Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

OuKast is an undeniable hip-hop power duo. So, of course, they chose to release a double solo album to follow up Stankonia, arguably their biggest release ever. Weird decision but one that paid off. Both Speakerboxxx and The Love Below are stuffed with bangers and clearly demonstrate what each member brings to the mix to make OutKast so damn good. Neither album feels like an OutKast album but they both feel like distillations of an OutKast album and I unashamedly love 'em both.

At first glance, this is probably not the best Outkast album for me to start with, since it's actually two separate albums by the two members that comprise Outkast. Also, it's a double album, which is a tough sell for someone who doesn't particularly like hip hop. First impressions: one thing Speakerboxxx doesn't lack for is ideas. For example, GhettoMusick mixes soul and breakbeats in unpredictable and imaginative ways. Another plus is that there is a mix of samples and live playing, which introduces a layer of complexity and richness that modern hiphop often lacks. I have more praise to offer. The rap on Unhappy is rhythmically complex, which is a nice change, and the subject matter isn't the usual hardcore bullshit. On the next song, Bowtie, Big Boi channels George Clinton. Shocker, I'm actually kind of enjoying this. This doesn't suck. Technically, it's hyper-competent, it's relentlessly creative, and Big Boi stays away from the usual hiphop cliches. And it swings. Truly, I'm shocked. Big Boi takes you on a tour of the dominant styles in R&B over the last 50 years, filtered through a hip hop lens. There's actually very little to criticize here. The wordplay is clever. The singing is good. The arrangements are competent. The production touches are on target. Okay, it's not like I'm going to ever listen to this album from start to finish for my own entertainment, but this is the first modern hip hop album I've heard that doesn't make me want to throw a brick through my speakers. More praise. Big Boi's worldview is wider and deeper than a quarter. He shows some actual curiosity about the world. For this genre, that's huge. And his sense of humor doesn't suck. Another thing that distinguishes Big Boi from someone like say Kanye is that Big Boi actually seems to understand the genres he borrows from whereas Kanye is just kitchen sink sampling and montaging without a clue. Kanye makes my brain cells die. Big Boi actually engages me. Okay, finally, on Tomb of the Boom, guest DJ's Konkrete, Big Gipp, and Ludacris get to the usual hip hop cliches (DJ bragging, gangster tropes, misogyny), but their raps are firmly tongue in cheek. They know how ridiculous and mindless these tropes are. Good for them! Yet another thing to love about Big Boi -- alone among modern hip hop artists I've heard, there's almost no Prince influence. Prince himself combined and streamlined funk, jazz, pop and rock, eliminating most of the complexities in each genre, which made him commercially successful, but kind of shallow. Since most modern hip hop is overwhelmingly indebted to Prince, it too tends to be shallow. Instead of being influenced by Prince's predigested and dumbed down genre mixing, Big Boi goes back to the source, which goes a long way towards explaining the vitality of his music. Now, there is room for improvement. Big Boi could have brought jazz into the mix. Imagine if he had brought in some hip hop sympathetic jazzbos like Uri Caine, Tim Lefebvre and Zach Danzinger to play on these tracks. That shit I'd listen to for pleasure. Now we get to The Love Below, Andre 3000's disc. Careful what you wish for. The Love Below starts out with some lame-ass quiet storm jazz ballad. Andre 3000 sweetens the pot with a wicked wah wah guitar solo, but the underlying track still sucks donkey dick. I also don't care much for his sense of humor, either. It's smug, ugly and not nearly as clever as he thinks it is. Fortunately, the music improves. Happy Valentine's Day is a decent jam, although it's marred by Andre 3000's crappy rap. Still, it's not a patch on Big Boi's expert appropriation and mixing of various strands of R&B. It's clear where the talent lies in this duo. Sigh. Andre 3000 is eclectic in the way he stitches his tunes together from disparate elements, but unlike Big Boi, he lacks taste. As for his raps, they're technically nothing special, and the content is juvenile and distasteful. God, this is going to be a chore to sit through. I feel my brain cells dying. Alright, I give up. How to rate? Big Boi's disc is damned good, so 4.5. Andre 3000's sucks, so 1. I'll split the difference.

Speakerboxxx is packed with great guests, awesome beats that still sound fresh, and Big Boi throwing his all into it. It's a 5/5. The Love Below is interesting and the one word I keep coming back to is "indulgent". It's a low 3. Pretty long project overall, but pretty worth it. Favorite tracks (Speakerboxxx): "The Rooster", "GhettoMusick", "The Way You Move", "Church" // Favorite tracks (The Love Below): "Roses", "My Favorite Things", "A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre"

Takes a tusk to the expectations of a hip hop album. A few tracks I can miss, but on the whole a great listening experience, and a modern classic

An hour and a half of Outkast is about 2 hours too much Outkast. Much like Kanye, these guys are not geniuses, and people need to stop throwing that word around like it means something.

One of the craziest, most timeless yet also dated, efforts in the history of pop music. The beginning of a new era for Big Boi and southern hip-hop and the end of an era for the mythical Andre 3000 who has become something of a hip-hop Brian Wilson. There are some good Prince comparisons to be made but 3K's music is a murky haze of influences and in this strange and unsettling sound, I think we find the likes of Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar and so many more. Big Boi's side is more or less what you expect if you're familiar with the Kast but that doesn't make it less immaculate. In both Big Boi and Andre's side, exist entire worlds, summations of everything they've witnessed thus far in their life as artists and while not every track is gonna hit you on the level of Hey Ya! or The Way You Move, I'd say it's well worth the ride.

This one takes me back to high school, I had it on repeat for a minute there. I always preferred The Love Below to Speakerboxxx, and that's still the case, but there were some songs I appreciated this time that I didn't appreciate at the time - Bowtie sticks out in that regard. It is definitely an indulgent double album - did they need to include their version of My Favorite Things? No, but I am glad they did. There's some fat they could have cut, but very few duds. It makes me happy that the hits that took over the world - especially Hey Ya - emerged from this much larger showcase of excellent songs.

It’s overstuffed and definitely bloated, but the sheer creativity and ideas explored really rivals The White Album. While I think I prefer Speakerboxxx, both “albums” have so many rich ideas and interesting sounds.

Ah rap albums and the super fucking longness of them. What a huge waste of time. This could have been a trim 45 minutes and been pretty good. Instead we get an over 2 hour bloated monster. So many shitty skits. Some songs are listenable so this avoids 1 star but just. 1.5/5

very bad, black music lost its way a long time ago

Big Boi and Andre 3000 are so uniquely talented that it was inevitable that they'd eventually go their own ways. It's lucky for us that they decided to collaborate on each other's solo albums and put them out together. The two sides stand completely on their own, but somehow still form a cohesive unit. Best track: Hey Ya!

It's so hard to rate this album. It's just so good. So so good. So perfect

Great double album where each half is equally strong. Style and theme is consistent within each side, with very few weak tracks despite the length. 9/10, pretty good

a modern classic! Both sides are so strong. I wish andre would have released more solo music. Big Boi's solo albums after this are also really strong. I feel like "hey ya" is the only track people know from here and the radio sadly ruined that song for a lot of people. I have very fond memories of dancing with two of my best college girlfriends to this album.

What is there to say? Possibly the best hip hop duo of all time making independent concept albums that sold/came out at the same time. I grew up on this shit and every song is a banger, which is saying something considering the length. Although this album did foretell the Outkast split that still saddens me today.

What an incredible achievement. It's ridiculous that I Like the Way You Move isn't sampled from some soul hit of the 60s/70s, how the hell did they come up with that. Top 5 hooks of all time. Not to mention the bass line, goddamn that would destroy a circa 2009 subwoofer. How can you not love a Ludacris feature - "I'm with some nasty hoes, eating pistachios". Matter of fact the calibre of feature artists across the record demonstrates the status they held and continue to hold on the genre. Jay Z/ Killer Mike, Cee Lo (who is likely the most often featured artist in this whole list, the man was everywhere doing everything), even Lil Jon gets his 15 seconds of OH YAYAS. And all that before we even reach Andre's half of the album. Genius move with the swing jazz intro, signals the shift to his side perfectly. His call and response conversation with lady God interlude is hilarious - "Head don't count right? Aw thanks God." Big Boi might be technically better but Andre 3000 tells a waaayy better story. Where's my panties intro into Prototype is out of this world (Tame Impala's cover of Prototype has to be mentioned here also). He's actually a very sensitive individual talking on some pretty personal topics, but still maintaining an outrageous sense of humour about it all. I love that it wasnt ended with some bring back double track but instead closes on a real unsettling reflection on the mysteries of Erykah Badu.

This is one of the most creative and unique albums in all of hip hop. A sprawling 2 CD set that essentially functions as two separate solo albums packaged together. I feel like it was a brilliant way to reconcile the age old problem of artists wanting to go in separate directions. I was a huge fan of Stankonia and Aquemini in college and was elated when this was released. I must admit I have listened to the Andre 3000 disc many more times over the years but Big Boi's disc is completely solid as well, and much more akin to their previous output. It's just that The Love Below is such a strange genre bending cocktail that I find it completely irresistible. Reminds me somewhat of Sign o the Times era Prince in many ways but goofier with and more lighthearted (for the most part). I feel like both Big Boi and Andre 3000 were both being completely true to themselves here and I love seeing things from their unique perspectives. For being iconoclasts of a sort, it's amazing how casual and natural it all comes across. I only wish they would make more music together again, but this album would be hard to top.

Holy shit a 2 hour double album. well strap in I guess. Unhappy is a mix of busy melody, groove, and a really interesting rape flow structure. The Way You Move is on this album? This is great. Church is a really cool, odd sounding song. Speakerboxx, great rap album. The Love Below is much more expiramental and I don't know where to latch on to it. The guy shouting ICE COLD on Where Are My Panties is my hero. Prototype slaps. Hey Ya kicks so much booooootaayy and then is followed up by Roses. She's Alive is a poignant song. A blistering backbeat on My Favorite Things adds a pretty awesome dimension to the song.

Fire

This album is insane i honsestly didnt think love below could be better than speakerboxx and now i honestly cant decide which i like better! So amazing!

We gotta do this in multiple sittings. This is way too much good music, way too much, packed with too many insanely good songs, that I'm gonna need a little siesta in between side 1 and side 2. Remember when I said that there is only one truly great double album– Songs In The Key of Life– and every other album is merely good in spite of its double-ness? Well, my friends, this is a DOUBLE CD. Which is a truly disgusting amount of music. We are witnessing a level of workaholism and love of the game at near unprecedented levels. This is an un-repeatable event. I can't imagine an artist today releasing such a large album that has almost NO filler. Most artists just don't have that kind of focus on the concept these days. Let alone have two creative savants in one group. Speakerboxxx: You can't deny it. This is… amazing! There are so many hit records I don't know where to start. And records that weren’t hits but should have been. There are tons of features that feel fun, complementary and chummy. There's a kind of through-line about relationship trouble, growing up together and maturing and changing, positivity amidst life's bigger problems. But man. Tons of just dumb fun. This is hip hop royalty. It doesn't get a lot better than this. At their most fun, relatable, but also hard-working and shooting high. The Love Below: I don’t think I’ve even gotten this far into the album before. Sorry Andre. I imagine I’m not alone. I usually would put this on at the gym, starting with track 1 (I’m such an album boy lol), and leg day isn’t exactly a 2 hour affair for me. Anyway. Tracks 1 and 2 just broke my brain. Why did I never get this far? Has anyone done ANYTHING even remotely like this before? This is just silly. These people are savants. So scary. If this was released today, in 2024 it would be groundbreaking today. The totally effortless use of swing/bebop, new age, jazz, then back to those quantized fucked up grooves over which Andre just floats like it’s no big deal, like he’s not even trying. We are in uncharted territory, Andre is unlocked. Blown away. Blown away. To say nothing of Hey Ya... (!) Yes, its insane runtime is just gonna turn people off, it’s a fact. That’s a shame. But what else can they do? Honestly they probably made 5 times this much music, just cut it down to 2 measly hours. This is the most impressive hip hop I’ve heard in a long time. Probably should have been 2 separate albums. Ah, now I’m doubting myself. Maybe it’s perfect just the way it is. Speakerboxxx: 4.5/5 The Love Below: 6/5 Combined: at LEAST 5/5

Plus j'en apprends sur Jim Morrison, plus je consacre mon temps libre à effectuer de nouvelles recherches sur lui à la bibliothèque de l'université. Après avoir lu entre autre qu'il n'était pas mort en 1971, qu'il était à l'origine de l'accident mortel de Claude François ainsi que de l'explosion nucléaire de Tchernobyl, je viens de tomber sur un document d'archive confidentiel totalement ahurissant. Nous sommes le samedi 11 novembre 1989 à Berlin. La ville est divisée entre Est et Ouest par un mur de plusieurs kilomètres dont les environs sont surveillés par des gardes-frontières. Ce jour-là, le mur est aussi imposant que d'habitude et n'a jamais paru aussi infranchissable. La plupart des scientifiques s'accordent sur le fait qu'il semble assez solide pour résister pendant encore plusieurs siècles. L'un des gardes-frontières remarque toutefois au matin une légère fissure de quelques millimètres de longueur. Il se dit alors qu'il faudrait la reboucher avec du plâtre mais n'a pas les outils adéquats à disposition. Il appelle donc un professionnel du bâtiment. Quelques minutes plus tard, un homme se présente au pied du mur vêtu d'une salopette bleu ciel et d'un crayon à papier derrière l'oreille (vous aurez reconnu Jim Morrison). Le garde l'accompagne à l'endroit de la fissure et lui dit de ne pas hésiter à venir le trouver s'il avait la moindre question. Une fois seul, Jim dépose sa boîte à outil sur le sol, se saisit d'un clou, le tord dans tous les sens, l'enfonce dans la fissure et lui donne quelques coups de marteau. Il se saisit ensuite d'une prise électrique et l'encastre dans le trou qu'il vient de former. Sa mission terminée, il se relève, prend sa boîte à outils et quitte les lieux. À peine une dizaine de minutes plus tard, les gardes entendent un bruit de craquements. Celui-ci s'intensifie jusqu'à ce que, contre toute attente, le mur s'écroule sur toute sa longueur dans un bruit assourdissant. L'Allemagne de l'Est et l'Allemagne de l'Ouest venait d'être réunifiées à la surprise générale, avec pour conséquence l'effondrement de la RDA puis du bloc de l'est.

Doppelalben sind mir immer ein kleines bisschen zu ambitioniert. Ich meine: Was gibt mir die Gewissheit, dass die Hörer mit ihrer beschränkten Aufmerksamkeitsspanne am Ball bleiben? Ich will mich doch an ein Album zurückerinnern und es in wenigen Sätzen beschreiben können. Nerv3000. Klar, sind einige Hits auch drauf und einige gute Features, aber alles in allem habe ich nach diesem längeren Musikprogramm nicht das Gefühl, als würde ich meinen Kindern irgendwann einem anderen Song als Hey Ya! erzählen müssen.

holds up

Depuis quelques jours, le nombre de like sur mes reviews a drastiquement diminué, ce qui me vaut de ne toujours pas accéder au tant convoité classement des 10 meilleurs critiques du site. Je me place donc en grève, en attendant une évolution de la situation.

A soft wail let out when this came up. I bought it on release, was put off by its length and the realisation that “Hey Ya!” was an outlier, and never thought of it again before it hit our page on Thursday. Sgt Pepper and Fear of a Black Planet are separated by the same number of years that have passed since Speakerboxxx/The Love Below dropped, but I still mentally file this under “contemporary”. “Hey Ya!” is an outlier, but one surrounded by outliers, and while I could only afford a single playthrough, I’m convinced of its abundant diversity and coherence. That the two solo albums cohere surprised me: a strain of rubbery, synthetic funk and surrealism binds them. Both halves are too long, maybe part of the point: this is excess about excess, and often a lot of fun. The old chapeau’s aloft for its ambition and, like the previous week’s Haircut 100 LP, bold vibes carry this beyond its low yield of bangers. I might listen to this again one day. Perhaps after I get round to reading “À la recherche du temps perdu”.

3000 has one of the sexiest rap voices, so it's funny how little it features on his sexy album. I figure he knows his singing doesn't compare, which is why his super sexy talking voice gets a good run out. Funny also how the most lauded side of this double is the least well-realised. But if The Love Below can yield multi-gazillion sales while featuring endurance tests like Vibrate and MF Doomish scratch tracks like A Day in the Life... I won't vociferate about the superiority of Speakerboxxx too much. Weirder, funnier and more focused, Big Boi thrives by plunging himself into a white hot talent pool of collaborators, challenging them to stretch the sonic possibilities of Housequake. Result is in an electric bounce so ebulliently synthetic it's positively alien. After checking the credits, one reason 3000's side doesn't sustain as well as Big Boi's triumph of collective creativity might have something to do with insularity - his is the only name listed.

This was a pretty good listen and there are several great tracks. I have to admit it was very very long and I lost patience at times, but did enjoy it overall. I prefer Speakerboxx over The Love Below. It was more diverse and progressive than I was originally expecting. Favorite tracks: GhettoMusick, Bowtie, The Way You Move, Bust, Flip Flop Rock, Reset, Last Call, Love Hater, Prototype, Hey Ya, Dracula's Wedding, My Favorite Things.

The good bits are enjoyable but there is SO MUCH stuff on here it's hard to keep any attention focused. Way too many "interludes" as was the interminable style at the time. The Love Below is a bit more varied, Speakerboxxx is better average quality. Stick to the singles probably

No. 217/1001 Intro NR Ghetto Musick 3/5 Unhappy 4/5 Bowtie 5/5 The Way You Move 5/5 The Rooster 4/5 Bust 3/5 War 3/5 Church 4/5 Bamboo 2/5 Tomb of the Boom 3/5 E-Mac NR Knowing 3/5 Flip Flop Rock 3/5 Interlude 2/5 Reset 4/5 D-Boi NR Last CALL 2/5 Bowtie NR The Love Below 4/5 Love Hater 3/5 God 3/5 Happy Valentine's Day 3/5 Spread 2/5 Where Are My Panties 2/5 Prototype 4/5 She Lives In My Lap 3/5 Hey Ya! 5/5 Roses 5/5 Good Day, Good Sir NR Behold A Lady 3/5 Pink & Blue 3/5 Love In War 3/5 She's Alive 2/5 Dracula's Wedding 3/5 The Letter NR My Favorite Things 2/5 Take Off Your Cool 3/5 Vibrate 3/5 A Life In The Day of Benjamin Andre 3/5 Average: 3,24 Really interesting listen. Some incredible songs, but ultimatly I think some songs could have been cut to make a better album.

Viel zu lang Teilweise echt anstrengend. 2 für hey ya

<3

Excellent album

Loved it 03. Love it in 20’

This really is 2 albums. I love speakerboxxx. One of my all time favourite hip hop albums. I find the love below a bit more challenging though. I think I have to give 5 stars for the strength of side A and the absolute banging singles from side B.

This album has it ALL. What a collection.

Great album

a very cool album very interesting 🥸 enjoyed the second half

ya! and it has Norah on it. perfect.

Just fantastic so much good music in one album.

come on! love this!

Outkast are great. Sorely missed. Great album

9/10. Stream of consciousness review below, but this was a really enjoyable album. Or two albums. Or whatever it was. Going to start keeping track of the weirdest alcoholic drink to be mentioned in an album, and this is winning so far with Butterscotch Schnapps (in Bowtie), which it sounded like was either being drunk straight, or combined with Bailey's. As someone with poor short term memory, it is really helpful they say Speakerboxxx every 10 minutes or so to remind me what I am listening to, it's like I'm watching Disney Channel. Rhyming "nasty hoes" with "pistachios" was a stroke of genius. Also had the most fun song about church that I have heard. It's weird to see a featured artist whose name I recognize, and weirder still that I only recognize the name because she is the live-action Ahsoka actress. Hey Ya is spectacular, of course, and it surprised me how much slower The Love Below feels in general compared to Speakerboxxx and Hey Ya. Repeating "age ain't nothin but a number" at the start of Pink and Blue got me thinking about that my great aunt flirting with one of my friends at my grad party, which distracted from the rest of the song. Dracula's Wedding is cool though. Would not have thought a 5 minute instrumental cover of My Favorite Things could be that enjoyable.

speakerboxxx 4/5, the love below 5/5. overall 5/5?

Shake it sh sh shake it

Classic OutKast, long album with lots of hits and catchy tracks

Habe das Album komplett zwei Mal durchgehört. OK, war heute auch ein Umzugstag, da hatte ich viel Zeit, aber 78 Mal OutKast am Stück, wenn das nicht fünf Sterne sind. Oben jetzt groß reinzulesen: krasser Sound für die damalige Zeit, auch die Texte machen ordentlich was her und haben den Test der Zeit bestanden (ist bei Hip Hop ja manchmal schwierig). Der Mix auf dem Album hat mich echt beeindruckt und das es trotz des krassen OutKast Hypes in den frühen 2000ern heute nicht abgenudelt klingt sagt einfach alles. Ich würde auch 6 Sternen geben.

Probably my new favorite hip-hop album of all time. Love both discs.

Funny how at the time their whole schtick was considered so scandalous and controversial, while in hindsight it’s just kinda corny. Liked the album, it was fun, not great.

Creative masterpiece. Sometimes you don't know if you're lostening to an early Aughts hio hop/rap/pop/r&b album or a 70s Stevie Wonder Record.

Speakerboxxx is the highlight. The Love Below is fun but doesn't have as many bangers. Great all around album.

Bangers

Banger after banger

A nostalgic album for me

Rating: 10/10 Best songs: all

A+ music

Yeah man, this shit is thoroughly entertaining.

When I was 14 I used to blast this on my Walkman religiously while playing Mario Kart Double Dash at all hours of the night. Anyways, super iconic album and both discs are fantastic. Could be the best double album in hip-hop history. Andre 3000 and Big Boi both deliver with the lyrics, great production, catchy hits and sweet features. An album for the ages that definitely deserved all of the success that it had.

This shit don't stink.

album a day

Mistura dub, funk, eletronic music, soul e rap. Muito bom! Um ótima surpresa ouvi-lo!

This album takes me back! I always really liked this album. Many differences and yet a unified whole between the two parts of this album.

Tem duas partes, a primeira é very energetic com batidas animadas e leva mais para o lado do rap. A segunda é um pouco mais melódica, mas com synths bem marcantes.

5

This is an album that was a soundtrack of my youth, the love below is really a work of art

Second Outkast album as prescribed by The List. Rated Stankonia as 4 stars, mainly because it was absolute overkill. This album is almost twice as long as they combined two separate albums into one.. but I always liked it much more. The song material is equally strong as Stankonia (and its predecessors) ..but the album has a much more relaxed sound, which makes it much more listenable.

What an album! I know a lot of people prefer the Speakerboxxx side, but to me the songs on there always start to sound like too much of the same towards the end. It does contain some great tracks as well, though. The Love Below is fucking weird, that's true, but it's exactly the kind of weird that I vibe with, and the songs are all absolute bops. I will admit to skipping some of the interludes on occasion, but as a concept album it is unrivalled. 5 stars!

I was tempted to give this 5 stars as at an instant. I love this album, especially The Love Below. When listening, I realised I didn't know the middle/ending part of Speakerboxxx that well, because I usually turn it off around Bamboo. I do think Speakerboxxx has an amazing energy at the start, and I also like the last song. The Love Below is great from start to finish, and therefore, I usually put on that CD rather than the Speakerboxxx one. The second CD is great melodically, it's cool, makes you feel like a boss, and finally, it's also pretty funny! I remember my dad buying this album when I was a teenager and making a copy of both CDs (including the album covers) to play in my room with the bass turned to max. Especially Roses has such a great bass. Good memories. Overall I'd give this album a high 4.5 to 5 stars, because the Speakerboxxx album lacks a bit in the middle/end part. 5 stars it is, because overall both CDs combined just are an amazing experience!

I like it

Most artists do not produce this quantity of quality music in their entire careers. To have it all packed into a double album single release is truly incredible. Hey Ya is one of the defining tracks of the 2000s, and it's not even the best track on here. I think my favorite thing may be the My Favorite Things jazz odyssey.

Amazing album. I heard all the singles long before I listened to the entire album

So good! Definitely one of my favorites so far, it was varied in topic and style, loads of different moods, excellent lyrics and so fun!

Joyful, funky and abundant, with a gazillion tracks. This gets 5 stars on the strength of Hey Ya! alone 😊

It was fun to actually listen to the album that hey ya and roses came from. Both of the albums manage to perfectly compliment each other despite being wildly different in multiple ways and offer great showcases of big boi and Andre 3000. Speakerboxx is a solid, straightforward hip hop album while the love below is a wildly creative and eclectic album of psychedelic and jazz and a million other influences. Overall, it’s a classic for more than just hey ya and although I wouldn’t relisten to the whole thing very often it’s still got enough memorable songs like the way you move and vibrate to be a 5

So good.

This was released a year after J5’s power in numbers. This album!!!! Should have given Power in Numbers 4 stars, because this album—this album is 5 stars. Lyrics, dance, culture, pushing boundaries… it’s got it all.

Incredible album I’ve listened to for years. Lives up to the reputation after all this time. High points are incredibly high. Outside of interludes, hard to find a song I wouldn’t describe as at least good to great (albeit sometimes weird).

OutKast is always a pleasure. They have a stand-out sound that sets them apart from other artists. I've never been through the whole album, so this was a great recommendation.

Classic. Two albums in one. So much creativity. So many genres. So different to everything else that came before. Stand out tracks: The Way You Move, GhettoMusick, Roses, Hey Ya!

Holy crap, I remember buying this album just for "Roses" and "Hey Ya!" but good lord, this album really opened my eyes, at a time where in my life where I thought all mainstream music was filled with 'posers & sell-outs' this felt like a breath of fresh air. (Also looking back, this album is totally inappropriate for a 12-13yo child to listen through multiple times, in particular The Love Below's half of the album). I also forgot that this was a DOUBLE album with a full 20 songs on each disc, with a total runtime of over 2 HOURS, it sill absolutely SLAPS. (Although 'Speakerboxx' is, in my opinion, the stronger of the two halves.) Basically this is two entire albums that OutKast just made their own solo albums, completed in distinct styles, however, complement each other well, and with the multitude of feats on both records, all the accolades are well deserved. Best: GhettoMusick; The Way You Move; Happy Valentine's Day; Hey Ya!; Roses Worst: Unhappy; Bamboo (Interlude); Where Are My Panties? (Interlude)

2 hrs and so solid throughout. The range. Loved it

This album is absolutely fantastic, and definitely one of the best so far. So many great songs, including legendary tracks like "Roses" and "Hey Ya". It was really impressive to see a double album generate so many hits. I personally was a bigger fan of Andre's "The Love below" but both albums are fantastic.

This is an absolute classic for a reason. Front to back bangers so unique for a double album. Features some of the decades most iconic and replayable tracks.

I'm a white, boomer male. I've found hip-hop and modern R'n'B to be boring, with R'n'B also being insipid. So a two hour album should be a chore. Not a chance! This sprawling epic is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Big Boi sticks to his genre but the addition of all these collaborators adds variety to what are superior songs. Then we get Andre who starts with jazz! Just as it starts getting a bit too much he throws in that stupendous version of My Favourite Things (huge nod to John Coltrane) and a very cool guest appearance by Norah Jones. Outstanding!

incredible stuff, the singles on here changed my life back in the day

A friend of mine had this album when it came out, and I’d hear a lot of it when hanging around his place, but hadn’t ever listened to it attentively from beginning to end. I don’t know that I was really aware that this was a two album set being each more or less a solo album. I love both “The Way You Move” (such a cool vibe) and “Hey Ya” (so much fun). It was a little surprising that The Way You Move is on the higher-energy disc and Hey Ya is on the smoother one. It is easy to see why this album is on this list. There’s a lot going on here and more to get my head around that I can in the 24 hours I have to check this out. Still, I walked away from the listen feeling like it would be worth the effort to explore this more. My initial impression is very positive. I love the variety. I very much enjoyed this ride!

so good it’s criminal

flawless. non-stop bops. long, and some real gems get lost between the bangers. obvs the singles are iconic, but some of the interim tracks are just as excellent.

This is just an absolute joy. Happy memories from nearly 20 (fuck!) years ago and shaking it like a Polaroid picture. Two albums full of bangers, corkers and crackers, including one of the best songs of the century in Hey Ya

Speakerboxxx is the more consistently great half of the two but there's still a lot to love about The Love Below.

Really long but great. I definitely liked The Love Below more. Lots of variation and genre blending. The jazz stuff was really cool and unexpected.

Such an ambitious, awesome, and FUN album

One of the few albums my partner owned that I didn't when we moved in together, which is pretty surprising, since I am the hip hop head out of the two of us! A great album, which is possibly too long, but I can't say what (except the weird instrumental version of 'my favourite things') could be cut. Two "solo" albums, releases as a double, could be a way forward for bands on the verge of breaking up! Big boi's album is straight up ATL hip hop, and brilliant, but it's Andre 3000's convincing impressions of Prince, but southern, that really stands out. Wonderful, weird, interesting and engaging, I loved it!!

(Dec 4) Speakerboxx HL: “GhettoMusick”, “Unhappy”, “The Way You Move”, “The Rooster”, “Bust”, “Flip Flop Rock” (Dec 5) The Love Below HL: “Spread”, “Hey Ya”, “Roses”, “Love in War”, ”My Favorite Things”, “Take Off Your Cool” Once again, I hear a double album that I’m not sure I’d give 5 stars to each individual disc, but I would to them combined (Mellon Collie, Songs in the Key of Life). Can’t say how this project compares to “real” OutKast albums, since this is the only full-length one I’ve heard so far, but it’s a great introduction to both member’s talents & musical influences.

This album has everything you could want from an outkast album. It’s extremely long but extremely worth it

Great lyrics and music.

Saweeeet! Listen to this many more times.

Bangers only

Excellent one of my favourites

Un tres bon album, la 2eme partie est pleine de classique et exp. J’ai bien aime mon ecoute mais c’est difficle les double album. Quand meme je recommande grandment pour kes fans du genre . 5