemini, Outkast's third album and the first to directly reference the differences between the two men. Antwan 'Big Boi' Patton was content with elevating his Southern pimp flow to the next level, while his partner, the increasingly erratic Andre 'Andre 3000' Benjamin, decided that he didn't really want to rap anymore, choosing instead to record music in virtually every other genre (except for country and Scandinavian death metal) in an effort to become an 'artist'. In the three years between the chart success of Stankonia and the release date of their newest project, the members of Outkast underwent an identity crisis of sorts.