On this date, at the turn of the century, Big Boi and Andre 3000 dropped their fourth album entitled Stankonia on the Laface/Arista imprint.
Following up on their successful Aquemini LP, Outkast set out to challenge themselves creatively and that they did; Stankonia ended up being one of the duo’s most successful commercial albums, going gold in the first week after its release.
Some of the album’s leading singles include the baby mama drama anthem “Ms. Jackson,” the rhythmic hook of the catchy “So Fresh So Clean,” and the timely and socially conscious “Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B.).” With solid production from both Organized Noize and Earthtone III, this album is one of the South’s most impactful projects to date.
Salute to Organized Noize, 3 Stacks, Big Boi, and their entire team for bringing us such a timeless Hip-Hop classic!
On this date in 1996, Big Boi and Andre 3000 came together to release their second album ATLiens on R&B icons’ LA Reid and Babyface’s LaFace Records. On this album, the Southern playalistic duo expands their subject matter from just their urban tales from the hood to explorations of extraterrestrial life on Planet Earth.
Outkast’s most recognizable aspect of their creativity is their hooks, which is almost a trademark for the entire Organized Noize family, but really took root as Big Boi and Andre 3 Stacks signature sound on this album, with songs like “ATLiens” and “Elevators(Me And You)” spearheading the success of this album.
The commercial success of the album was proof of the duo’s ability to relay their morphing sounds to their listeners, with the ATLiens project selling one million copies in three months and reaching double platinum in less than seven years.
Shout out to Andre 3000, Big Boi, and the rest of the Organized Noize crew for this timeless piece of Hip Hop History!
At this point, the likelihood of an Outkast reunion is a faint dream. However, members André 3000 and Big Boi are united on one front — protecting their intellectual property.
According to AllHipHop, Outkast’s company High Schoolers LLC have filed a lawsuit against EDM duo ATLiens for trademark infringement.
In the paperwork, the hip-hop legends accuse ATLiens of “improper, willful, unauthorized and illegal use and registration of the ATLIENS mark,” which is owned by Outkast.
As evident in their claim, Outkast referenced ATLiens upcoming 2025 show at the Coca-Cola Roxy Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Outkast has taken issue not only with ATLiens’ selected stage name, but also its use in their merchandise, among other things.
Although Outkast acknowledges the word, made popular by their standout 1996 album, was thrust into pop culture, and as a result the world’s “cultural lexicon,” they firmly stake creative ownership of the made-up word.
“Upon information and belief, Defendant selected the name ATLIENS for their EDM duo to trade upon the tremendous fame and goodwill associated with Plaintiff’s ATLIENS album, song, and mark, or, at a minimum, to call to consumers’ minds Plaintiff’s famous ATLIENS album, song, and mark,” reads the document.
Outkast has demanded that ATLiens “permanently enjoined and restrained from, directly or indirectly” further usage of their trademark. They always also asked that the United States Patent and Trademark Office cancel the ATLiens’ live and active service mark as they attempt to “collect compensatory, incidental and consequential damages.”
On the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website, ATLiens’ mark has a notion of this request. The last of Outkast’s request include for legal fees reimbursement, and ATLiens to remove any and all online usage of their mark, which encompasses their website and social media profiles.
This seems to be a simple case for United States Patent and Trademark Office to decide, unlike Eminem’s filing againstReal Housewives of Potomac‘s Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon.
The Atlanta Braves gave out one of the all-time great bobbleheads on Tuesday night to fans that came to see them take on the Milwaukee Brewers, as they partnered with the mighty, mighty Outkast to create a bobblehead of Big Boi and Andre 3000 sitting in a Cadillac.
While Outkast night didn’t go the way they wanted to on the field, with the Braves losing 10-0, plenty of fans were still happy to collect a bobblehead of Two Dope Boyz (in a Cadillac). Unsurprisingly, the night did not feature a full Outkast reunion, as Andre 3000 rarely makes a public appearance (well, without his flute, anyway), but Big Boi was on site at Truist Park to represent for the South’s greatest rap duo and throw out the first pitch. He also joined the Braves broadcast booth in the third inning, with the Braves already down 6-0, but brought a bit of good mojo for the home team and delivered an electric call of a strikeout, telling the Brewers batter to “Go an’ sit down somewhere” after chasing a high fastball.
I also really liked the “YAH” from Big Boi as the pitch got thrown. It’s always enjoyable when guests who pop in on sports broadcasts seem to genuinely be having fun (see: literally everything Snoop Dogg has been doing at the Olympics), and Big Boi brought a little extra flavor to the Braves booth.
Lil Yachty really set the internet on fire. The rapper made several public appearances during the last few days of July, each time making a statement that incited debate. He got pushback for defending Drake in the Kendrick Lamar battle. He was chastised for leaking a song he couldn’t get a sample cleared for. The most notable Yachty, controversy, though, stemmed from his comments about fashion. He claimed that Atlanta sets the fashion trends in hip-hop, which led to lots of criticism from rappers living in the rest of the country. One of the few rappers who seemingly agreed with Lil Boat was Killer Mike.
Killer Mike hopped on Twitter on August 1 to set the record straight. He referred to the Yachty debate as “lame,” but did provide examples of Atlanta setting trends. He pointed to his Dungeon family mentor, Big Boi, in particular. “I have Zero Interest in this lame ass debate,” he wrote. “BUT Big Boi Started the Throw Back Jersey Trend with that cold a*s Houston Astros Jersey.” He then noted that Ye, despite his Chitown roots, gave proper credit to the Outkast rapper. Ye’s impact on hip-hop fashion goes without saying, but Killer Mike said it regardless. “Kanye (Atlanta Born) set the record straight on that, God Bless Him,” he wrote. “Honorable Mention the ‘Flip Flop’s and Sox’ look was Some sh*t from the Dungeon Family.”
Killer Mike Claims ATL Has Influenced All Pop Culture
I have Zero Interest in this lame ass debate BUT, Big Boi Started the Throw Back Jersey Trend with that cold ass Houston Astro’s Jersey. Kanye (Atlanta Born) set the record straight on that, God Bless Him. Honorable Mention the “Flip Flop’s and Sox” look was Some shit from the… https://t.co/6VhlvS5zIOpic.twitter.com/sEaWnCoaa9
Mike included a photo of Big Boi rocking the aforementioned Astros jersey as proof. A Twitter user went the opposite direction and claimed that Phife Dog actually started the throwback jersey trend. Killer Mike respectfully disagreed. “[Phife] was a sports fan and inspired us all,” he wrote back. “With that said, the Throw back Era is Something Big Boi who is also like us a Tribe Fan Started in 98 with that Black Ice Vid Houston Jersey. Long Live Tribe and Kast.” The rapper continued to go back and forth with fans about the specificity of throwbacks, and the relevance of sports merchandise within the genre.
Killer Mike and Lil Yachty are about as far apart as artists can be. That said, the former has also repped Atlanta in his music and art. During a 2023 appearance on the Hip-Hop Made podcast, Mike claimed that the ATL has influenced every element of popular culture for decades. “When they say Atlanta influences everything it’s true,” he declared. “If you’re talking about Black culture in America, you talking about ATL, Georgia, and I’m not just talking about the last 25 years… I don’t think you can talk any Black culture — Rock n’ Roll, Blues, and Gospel — without talking about Atlanta.” Yachty may have ditched the internet due to the East Coast backlash, but he’d be pleased to know Killer Mike is in his corner.
Andre 3000 dropped several gems during his recent appearance on The Shop. He discussed taking hatred from others and using it to fuel creativity. He also talked about his experiments with jazz, and how it’s freed him up to do whatever he wants. The most fascinating revelation, though, was when the show’s other guest, Sexyy Red, asked about his iconic speech at the 1995 Source Awards. Andre 3000 reflected on the speech, before admitting that he doesn’t really remember what he said.
Sexyy Red was born in 1998, so she inquired about the intention of the speech during their Shop talk. Andre 3000 told the younger rapper that his memory of being onstage was hazy. “I don’t even remember the whole thing,” he admitted. What he did remember, however, was the sense of frustration he felt in the years leading up to the Source Awards. “N**gas hating on the South at that point,” he said. “I remember being really angry and driven because we’ve been creating this music, man. We’ve been in the Dungeon. And we just felt like, ‘Y’all don’t get it.’”
Andre 3000 Recalls Being Extremely Nervous On Stage
The reason why Andre 3000 struggles to remember his speech was because he was extremely nervous while giving it. “It was not planned,” he admitted. “It looked brave, but I was nervous as a motherf*cker. I was just angry, man.” Three Stacks, who was one half of Outkast at the time, felt that the South was not being afforded the same respect that New York was. Further adding to the frustration was the fact that both Andre and Big Boi were fans of the NY sound. “We love New York,” he said. “We grew up on all New York music, man. I just felt like, I don’t know, it just came out. And I just said that.”
Andre 3000’s speech has since been lionized by fans. It’s a classic moment in both Source and Southern hip-hop history. It was so prominent, in fact, that Outkast used audio from the speech on their 1998 song “Chonkyfire.” The phrase that Andre 3000 uttered towards the end of his speech has become a rallying cry of sorts for the entire South. They had something to say, and so did Three Stacks. Even if he doesn’t remember it clearly.
Andre 3000 has too many classic verses to count. That being said, his turn on “Int’l Players Anthem” might be one of his most celebrated. It’s quotable, eccentric, and it all plays out before the drums to the main instrumental kick in. It distinguishes Andre’s verse from the other rappers on the song, aka Big Boi and UGK. As beloved as the verse and the song is today, though, Pimp C was not happy when he first heard it. The things that make it unique are the very things that rubbed the UGK rapper the wrong way.
Andre 3000 shared this anecdote during his recent appearance on The Shop. He recounted the making of the song, and his unorthodox choice to remove the drums from his verse. He sent the verse back with just the sample, and Pimp C was livid. “Pimp was so mad at me,” Andre 3000 recalled. “Because they sent the beat and I wrote my verse, put my words down and I took the beat out for me to rap.” Pimp C wasn’t disappointed with the bars, but he felt like the song had been changed without his permission. “Pimp was like, ‘Fuck this muthaf*cka, man! This n**ga done goddamn took my beat out,” Andre said. “Who the f*ck he think he is?!’ He was really mad at the choice that I had made to take the beat [out].”
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Andre 3000 told The Shop hosts that others made the case for keeping the verse the way it is. “I don’t know if it was Bun [B] or somebody,” the rapper called. “They were like, ‘Nah, but you don’t understand, when that beat drop, though, it sets it off.’ So it’s almost like a set-up. So it worked, and once he got that, he was like, ‘Okay, okay.’” The gamble paid off. “Int’l Players Anthem” peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was UGK’s first and only entry on the charts, and remains their most successful single.
While The Shop episode marks the first time Andre 3000 has shared the Pimp C story, a similar anecdote was shared by A&R Jeff Sledge during a 2016 appearance on the A Waste of Time podcast. The change in Sledge’s version was that it was him, not Bun B, who urged Pimp C to keep Andre’s verse without the beat. “Let’s rock it like that,” the A&R recalls saying. “Because when Andre doing acapella and then when the beat drops, that’s when your verse drops. And then your verse is gonna lift the record up because now the beat is rocking and your verse is kicking.” Whoever made the call, we’re thankful.
André 3000 tracks played an important role in the 1990s and helped Southern hip-hop move further into the limelight. Born André Lauren Benjamin, André 3000rose to prominence as one-half of the hip-hop duo OutKast. His partner in music was Antwan “Big Boi” Patton. The Southern hip-hop group originated in Atlanta, Georgia, and rose to national prominence off the strength of their first single “Player’s Ball.” Sean “Diddy” Combs, who filmed a music video, created part of the buzz around the song. He subsequently invited the group to open for The Notorious B.I.G. in New York.
After releasing a series of six critically and commercially successful albums across 15 years, OutKast went on an (almost) indefinite hiatus. During their run, the group released many iconic tracks. Each one built upon and spotlighted the Atlanta rapper’s status as a songwriter and rapper. This article hones in on seven essential André 3000 songs. Let’s jump in now.
“Hey Ya” (2004)
“Hey Ya” is quite possibly the most famous OutKast song of all time. The song was released as one of the two lead singles for 2004’s double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The track was extremely popular, reaching No. 1 in six countries and becoming the first iTunes song to reach one million downloads. André 3000 performed and wrote the track, with writing help from various session musicians over a multi-year period. Since its release, the song has appeared in numerous “best of” song lists.
“Da Art Of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)” (1999)
The third single off of OutKast’s third album Aquemini, “Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)” a variety of publications have ranked the track as one of OutKast’s best. Confusingly, the song was released on the same day as Slick Rick’s album The Art of Storytelling — and Slick Rick is also featured on the single version of the song. In the track, André 3000 skillfully builds up and humanizes an unexpected figure: a pregnant drug user. André raps about their heart-to-heart conversation on a curb: “Talkin bout what we gon be when we grow up / I said what you wanna be and she said, ‘Alive.’” The subject matter and unusual approach easily make it one of the best André 3000 songs.
“Crumblin ‘Erb” (1994)
Although “Crumblin ‘Erb” wasn’t a single on OutKast’s 1994 debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, it might be the record’s hidden gem. When that album first dropped, The Source called this track “a slanky cathartic groove…for anyone who has ever had the hapless feeling of watching your peoples try extinction on for size.” Here we find André 3000 tackling the subjects of selfishness and violence in the South with a reluctant nonchalance. All that aside, this track’s catchy chorus alone lifts it up as one of the group’s best.
“Dracula’s Wedding” (2004)
André 3000 takes on the unexpected role of Dracula in this 2004 track. He’s preparing for his wedding, and his bride-to-be is the singer-songwriter and chef Kelis. The song is notable for displaying the speaker’s anxiety over being married, despite the woman being “all [he] ever wanted.” This comes after centuries of the vampire terrorizing endless amounts of people. Fans were excited when a comic-style music video for the song dropped at random last October, nearly 20 years after its initial release. The sheer imagination and strange humor on the track make it a classic André 3000 track.
“The Whole World” (2001)
“The Whole World” was one of four new OutKast tracks to appear on 2001’s compilation album, Big Boi and Dre Present… OutKast. The rest of the album collected songs from their first four full-lengths. The music video is notable for its high-production recreation of a circus. André 3000 appears as a magician with Día de los Muertos-style facepaint. The song won a Grammy for Best Rap Song Performance by a Duo or Group. It also featured a memorable verse from Killer Mike.
“Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” (2007)
This song by UGK has OutKast as a feature. It was recorded around the same time that OutKast was putting together their final album Idlewild. The first verse is delivered by André 3000, and the music video centers around his fictional wedding. While certain aspects of the wedding are outlandish – like André donning a red kilt – the sentiment of his verse is palpable. The verse catalogues the rapper’s experiences as he moves on from a life of flings and casual relationships and decides to enter into a lifelong commitment.
“Roses” (2004)
No list of André 3000 songs is complete with the addition of “Roses.” This track also came out on 2004’s double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. It’s essentially a diss song, though it doesn’t target a single person – rather, superficial women in general. The iconic chorus is impossible to forget: “I know you’d like to think your s*** don’t stank, but / Lean a little bit closer, see / Roses really smell like boo-boo-ooh….” The track peaked at number one on both the US Hot Rap Songs and Australian Urban charts.
On this day in Hip Hop history three decades ago, OutKast, the duo that helped pioneer putting southern Hip Hop on the map, released their debut classic LP, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
This Dungeon Family masterpiece recorded by Andre 3000 and Big Boi paved the way for Atlanta and the rest of the Dirty South to have their unique voice in Hip Hop. Before this album, there weren’t many hit records coming from anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. Peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200 and being certified platinum less than a year after its release, this album’s achievements speak for themselves.
Produced entirely by OutKast and Organized Noize, this project was like none before. Its sound is perfectly described as southern rap. Everything about this album screams Atlanta, from the dialect to the instruments used to the references. The smooth blues and marching band-influenced beats blend with Big Boi and Andre 3000’s flows, creating something new that rippled the tide of an industry saturated with G-Funk or New York Hip Hop.
Both commercially and critically, this album was immensely successful. It peaked at #20 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop charts. This album was also the reason OutKast received the Best Newcomer Award at the 1995 Source Awards, which, as we all know, was met with controversy. Regardless of the haters, this album came at the beginning of the career of two rappers who changed the game forever.
Last year, Andre 3000 released his long-awaited debut solo album New Blue Sun. The project surprised and divided much of his fanbase as it saw him shifting his style away from rap entirely into ambient jazz music which prominently featured him playing the flute. Many fans praised his willingness to step so far outside of his comfort zone and try a new style, while others were disappointed that they waited so long specifically for a new rap album from 3k.
Now during a recent performance he gave even more insight into how he arrived at the shift in style. A video captured by a fan depicts his discussion of the process. “‘How you just gon’ be rapping and then just get on stage playing f*cking flutes? Like, I didn’t plan to be the flute n*gga. I didn’t plan to be that. It just kinda, like, it happened. When I started rapping, I didn’t know what it would be. It was just me and Big Boi at the crib watching rap videos,” he explained. “We all freestyling. We all making this shit up as we go along. We have intentions but we don’t really know,” he concluded. Check out the full video below.
Earlier this month, Andre 3000 reunited with his former Outkast partner Big Boi. Unsurprisingly, Big Boi had some jokes to crack about the new artistic direction Andre has been on, but it was obviously all in good faith. Andre also revealed in an interview that Big Boi shared his reaction to New Blue Sun after hearing it. He expressed pride in his fellow rap legend’s commitment to shifting his aesthetic.
What do you think of Andre 3000’s comments on how he arrived at his new style of ambient flute music? Do you believe him that he never set out to drastically shift genres and it just happened to work out that way? Let us know in the comment section below.
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