OutKast

OutKast's blend of nimble raps, gritty Southern soul, and the low-slung funk of their Organized Noize production crew epitomized the Atlanta wing of hip-hop's rising force, the Dirty South, for the majority of '90s through the mid 2000s. Along with fellow Dungeon Family members Goodie Mob, Dré and Big Boi took Southern hip-hop in bold and innovative directions with less reliance on aggression, more positivity and melody, thicker arrangements, and intricate lyrics replete with slang specific to their region. The duo crowned Billboard's rap chart with their first single, "Player's Ball," then embarked on an all-platinum run of studio albums that included Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (their 1994 debut), the number two Billboard 200 hits ATLiens (1996), Aquemini (1998), and Stankonia (2000), and the chart-topping Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003). The wildly exploratory latter, a diamond platinum blockbuster, yielded their second and third number one pop hits with "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move," and earned them their fifth and sixth Grammy awards, including Album of the Year. After the release of the musical film Idlewild (2006), Dré and Big Boi began working separately, though they reunited for an extensive 2014 tour, and were brought back together in 2025, when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

André Benjamin (Dré) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi) attended the same high school in the Atlanta borough of East Point, and several lyrical battles made each gain respect for the other's skills. They formed OutKast and were pursued by Organized Noize Productions, hitmakers for TLC and Xscape. Signed to Antonio "L.A." Reid and Babyface's local LaFace label just after high school, OutKast recorded and released "Player's Ball," then watched the single rise to number one on the Billboard rap chart. It slipped from the top spot only after six weeks, was certified gold, and created a buzz for a full-length release. That album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, hit the Top 20 in 1994 and was certified platinum by the end of the year. Dré and Big Boi also won Best New Rap Group of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards.

OutKast returned with a new album in 1996, releasing ATLiens that August. It hit number two and went platinum with help from the gold-selling single "Elevators (Me & You)" (number 12 pop, number one rap), as well as the Top 40 title track. Aquemini followed in September 1998, also hitting number two and going double platinum. There were no huge hit singles this time around, but critics lavishly praised the album's unified, progressive vision, hailing it as a great leap forward and including it on many year-end polls. In a somewhat bizarre turn of events, OutKast were sued over the album's lead single, "Rosa Parks," by none other than the civil rights pioneer herself, who claimed that the group had unlawfully appropriated her name to promote their music, also objecting to some of the song's language. The initial court decision dismissed the suit in late 1999. (The Supreme Court later allowed the lawsuit to proceed; the two parties eventually reached a settlement.)

Dré modified his name to André 3000 before OutKast issued their hotly anticipated fourth album, Stankonia, in October 2000. Riding the momentum of uniformly excellent reviews and the stellar singles "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson," Stankonia debuted at number two and went triple platinum in just a few months; meanwhile, "Ms. Jackson" became their first number one pop single the following February. Both of those major singles and most of the album material -- all but three contributions from Organized Noize, in fact -- were produced by a trio dubbed Earthtone III (aka André 3000, Big Boi, and David "Mr. DJ" Sheats).

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album, debuted at number one upon release in September 2003, and spawned two more number one singles: the Dré-fronted "Hey Ya!" and the Big Boi-fronted "The Way You Move." Speakerboxxx, more true to OutKast's past, could have been issued as a Big Boi solo album, while The Love Below, a diverse and playful affair, could have been an André 3000 release. Regardless of its dual nature, the set won the 2004 Grammy for Album of the Year, and also took Rap Album of the Year. As breakup rumors swirled, the duo returned with the feature film Idlewild -- a musical set in the Prohibition-era South -- and an extremely eclectic soundtrack billed as a proper OutKast album.

During the 2010s, Big Boi issued the solo albums Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours, and Boomiverse, and he also teamed with Phantogram under the name Big Grams. His growing stack of featured appearances included a verse on "Tightrope," the breakthrough single from Janelle Monáe, who he had mentored and showcased on the Got Purp?, Vol. 2 compilation and in Idlewild. Post-Idlewild, André 3000 produced and/or appeared on a series of tracks that included charting singles headlined by John Legend ("Green Light"), Beyoncé ("Party"), Lloyd ("Dedication to My Ex )," and Young Jeezy ("I Do"). Deeper into the 2010s, the likes of Frank Ocean, Future, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Solange, and A Tribe Called Quest sought him for guest roles. Amid all this separate activity, Big Boi and André 3000 reconvened for an extensive 2014 OutKast tour that consisted of festival dates across the globe.

Into the next decade, André 3000 picked up two Grammys as the featured artist on Killer Mike's "Scientists & Engineers" (Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance), then delivered his first solo album, the instrumental New Blue Sun, a Grammy-nominated culmination of his deep interest in playing woodwind instruments. OutKast's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame put Big Boi and André 3000 back on stage together in 2025. ~ John Bush & Andy Kellman