Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Really wanted to like it more, but it was just so all over the place, and not just that it was a double feature.

Not too bad. I think I need to relisten to this one in the car.

делюкс версия адски длинная; всё это намного хорниер чем я ожидала

nice

Solid album, it's a long one but awesome that there are two such different but complimentary styles on the different discs. I'm a much bigger fan of the Andre 3000 side but both are pretty good. Standout Tracks: The Way You Move, Bust, War, Last Call, Happy Valentine's Day, Spread, Hey Ya!, Roses, Behold a Lady, Dracula's Wedding

Some great tracks but too much filler -album over 2 hours long

it's good, but it's a lot

There is a lot of cool stuff in here. But it's all burried because the record is just too long.

Fun album, but so long. Ofcourse this is actually 2 albums in 1, but still.

6/10

It's fine. Way too long though. There is only so much of Outkast I can stand...

This is a good album but it overstays its welcome. 3/5

The album that never ends. Would have been great to just split into two separate albums. Hey Yeah is a classic though. The rest is great, but just too much.

good

massa o som, mas meio longo demais o disco

I won't listen to it again, but I see why it's here. Not my music for the most part, but I did save Roses to my everyday playlist.

Fínt, en nenni varla 2 tímum í þetta.

This album was way, way too long. But it was really great, it's clear the influence it has had even today with artists like Thundercat.

This is great, but it suffers from being way too long, even for a double album. The Big Boi album dragged for me, but there are a few tracks I loved, especially "The Rooster" which is so P-Funk and so good. Andre 3000's record is the weirdest, catchiest, most interesting record I've listened to in a long time. It's also completely hilarious. "Hey Ya" is still one of the best pop songs of the last 30 years.

Beaucoup trop long comme album. Je comprends que ce sont deux albums avec des ambiances différentes, mais tout de même. J’apprécie le fait qu’ils ne font pas la production comme tout le monde. C’est plein d’influences d’autres styles musicaux et j’aime ça.

Not at all my cup of tea, but I managed to listen it. I'll give it 2 and a half stars.

It was ok. Not my genre but I can appreciate their talent.

Hey ya song. The rest is forgettable

08/21/2022 The great thing about outkast is that they transcend genre. Big Boi shines on his first half of the album, Andre’s second half frankly falls a bit flat. I personally thought a lot of the songs were pretty dumb, although there are a few favorite gems hidden in there. This album tends to drag a bit after a while, and isn’t fully cohesive. Nevertheless, still better than basically anything released today. — Although this was assigned to me yesterday, I’m writing this review on the 22nd. Today I start classes. Yesterday was rough, but today we will overcome and rise above. Anxious to see how each day progresses….

The Love Below finnst mér miklu betri en Speakerboxxx. Miklu betri væb þar. Þannig að nay og yay.

Il y a vraiment des bons moments sur l'album, mais il est trop long et ça vient diluer le bon contenu. The Love Below est clairement supérieur à Speakerboxx

It's very long so it's hard to judge after only 1 day of listening having only heard the hits before. There are some really great moments on this album. I think it could do with a bit of editing and then perhaps it could be a 4. I will be re listening to this one.

This was a tough album to rate, as Speakerboxxx and The Love Below are basically two separate albums. I loved Speakerboxxx and will likely listen to it again. I thought The Love Below was super inconsistent track to track and difficult to get into.

Better than I was prepared for but still not for me

I wanted to like it more but found it pretty average, outside of a few hit tracks. It was very long since it's a double LP.

I've done quite a bit of heavy petting to The Love Below. During my gap year, I spent my days exploring my then-girlfriend's internal plumbing. She was rather a fan of the Andre 3000 half of this, and as such she often put it on to accompany our fumblings. She objected when I played the Happy Mondays for the same purpose, and from thence the relationship was doomed. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below originated with Andre 3000 developing a few tracks for a solo project, pursuing a kaleidoscopic vision leagues away from yer traditional southern hip-hop album. When he contacted Big Boi about his masterplan, Big Boi then started pursuing his vision of a southern hip-hop album. The result of all this independence was this product, two albums nestling together in the same CD case. And they're okay. Several songs from both albums will always please, but the cumulative effect is exhausting and exasperating, not ravishing. The first issue is, obviously, length. Speakerboxxx stands at nearly an hour, and The Love Below gluts out at 80 minutes. Both albums are pimpled with tedious skits (10 of the gits!) that don't go anywhere and fail to entertain. Speakerboxxx also suffers that similar hip-hop album curse of dipping in the middle due to elephantiasis. But if Speakerboxxx has elephantiasis, The Love Below has brachiosauriasis. Andre 3000 channels his inner Prince in composing this, and unfortunately includes all of Prince's faults, principally those of self-indulgence and a complete lack of quality control. Sometimes, the music is inspired, and Andre 3000 successfully fulfils that role of the fill-time dreamer (I've always liked Roses' proverb that "real guys go for real, down-to-Mars girls"). But for every Hey Ya! and Roses, there are four songs of directionless synthy funk that sound rather like Steely Dan, and that comparison isn't complimentary. And I must surely speak for the majority when I say that the incorporation of the melody to My Favourite Things in anything remotely reminiscent of hip-hop should warrant at least 18 months hard labour. Why does that keep happening? So, a work intended to be of epic scope and ambition ends up two passable-but-bloated albums with just not enough great songs. Big Boi is a playa in a game that's not that interesting, and Andre 3000's spiritual quest has left him aspiring to be a manic pixie dream boy. Why couldn't she like the Mondays?

I love Outkast but I would pick most any album of theirs over this. Which is not to say this is a bad album - but it is atypical for OutKast as effectively two solo albums released as a double. You rarely get Big Boi and Andre 3000 on the same track and certainly not pairing their lyrical flow across verses. And whilst it is great to hear them let loose individually, there is definitely a sense of quantity over quality which could easily have been solved by a selection of the best from each side. There is a LOT of meandering, aimless sketches, repetitive grooves, peculiar subjects and a lack of focus. Dre sings more than raps - nobody wants to miss out on his great flow! And it pains me to say it. Let’s look at the pluses - there’s a reason Roses, The Way You Move and the globe conquering Hey Ya! (still makes you want to get up and move even on the morning commute) were successful singles - they picked the highlights! They could have done the same for the whole album.

Couple great songs. Otherwise listening to a double album can get long.

Well, this album complies with many or maybe all of the tricks to get into this list: huge hits, it has an unusual and experimental format, and was issued by a respected artist. It is the true sum of its parts, if it was published as two separated albums I don’t imagine it would have made it, maybe the love bellow… if it was a single effort with the let’s say, 12 best tracks it would not be here either. The first half is a good effort but its a generic 00’s hip hop album. The second half is quite experimental and has some great moments (as does the first half), and it brings some good memories from back in the day. I think it’s a 3/5

It was ik

This album is unique and enjoyable hip-hop, but the length of the project is not justified, as there are a lot of half-baked songs that are a bit mind-numbing to listen to.

Didn’t finish - too goddam long. However, I loved the production on it, the flows were great, and it was a ton of fun. Big fan of the killer mike features. There weren’t any major standout songs and I don’t think I’d constantly bump this though.

Way too long. I definitely preferred speakerboxxx, and would have rated that a 4 on its own. The love below had a couple great songs but was too long with too many interludes

Although long, it was a great soundtrack to work to today. Knew the hits of course, but never listened to the whole album. Generally pretty good - I enjoyed the variety

Hats off to Outkast for attempting this length of album. They have always pushed the boundaries of what hip-hop can be and this is no different. Whether the boundary pushing two separate albums as one thing came about because of "artistic differences" who really knows but as with most double albums, if the fat was stripped off this and it was condensed to a single album, there is a really great record here. And as with most successful duos, it is clear from this experiment that they are better together and much more than the sum of their parts. Speakerboxxx is a solid hip-hop album containing a handful of bangers that doesn't quite hit the heights of previous Outkast efforts. Frankly, what it is missing to elevate it is some Andre 3000 gold dust. On The Love Below Andre 3000 drops rapping almost entirely in favour of space aged funk. Prince is a very obvious influence but the album falls well short of that type of greatness. Here again, the missing ingredient seems to be the absent partner. I can't help feeling that Big Boi's hip-hop grounding would have prevented a lot of these tracks disappearing into nothingness. Experimental nothingness, but nothingness nonetheless.

Wow, that is a heck of a lot of music. Two hours, 39 tracks...okay, took a while. What a variety of sounds and styles. Impressive. I tend to like the tracks from the The Love Below a little better. Overall, though, there is a tremendous amount of range in this double album and a lot of it is quite good.

More mashup than hip hop. And that is a good thing. I could honest see myself hanging with these guys, talking music.

El primer disco puag. Pero el segundo bastante bien. Tiene Hey ya!

Sprawl. Good sprawl though.

Wow there's some exemplary hooks, interludes, beats, melodies, rap, and sounds all what we expect from OutKast on this record. There's bangers like The Way You Move on there. HOWEVER, this is just way too long. I don't really think any album needs to be this long and no album has ever really made me change my mind on that before. For this reason, I much prefer Stankonia as an album and I can't even put this in my 4 star box. Such a shame.

Preferred the love below tracks.

So long, so very long...but I enjoyed it more than Stankonia. But so long.

Good, but WAAAAAAYYYYYYY too long. Come on, guys. Enough already. 3/5

Long but enjoyable

Hey Ya slaps. Big boi is somehow still overrated despite not really being rated

It's way too long and all over the place and doesn't live up to its predecessors, but also there is so much great stuff within it that it's still an enjoyable project (though it's crazy that Aquemini didn't make it onto the list)

This was interesting (and long) but I didn't love it. Just not my style. I liked The Love Below better than Speakerboxxx - just a bit more musical and less rap-oriented. 3 stars for the effort.

honestly this was a strange album because it was all over the place but i liked it? i knew a couple songs and i thought it was pretty groovy.

3/5

Mezcla de rap y funk de canciones con ritmo y estilos. Para escuchar en diferentes ambientes. No es mi estilo, pero se puede escuchar, y es una oportunidad para descubrir otras variantes.

Way to long for my tastes- got some bangers in there for sure. Second half is WAY better imo.

Niet helemaal geluisterd, maar vond ik wel interessant klinken.

Als je al die rommel aan interludes en rare korte 'grappig bedoelde' dingetjes eruit zou donderen, dan blijft er een heel aardige, energieke plaat over. Dus ik doe gewoon alsof ik die opvullers allemaal niet gehoord heb, en dan krijgen ze gewoon 3 sterren van me.

classic

Several 5* songs - incl Hey Ya, one of the best ever - but too scattered and way too long overall.

Not bad, but not their best

This is Outkast at their most experimental, and nearing the end of their time as a group. Overall this was a fun one for me to revisit.

Très gros album, sûrement le meilleur du groupe. J’aime le concept d’avoir deux albums différents. À l’époque je préférais The Love Below. Je crois que c’est encore le cas, mais les beats de Speakerboxxx sont très bons, mais rien de mémorable. Hey Ya! est la meilleure pièce du disque, voir du groupe.

So long

A lot to listen to

Long album and I did not have time today to give it a full listen. Hey Ya is a great song though and while hip hop is not a genre of mine, I bounced around the double album to get a flavor of it. 3

You don’t always have to understand art to appreciate and even enjoy it: Stanley Kubrick’s '2001: A Space Odyssey,' or Jackson Pollock’s abstract ‘drip’ paintings. Or, 'The Love Below,' the second half of OutKast’s double LP. (More accurately, this is not so much a double album as it is two separate LPs.) Other than the general theme of love/sex, I couldn’t make much sense out of Andre 3000s lyrics. Nor did I understand the inclusion of so many other things besides rap, like the seemingly random snippets of conversations (‘God [Interlude]’ or ‘Where Are My Panties.’) He actually ends the LP with an unfinished rambling stream of consciousness number including the statement, ‘and that’s as far as I got.’ And I’m not even going to ask what a ‘macaroni’ n-word is. On ‘Love Hater,’ he sings that ‘everyone needs someone to love,’ but then in the chorus, ‘Love hater, hater of love.’ So, which is it? And is Andre the love hater, or someone else? Hmmm… Again, while much of Andre’s lyrics were lost on me, I very much enjoyed the general sound he creates in the background- trip hop. Spacey, cool, and very danceable. Yeah, I dug it as much as a 62 year old middle class white guy living in a suburb of Denver can. I was already familiar with the LP’s big hit, ‘Hey Ya,’ and it’s a hit for a reason, one of the best offerings of the bunch. (The video is pretty clever, too.) I’m also a fan of John Coltrane’s free jazz so I really enjoyed the sampling of his astounding tenor sax version of ‘My Favorite Things’ with an equally fantastic piano solo, all set against a superfast synthesized beat. Now, Big Boi’s (the other member of the OutKast duo) side one, 'Speakerboxxx' (triple x rated, get it?), that’s a whole other matter. I did understand much of what Big Boi was rapping about, unfortunately: sex (with no mention of love), violence, substance abuse, prison. Big Boi highlights some of the issues concerning 21st century black Americans, but never offers any helpful solutions. More unfortunately, he sometimes glorifies the sex and violence. On the positive side, though, his side also contained some lovely harmonies (‘The Way You Move’) ala the mighty 1970s R&B band, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and a generous amount of tremendously vicious beats. Every bit as danceable as Andre’s side, albeit with a much darker edge. In addition to the massive amount of lyrical content and sampling throughout, this double LP is also loaded with guest artists (too many to name, but the R&B diva Patti LaBelle is the first to appear) that pop in and out like the little creatures in the whack a mole game. Be sure you have plenty of time to listen to this recording. You might even want to make a sandwich or two to have on hand. Take the dog out first. A catheter might be helpful. I have a friend who is a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition who gave me some advice concerning the massive amount of words chanted during the Divine Liturgy. ‘It’s too much to comprehend,’ I complained. ‘Too many words coming too fast for too long a time!’ His advice? ‘Just let all those words wash over you, and listen with your heart rather than your mind. The service is not about comprehension as much as experience, a foretaste, of heavenly glory.’ Maybe that’s good advice for listening to 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,' as well, on its own different terms. And that’s as far as I got.

Hip hop is generally not my favorite genre. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but not enough to buy it.

надо вернуться, пока норм

Some 4- and 5-star tracks for sure, but A LOT of filler.

Not bad not bad...

honestly I'd never expect that I will rate this album so low, I knew some of the songs and classics like Hey ya or Roses are pure masterpieces, but damn, 40 songs, it killed me. None album should be this long, I mean I know that we got 2 discs here, but it's still too much. Still 3,5 tho, unique vibe and hip hop legacy, Andre is a genius

Ups and downs throughout. Lyrically its a bit hit and miss - the singles are all pretty good, as are the few songs which give the artists room to show vulnerability. When it's about a desired or despised woman though, the lyrics can get pretty lowbrow - and in an uncomfortable way, not a fun way. When its good though, it gets almost wholesome, which is not a word I expected to be applying. Musically its much more consistent, solid beats and catchy tunes almost all the way through, which is saying something for a ~2 hour long double album. Very impressive also how the two halves feel distinct, but cohesive - no doubt a much harder balance to strike than they make it look. This still isn't really my kind of music but I can't deny that its very well put together.

40 songs, 2 hours... this album is a commitment.

OutKast's double-album is ambitious project that ultimately suffers from it's length. There are some certified classics on here, though. They are so good that they outshine the other songs on the album. If I had it my way, I'd cut out the filler from both albums and combine them into one.

Shorter list if was who didn't play on this/these albums. Watch "Be Cool", Andre 3000 is great along w other stars. I like that it has good singing.

Such a long and huge double album. I've always been more into Andre 3000, and The Love Below is definitely the better half of this in my opinion. The singles are obviously great, and the deeper cuts on Love Below still got me good, but I'm just not as big a fan of Speakerboxxx. Southern Hip Hop just isn't my jam. This would be a 4.5 for me if you cut it down to one album. Best tracks from both. But it's just a 3.

I've always had a complicated relationship with hip-hop. Like most middle-class suburban kids, my introduction to hip-hop was in the form of Eminem (I am currently sitting down as I am not the real Slim Shady), and soon after, Outkast. This was would later be followed by the proliferation of the clubby, flashy gangsta rap that put me off hip-hop for a long while. Without delving too much into my on-again-off-again thing (thang?) with the genre, I am just going to come right out and say that Stankonia was Outkast's best work. Unlike Speakerboxx/The Love Below, Stankonia saw the duo at their peak, greater than the sum of their parts. In retrospect, Speakerboxx/The Love Below was a foreshadowing of the pair's eventual break up, primarily due to creative differences. If anything, this double album would be prime evidence of their contrasting ways. Speakerboxx, the half by Big Boi (the guy on the left) started strong, but the vibrant, cacophonous funk, broken by excessive interludes, made this feel tiresome quickly. While it did still feature a fair amount of rap, with appearances by Killer Mike and Ceelo Green amongst others, I could not help but feel that Speakerboxx lacked the urgency and mania that made Outkast so damn catchy. The Love Below, the second hour(?!) by Andre "3000" Benjamin, did little to cut through the bloatedness of the first half. While there were some really cool tracks and unlikely features, and a conceptual narrative to boot, The Love Below felt less like an album and a little more like a soundtrack to a love affair that starts, blooms, flounders and dies. As a standalone work, one could wonder if The Love Below might actually be worth a listen (this writer says "yes"), but after the first hour that was Speakerboxx, ones' aural tummy cannot help but feel numb and force-fed.  Overall, I did enjoy Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but not without having to drag myself through it at some points, and wondering aloud if the album would have worked better as an hour outing, sans the some of the interludes. I'm sorry Ms Jackson. I am for real.

A few really great songs on here, but most of it doesn't appeal to me.

Overly long double album with filler and minimal killer

Way way to long

Good God. No album should be that long. 'Hey ya!' and 'My favourite things' are pretty great tho.

Aj karamba, o ile liczylem na outkastow na liscie, to jednak mialem cicha nadzieje, ze bedzie to stankonia lub cos bardziej klasycznego, a tworca listy postawil na najbardziej sprzedane wydanie grupy, ktore jest przedostatnim albumem w dyskografii duetu, a raczej podwojnym albumem, bo jak / w tytule wskazuje sa to dwa projekty wydane za jednym razem jako podwojny krazek, speakerboxxx od big boya i the love below andre 3000, dwa tak rozne krazki, ze ciezko bedzie jakos ocenic je jako calosc, bo strona big boya, to wszystko z czego poludniowy hip hop jest znany, wiec funkowo jazzowe beaty z mocnymi elementami basiorowymi, teksty w ktorych glownymi motywami sa problemy spoleczne, ale ubrane w taki sposob, zeby jednak przyjemnie sie tego sluchalo, stad big boiowa persona jest tutaj prawdziwym donem reprezentujacym poludniowy rap, rowniez lista featurow speakerboxxxa dosc jasno wskazuje, ze jest to rapowy album, bo pojawia sie chocby jay z, goodie mob, czy killer mike, ta strona ma 56 minut na 19 kawalkach, zarowno tutaj jak i na the love below mnostwo jest skitow intr i outr, wiec nie jest to najbardziej gladki album autoplejowy jaki mozna sobie wymarzyc, ale dopiero druga strona pokazuje jak ciezki jest to material, bo czesc od andre jest tak eksperymentalna, ze w niektorych momentach wrecz wywracajaca czlowieka zarowno kontentem lirycznym jak i muzycznym, bo o wiele wiecej tutaj romancu, tak duzo, ze ciezko stwierdzic zeby druga strona mowila o czyms innym niz tylko amorach i jego roznorakich aspektach, o wokalnych performansach pana 3k ciezko powiedziec cos wiecej poza tym, ze szalenie ambitnie wymierzyl skale w jakiej bedzie tutaj spiewac, jak czytalem to wszystko bylo nagrywane na chacie, wiec pozwolil sobie na tak wysokie darcie ryja, ze w niektorych momentach mozna go posadzic o bycie kastratem, nie ma tutaj zbyt duzo rapowania, bo wiekszosc 78 strony to jednak spiewy, czesto mocno wymiksowane, ze na kilku kanalach rozne wokale jednoczesnie atakuja, a z kazdego jeden glos, ale jest to tez strona ktora obrodzila w teraz najbardziej znane wsrod mainstreamowego sluchaczaa kawalki takie jak roses, czy tak oszukanczo zamaskowany utwor jakim jest hey ya, ktory pod przykrywka upbeatowej melodii i harmonicznych wokali przemyca srogie prawdy, to wlasnie tutaj widac dlaczego andre jest tak cenionym artystom, a nie tylko raperem, bo zeby sprzedac tak przygnebiajacy kawalek ludziom do zabawy trzeba miec prawdziwy talent, fajna analogie mozna sobie rozkminic, jesli przyjac ten album jako finalny postarany material, bo od takiego sprytnego przemycania trescia cala kariera duetu sie rozpoczela i ich players ballem, wiec nawet the love below ma swoje momenty, ale jednak tak dlugi material potrafi znudzic i zameczyc momentami, gesto czuc, ze cos sie juz slyszalo, nie mowie tylko o tak oczywistych influencjach jak coverowanie funkowo my favorite things, ale 78 minut studiowania milosci, wiec zdecydowanie najpopularniejszego tematu muzyki popularnej, to podroz w niezliczone kawalki, ktore wybrzmiewaja podobna nutka, lista featurow rowniez jest o wiele bardziej egzotyczna i z listowanych nazwisk nie kojarze nikogo, dlugi to byl odsluch nie zapomne go na dlugo, ale jesli chodzi o plejkowe picki, to od andre dodam jego magnum opus tego albumu, wiec hey ya, ale przy tym odsluchu na nowo odkrylem speakerboxxxa i tyle swietnych kawalkow tam ukrytych, wiec dodam the way you move i unhappy, bo otwierajacy ghettomusick juz mialem z dawnego odsluchu, pierwsza strona mocne 4/5, ale dla love below o wiele mniej milosci mam, wiec 2/5

Good but not my bag.

4⭐️ for Speakerboxxx 2⭐️ for The Love Below

A solid funky party album. Some cool sounds and grooves. Stand out tracks for me are "Bowtie", "Hey Ya!", "Dracula's Wedding" and the jazzy cover of "My Favourite Things". The biggest problem for me is the length of the album. It felt a bit of a chore to listen to it all and I feel it could have been trimmed into a solid 80 or 90 minute double. I'm torn between 3 and 4. If I could make my own compilation it would be a 4, but based on what's presented it's a 3

Long and boxy with some classics mind

It’s would be a four with an editor.

This is a fun album. Lots of good songs but way too long and therefore lots of not so good songs too. Would have a higher score if they cut out some of the cruft. Still mostly fun to listen to.

I don't think this is for me, but it's still a good album.

ну второй диск вроде нормич, а первый совсем говно если чо))

I have a great fondness for this album (though really, it’s two albums) but I am now realising I can’t remember when I last listened to it without skipping a whole bunch. The high points are really high, but there’s a whole lot of filler. Listening to both sides from start to finish was not actually that fun.

A truly diverse hip-hop epic.

Not generally my thing but some pretty decent tracks on there and BOB is, of course, a banger.

Not bad some hit tracks but didn't engage me too much

Definite flavour of Prince. Lots of songs the odd one pops through, a bunch are irritating!

Best hip hop album on this list yet and I assume it will be. Like Andre 3000 more than I should and a few features from Killer Mike make this album even better....can’t bare to give this a 4 with the amount of stupid monologues and non music tracks.

a good album just not a favourite of mine

Enjoyable, like the contrast in the two albums. Apart from the big hits, I like Speakerboxxx more than The Love Below.

Veeeel te lang. Maak er 2 albums van en het had leuker geweest. Na een tijd verveeld maar tijdens hey a toch even wakker

such a polarizing experience...

You happy now?

A man of my word.

Liked Speakerboxx, didn't really like The Love Below. I know the point is to be raunchy about love and relationships but it just wasn't my vibe at all.

Speakerboxxx would kick the hell out of The Love Below if not for Hey Ya/ Roses. Both albums overstayed their welcome though

Starts out strong, has interesting and energetic textures, but starts to taper out.

First off, this needs to be treated as two separate albums. Even when doing this, each of the albums is still way too long! There are a lot of tracks that feel like filler, and the various skits should just have been left out completely. It feels like there are potentially two excellent albums in here, each of around 40 min in length. All that aside, there are some really fantastic tracks on both. The bits that I liked, I loved. Two different styles, both with really cool rhymes and flow, great music. Would both easily be a 4 for me... if they were streamlined considerably.

Its a hit and miss album the whole way through. But when it hits, it hits hard.

I respect their musical deviation from fellow artists in the genre at the time, and the rapping is on point. But just not the sound to really grab my attention.

Decent album, surprisingly liked the first hipvhopvalbum better than the funk part

Too long but liked it more than I expected. Second album much better.

guter HipHop. Viele Filler.

Interesting, long, couple of good ones.

impossible to take seriously but thats why its fun

Hey Ya!

big boi > andre 3000

I might not listen to it again, but it had some enjoyable moments. 7.1/10 Best Track: "Hey Ya!"

Hmm, tok meg lot for lite tid til dette monsteret av et dobbelalbum. Likte mye fra Speakerboxxx, flere deilige låter som ga inntrykk av soul og funk. Fikk mindre tid til The love Below, men ga inntrykk av at dette er noe jeg må utforske litt til. Generelt mye bra, men kanskje litt mye interluder, som jeg føler hip hop generelt lider litt mye av. Tror likevel dette fortjener en svak 3-er.

I like the second half of the album, the Andre 3000 half!

*They call me Mr. Ravioli, Mr. Streudel / Mr. Poke Em with the Noodle, Mr. Cockerspaniel in your Poodle* To ganske ulike album i en pakke, der begge er en god del lengre enn de trenger. Mange låter på 5+ min, og unødvendige introer og skætsjer som bør ha vært utdatert allerede i 2003. Men det er fortsatt mye å like her! Speakerboxxx er jevnt over bad-ass rap. Big Boi har fet flow, og mange gode features med på laget. Sangene glir litt i hverandre, men GhettoMusick, tomb og bowtie skilte seg særlig ut. The Love Below er mer all over the place. Andre 3000 leker seg med mye forskjellige sjangertrekk, men mange av låtene ender opp litt for enkle (nesten uferdige?) og kjedelige. Men når det klaffer klaffer det som bare det! Hey ya er jo en all-time godlåt, men Spread, Roses, Take off your cool og A life in the day er også fete. Alt i alt kunne disse drøye to timene blitt kuttet ned til en tight time og vært en sterk firer, men sånn det er nå er det mer 3,5/5.

Ein ganzes Album Hip Hop war mir schon immer zu viel. Auch wenns ein gutes war.

Unterschätzt!!! Von mir ;-)

The singles can be catchy, but this album is plagued by awful awful interludes and crap b sides. One of them has a child trying to rap for chrissakes. The singles get this up to a 3, but it goes no higher.

Ich mag eigentlich nur die Sachen von André3000

Leider nur mit kleineren Referenzen an Ms. Jackson und ohne den Song aber (oh) gefällt mir trotzdem ganz gut - war positiv überrascht (oh).

.

Good but this album is giant! 40 songs.

Had some bangers for sure, just too long. If shorter 4 stars

5 stars and all of them are because the music was fun

I didn't finish it because it was like 2 1/2 hours long. But I got like 3/4 through and I didn't like the production on the first few tracks but it quickly became very good. The lyrics were amazing. It's just not really my style... I have to go back to it later and I'm sure I'll like it way more. How I rate the albums: 1 star: bad 2 stars: neutral 3 stars: good 4 stars: amazing 5: stars: perfect

Übergroßes Doppel in welchem 2 fitte hiphop Herzen einen Marathon durchlaufen; „Speakerbox“ kommt maskulin inkl. Gastauftritten vor allem von Rap Altmeister Killer Mike sehr old school daher, während „The Love Below“ androgyn quirky im Casio Himmel steil geht. Wie so oft, sind solch ambitionierte Werke grower, denn was anfangs überwältigt, wird mit der Zeit zwar strukturierter bleibt aber etwas tooooo much und hat leider bisweilen etwas zu viel clowneske Züge in der Art der guten Hamburger Kinder-Hiphopper Combo ‚Deine Freunde‘. Mir gefällt der zweite Part dennoch besser, woran Hits wie „Hey ya!“, „Roses“ oder die jazzige Breakbeat Version von „My Favorite Things“ ihren Anteil haben, aber überzeugt hat mich der wohl sympathischste Arschfick Song „Spread“ - nimm das Paul Hartmut „Siggi“ Würdig! Fistfull of 3.3

Unkown

when?

Half decent album. Not really my thing.

Hip hop, soul. Muy largo. Algunas cosas interesantes.

Andre 3000 has a unique voice, lots of interludes/skits. Would be worth a revisit. Some solid bangers

Habs ned ganz geschafft, aber nice bis dahin - 3

Had this album when I was a young lad. Love Below is very good

Muy largo, pero trajo algunos buenos recuerdos de la niñez en el barrio. Algunas canciones tienen buenas combinacion, otras buenas rimas y otras buen ritmo

The album(s) had some fantastic songs, but also many songs felt experimental. I think that's ok for maybe one or two songs, or a mixtape, but for a studio album, you really have to already be a fan of the band to not be thrown off by experimental songs like this. Andre 3000 is not a singer, btw.

Dear God this is a long album

Decent.

The album was long. Really long. But I wouldn’t necessarily say that I didn’t enjoy it. It’s actually hard to pick out a “bad” song or even parts that were hard to get through but also, It being over 2 hours made it hard to pick out any “good” / notable songs because there was so much to consume. It flowed well though and enjoyed it slightly more than I was expecting.

This was too long, to be honest. It was pretty okay, but I did not finish it.

2.5

2nd disc is a whole different experience and pulls the album up from a 2; pretty raunchy lyrics throughout, though

Kinda bloated, could be reduced to a single album in my opinion.

Hip hop isn't my typical music. I don't quite understand it. I think this is more uplifting with a dash of activism sprinkled in. The videos of the album seem meant to be funny

some stuff is really good, some is gruesome

Sometimes fun

Lotta really good stuff on here but at over 2 hours it feels bloated. I get that it’s like a double album or whatever but it felt like a slog by the end. Everything with killer mike is great and this is an impressive forward thinking hip-hop album from a time when song structure and innovation were far from the rap games mind.

2003. Key Songs: Roses, Hey Ya!, Bowtie

This could have been broken down into two solo albums. It was way too long to keep me engaged and it took a long time to get to the hit songs. “The Love Below” was better than “Speakerboxxx” though.

If I liked hip-hop, I’d probably love this. It sounds a bit more progressive and ‘out there’ compared to the standard fare churned out under this genre’s label. It’s way too bloody long though, and the two ‘sides’ sound like completely different records. Maybe that’s the point? I certainly preferred the second side and I remember Hey Ya! being a single - it’s a highlight here, in a jumbled mess of lowlights.

honestly disk 1 was not good didnt hold up well sorry bout that but disk 2 was actually enjoyable just unfortunate that this didnt hold up to my standard

Motceaux kiffés : unhappy bust knowing flip flop rock last call hey ya roses

yes they were innovative fun and all that but this record has 1 stand out track and that's it

Le pongo un 2 porque Hey Ya es una canción que amo y Roses la recordé al escucharla. Pero el resto no es para mí.

Kinda forgettable

Not really for me

Pros: Hey Ya!, some interesting ideas, part two is more engaging Cons: 2 hour long double album, a lot of the songs kinda blend together, a bit boring

I’ve heard worse rap. Still… not for me.

Acho que a minha opinião colocaria um alvo enorme nas minhas costas, mas fora as músicas mais famosas isso aqui é extremamente superestimado. São mais de 2h de várias músicas repetitivas, interlúdios demais e pouca coisa realmente interessante sonoramente falando. Óbvio que se tratando de lírica, métrica, flow, é inquestionável as habilidades dos dois, porém música é muito além disso né? Eu conheço um bocado de disco da mesma década que esse que nem sequer estão em listas dos melhores disco, sendo que são muito melhores. Entendo que sempre temos que respeitar os artistas que pavimentaram o gênero, mas as pessoas precisam ser mais sinceras sobre algo tão simples de descrever e parar de ir na onda do que todo mundo fala.

Southern hip hop, funk, soul, and psychedelic pop feels like wandering through a huge amusement park where every few minutes someone opens another completely different attraction. There is an impressive amount to discover, from playful rap to funk, soul, jazz, and eccentric pop, but the sheer length and stylistic sprawl feels exhausting. I admire the ambition and variety, yet as a listening experience I found myself enjoying only a.few individual attractions more than the park as a whole.

Enjoyment: 5 Replayability: 3 Cohesion: 5 Flow/Pacing: 4 Artistic Merit: 8 Weighted Average: 4.85 Review: You can feel the disjointed tones between Big Boi and Andre 3000, making this album a 2-for-1 today. Speakerboxxx was much more consistent with that hard, classic rap sound but I liked the funk and psychedilica of The Love Below. Still, the replayability is significantly lower because of both the divide and 2 hr+ runtime. Liked Song(s): The Way You Move, Church, Bamboo (Interlude), The Love Below (Intro), Spread, Hey Ya!, Take Off Your Cool Disliked Song(s): Knowing, She Lives in My Lap, Roses, Pink & Blue, Love In War, Vibrate, A Life In The Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete) Recommend? No

Interesting that the label thought it would be better to release this as one album when it's clearly two albums. And that just makes it way too long. Even though it wasn't a bad album by any means, I was struggling to get through it. I'm probably a bit harsh here: 2.7

not for me! i feel like you have to be *really* into Andre 3000 to like most of the second half, singles aside

Não é a minha cena, mas impressionante como dá para fazer 2h disto

Two songs landed out of two hours

A duração assusta. Duas horas seguidas de Rap sempre será exaustivo, independente do artista em questão. O gênero em si sempre abraça o maximalismo, a indulgência desregulada, em suas produções e letras, e nesse caso aqui, até no pacote físico da música. Um CD duplo! Que idéia absurda. Por sorte, OutKast possui o talento técnico para fazer a idéia funcionar… Ao menos em partes. Ambos Big Boi e André são talentosos e ótimos em seus respectivos estilos, mas isso não quer dizer que ouvir duas horas seguidas de canções desconexas, repletas de Skits e outras interrupções irritantes seja algo agradável. Ao menos para mim não é. Rap veloz não é meu tipo favorito e é o mais aplicado aqui. A produção do álbum, ao todo, é muito boa, sempre com ornamentações interessantes, e samples variados e muito bem utilizados. Em meio ao caos, existem melodias lindas e versos impressionantes, com batidas viciantes e vivas. Existe também momentos pastelões, sessão da tarde. É o que acontece quando seu disco possui 40 faixas, é inevitável uma quantidade extrema de inconsistência. E por favor, não compare essa bomba aqui com o White Album. Coisa ridícula. A parte de André é marginalmente superior, mais consistente, mas quando você chega naquela parte já é tarde demais para redimir o disco. E sim, o álbum, ele, em sua composição inteira. Não é justo julgar esse álbum como duas entidades diferentes, isso não faz sentido. Não cola. Deveriam de fato ter lançado dois álbuns separados, faria mais sentido. Imagine só, um disco normal de 45-60 minutos, composto inteiramente por canções como Reset e She Lives In My Lap. Podemos sonhar. Mas na realidade, temos um álbum inchado, indulgente, cansativo – ou melhor, exaustivo. 2/5

Album is way tooo long

Album 56/1001. Listened 8/17-8/21/2026. Really struggled with this one. It's not my normal genre, and it took me a full week to give the whole thing a thorough listen. Some catchy tunes but not much I'm going to spin again. (Also this is the second Outkast album in the first 56 albums I've listened to. That's enough slices.)

Escucha

it is way too long and I know it's a double album

Too long, not enough bangers

Not really my thing and way too long

Didn’t like

Puha 2t15m - Speakerbox er den halvdel som er klassisk outkast. Jeg har kæmpet mig igennem det. Ærligt så var det forfriskende med Boogie hits, men jøsses der er langt imellem.

Hey ya! is an okay song but 40 tracks, over two hours is way too long.

Viel zu lange und viel zu viele mittelmäßige tracks 2/5

could definitely have been a 3 (maybe a 4) if they engaged in some more self-editing

Far too long, packed full of filler, was happy for this one to draw to a close, the music wasn’t bad, just too much bang average songs, this did not need to be a double album

5/10

Nothing particularly unique or interesting about this album

This album must have been incredibly fresh when it came out. The scale of the project is massive, which makes sense given that it’s a double album. Speakerboxxx is just a fun listen—a true, driving rap and hip-hop record—while The Love Below feels much more experimental and conceptual.

A few good moments (more so in the first half) but j just got bored the longer it dragged out. I think really Mr. Out and Mr. Kast should have just released their own albums separately.

Gast echt meer dan 2 uur… 💀 Hopelijk is het het waard. Ghettomusick voelt al verschillende nummers in 1 track. Sowieso vind ik dit album bij-elkaar-geraapt. Er zitten zeker lekkere nummers bij, maar ik mis een rode draad die de nummers samenbrengt? Het voelt als joh ik heb wat nummers over, laten we dat allemaal op 1 plaat gooien. Maar is het werkelijk garbage, dat ook weer niet. Ah het zijn dus eigenlijk 2 albums op 1 plaat… dan snap ik de keuze om deze genres te mixen niet… Wel interessant om te merken dan ik Speakerboxxx meer kan waarderen dan The Love Below.

Mucho jaleo...

Innovative doesn’t always mean great? The hits still hit, but lots of the rest is ridiculous

Hey Ya is probably my favorite hip hop song of all time. Roses was a spectacular surprise! The rest of it stank. 2 hours to hear two good songs.

Earns a 2 by not being overly vulgar

ik voel de vibe niet helemaal waar ze voor gaan.. best wel saaie hiphop?? tweede helft was wel veel meer vibey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U9rMkgoGL8&pp=0gcJCQQLAYcqIYzv

Couple good songs but far too long that you just lose interest

This is the kind of Hip Hop that white record collector / record store people who hate Hip Hop will tell you they like. Turns out it is not as bad as I had thought based on those experiences.

I don't want to hear it

Cool but not totally my thing 3.

Bought this when it came out off the back of a couple of singles I liked … was disappointed then and I’m still disappointed now. Too long and really don’t get the double solo album format.

Kan som udgangspunkt bedre lide når OutKast laver musik sammen! Hey Ya er en af de bedste sange der nogensinde er skrevet, men Andres plade lugter meget af at *alle* ideer skulle føres ud i livet. Der er helt sikkert 60 minutters fed musik her, men der er ikke 135 minutters fed musik.

Some of their best songs is on here, but they're hidden inside 135 minutes..

My first reaction to seeing an early 2000s hip hop album that is over two hours long is...not excitement. I mean of course everyone has heard Hey Ya but this is not exactly something I would be familiar with otherwise. However, apparently there is some good funkier/jazzier/more soulful stuff here? Basically this is two separate albums packaged together form what I gather, hopefully one will be tolerable... Ok, halfway through the first album, more of the same. Maybe not as bad as some but where is this funkier side I was promised? Standard early 2000s hip hop so far, violence, misogyny, and all. First album down, nothing new, still irritating hip hop that I don't connect with at all. 1.5/5 for the first half. Halfway through album number two and this one is a little better. It actually does have some interesting things going on - real instruments, actual melodies, well constructed songs. I am giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming that some of this is supposed to be funny because parts of this really make me appreciate how well Flight of the Conchords parodied this kind of music. 3/5 for this album. All in all this was one of the less terrible hip hop albums I've come across but counting it as one album makes no sense. It is clearly two albums that are wildly different slapped together and should have been separate releases though. 2.25/5

Not one I’d listen to again

I was just about to judge this record after an hour or so, but then the "The Love Below" part started. Wasn't too excited about the Speakerboxxx part, but the second half was much more interesting. Still I would appreciate more tracks like the jazzy 'Love hater' or 'My favorite things' for example. Speakerbox **/***** Love Below ***/*****. Maybe as whole it's closer to ** than ***.

#380 / 1089 Heard before? ✅ Revisit? 🤷‍♂️ It is now difficult to understand what kind of effect this album had over 20 year ago, but I'd think it didn't come out in a total vacuum and the styles they use weren't unheard of. Probably on a double album they were, but that doesn't really make it that much different in my opinion, just technicalities. A lot of this record is stuffing, fluff in the background, so many interludes and fillers, which I found annoying in the 80's, let alone today! It felt too long before the first record was even over, at about half way mark I started skipping tracks after a minute or so. Second album freshened it up a bit, felt like changing to whole another artists music. But that too has too much fluff on it. I think "Hey Ya!" was the first track to actually make me move in my seat. Strong 2/5

Quirky but ultimately disappointing

OK in small doses, but over two hours... Transparency, I didn't get to the end.

I didn’t mind this but deductions apply for length

It's got that upbeat sad song called "Hey Ya!" on it. So it's got that going for it.

I have to split my rating. Speakerboxxx is up there with the worst Albums I have ever heard. It’s so bad. 1/5 The Love below is better, it has the hits and it feels musically balanced. Liked it, but it has too much songs and running time. 3/5 Fav: My favorite things

No lo volvería a escuchar, pero joyita escuchar la influencia de estos sonidos en la música que ha salido en las últimas dos décadas. Love Hater thoooo, OBSESIÓN.

Classic example of above average talent managing to overreach its boundary. These guys are 2 of the godfathers of southern hip hop, and released 2 masterpieces of the genere. Then came the fame amd glory and out the back door went the talent and creativity. Sure Stanktopia (sic) was a hit, but had none of the individual flavor of thier early work, and made purely for the masses. This entry a double disc breakup album, imo, just further fractures the ingenious ingredients that these artists used to dabble in.

SIGH. It's just really not my thing. I understand that they are an iconic group and have produced some incredibly influential tracks and albums BUT... It just doesnt really click with me.

Did the physical release have a sticker that said "Hey Ya and 2 hours of other"? Overcooked and overstuffed.2 stars for Hey Ya though.

Disc one is fire. Disc 2 is shite.

Speakerboxxx was actually pretty good. Not my genre, but I liked it. The Love Below was tiresome - a 14 year old bragging about all the pussy he gets. I couldn't finish.

Still need to listen to this one... 🙈

This is one of those 'I appreciate what they have done, I just don't like it' albums. Absolutely too long too.

Too ghetto for me. ★★

2 hours? Pass.

I gave Stankonia 5 stars. At 1 hr 13 minutes it’s a lot. But it’s worth the investment of your time. This is a full hour longer. Its highs are not as high. Its lows are lower. And did I mention it’s a full hour longer. You do not need to hear this before you die.

I don’t really like most of the tracks on this album, but that’s just my personal opinion, of course... :-)

Not bad, but insanely long with a lot of filler. good first half, second half is pretty bad.

No need for me to listen to 2 1/4 hours of this - 15 minutes was more than enough.

There are a few bangers but the outrageous length of the album (2 hours and 15 minutes??? Be so serious) absolutely buries the gems. I didn’t even care about fhe good songs once I got to them. No.

Lord Jesus God I had this double album and back then I swear it wasn't this annoying and long. Just split up already if you don't want to make albums together.

hey ya

Definitely too long. Second disc was much better than the first. 3 and 1 so an average of 2

Ugh. Wildly inconsistent and ludicrously long.

I was definitely not looking forward to this, especially after not being impressed at all with OutKast’s previous album. This one is a lot better, but I still struggled. The Rooster was the first track of theirs I genuinely liked, but I had to skip during tracks like Bust, Tomb of the Boom, and Church. There’s just too many irritating elements for me, even though I can appreciate the creativity. The Love Below half had a few more bright spots. Behold a Lady and Pink & Blue were both pretty interesting. I’m utterly sick of Hey Ya though, and Roses was so laughably bad I had to skip after a couple minutes. I definitely did not expect the jazzy take on My Favorite Things. Some of the vocal jazz takes elsewhere sound like parodies since the singing is really off. I feel like I at least can see the appeal of a lot of what’s here (vs. Stankonia which just didn’t have anything I liked or understood). There’s a lot of variety but it missed with me quite a bit more than it hit and the 2:15 length made it a slog to get through.

Save :2

Too long, too self indulgent. Couple of good tunes but remove the filler

Meh

5.5

This music is literally not for me. I just don’t have the life experience to understand it. There were a couple good songs and “favorite things” is amazing.

Far too long and self indulgent. About 30 minutes of decent music padded out to over 2 hours.

This is functionally two albums, both of which have a lot of filler. Again, chalking it up to not being in the right headspace, but this was pretty exhausting as a full-album listen. Highs are high, lows are way more frequent than they needed to be and skits are among the worst things to happen to hip-hop.

Eh

Disappointing

Good album, some throwback bangers, but a bit long tbh

mid 2

This is a very experimental album. Speakerboxxx has some great songs in there and not many flops. The love below on the other hand, is shit... so many songs that just dont go anywhere and only Hey Ya that is good. The whole album is a dread to listen through being 2 hours and 14 minutes and there are many songs they could've taken out.

Поймала себя на мысли. Слава Богу, что Саймон выпустил сольный альбом, не такой double feature с Гарфункелем. Я бы не выдержала. Несмотря на то, что ребятам больше зашла вторая часть, мне как-то приглянулась первая за счёт двух фитов с Киллер Майком. Вторая - очень скучная, только упражнение на тему Звуков музыки понравилось

I thought I would like this a lot more than I did. I remember the hits obviously but I guess I was young then and now they just feel really silly and not in a way I enjoy anymore. A lot of songs felt like they were hitting you over the head with a theme that was kind of just gross (ie spread). It’s just not for me and it’s so long. I’m not an interlude person either and I didn’t feel it really added much.

So this is really two separate albums - one by Big Boi and one by Andre 3000 - that was released as one double album by the two together as Outkast. Two totally separate albums with different sounds. Speakerboxxx by Big Boi is more rap based, while The Love Below by Andre 3000 is more hip hop and lyrical. Everyone knows "Hey Ya!" which is really the only song I knew. The album was very, very long. I'm glad I got it on a Sunday morning and I had other things to do on my laptop so I could just play it in the background. I actually preferred the Speakerboxx album, which surprised me as I'm not typically a big fan of rap.

This really dragged on, felt like I’d listened to 2 hours of it and still half the album is left. Double LPs are seldom worth it, just release part 2 a few months later.

didn’t finish

disc 2 is probably better imo, but in general not really for me

Maybe I just wasn't feeling it but this album is just so mid. Firstly it's 2 hours long and there's a ton of filler, and secondly the high points aren't even that high. Aquemini and Stankonia are better.

Really not my thing.

Should’ve been two separate albums. Some enjoyable stuff on side b but overall, not my cup of tea.

Heard Hey Ya obviously. I liked the the 1st part but I can't in good conscience give this album a high score because who the hell told Andre to write so many random songs 😭 the whole 2nd album is just him doing some weird stuff with their biggest hit sandwiched in between 2/5

I couldn’t finish it I liked maybe a few songs but this album was not it 😅

OK. Some good beats. Liked the jazzy stuff. Probs wouldn't listen again though.

Weirdly I actually see why it’s on this list but I just don’t care for it at all

A few bangers

This was tough to rate as it was super horny and had too many interludes, also too long, but I did like some of it. A high 2.

after finishing the first half of the album, my rating would probably only be 2 stars - not because i can't understand why this is such a renowned album, but simply because rap isn't really for me, and 2 stars would line up with my rating system. there weren't many tracks which stood out that i would actively want to relisten to. i'll see how the rating changes after listening to the second half. coming to the end of the album, i definitely like the second half of album more. its felt like quite a slog listening to the full thing, but after having looked online at some comments from fans who stand by the album, i am interested to see if i selected specific tracks to listen back to individually whether any of them would grow on me. however, as of now, the album aligns most with my philosophy for 3 stars -may not be something i would actively revisit but has a few good tracks.

this is way too long

Not what I was expecting, I can see why this is a must listen, it is very creatively written and has many well known songs on it.

Big Boi's Speakerboxxx - solid 3, if not low 4. Andre 3000's The Love Below - esh. Hey Ya! everyone recognizes and Roses is good. The rest is just to up to anywhere near OutKast standards. If it was its own album, it would be a low 2 or even really high 1. If this double album taught me nothing, it's that I'm more of a Big Boi fan than a Andre fan musically. Sorry, but it's a high 2 for me. Wish it was more.

Por qué

WAY too much of a not so good thing. At 2+ hours there was no way I was going to listen to all of this. Hip hop isn't my thing and sampling this did nothing to change my mind.

Tog bara 9 månader att lyssna på men honestly DET ÄR SÅ LÅNGT. Bra emellan men CHRIST det är verkligen två olika album och det är så jävla långt att lyssna på. The Love Below är bättre, men jag tappade fokus typ 5 gånger

Not really my vibe, appreciate the drip

Idk wat ik ermee moet

Ehh I feel like it has potential and I don’t mind some of the songs but just not for me

Way too long, couldn't do it

war leider gar nicht meins

5/10 Speakerboxx is that rare thing for me, engaging, listenable hip-hop! Who'd have thunk it. It has music and isn't all about the typical hip-hop tropes. Well done Big Boi. I can only guess Andre 3000 played Big Boi "Hey Ya" and had BB worried. But then once he'd had to play the rest of the crap on The Love Below, Big Boi would have been working out how he could detach himself from the Outlast moniker. Not a double album - they have no relation to each other apart that they two artists were once collaborators. Score averaged to 3 stars and less one for being too long. Man it was such a slog

Way too long and not good enough to justify it. 2,5

I don't like rap or hip hop, but I can appreciate that this album is a bit special, so it gets a two star instead of a one. It would have got three, except for the lyric "roses smell like poo-poo-ooh".

Funky, but too eclectic and annoying for my taste, interesting listening experience that I dont want to repeat

Too long only listened to first half of it

Based on only having heard Hey Ya!, I always assumed OutKast was one of those gimmicky, shallow party bands and since I'm not really into hip hop and I'm definitely not into party music, I never had a reason to check them out before. I fear that a 2 hour and 15 minute double (triple? quadruple?) album might not be the best intro to any group, though. Speakerboxxx (disc 1): Honestly, I'm enjoying the first disc a lot more than I was expecting. There's so much going on in each track and the production is great! Lost me a bit on Tomb of the Boom, which devolves into awful gangsta rap tropes, but overall, I kind of dug this half of the album. The Love Below (disc 2): Wow, ok, so this is a totally different album, huh? I love the psychedelic, jazz-y feel of this side, but the interludes and themes are incredibly cringy. I get that he's trying to tell some love story, but God and Where Are My Panties are just not enjoyable to listen to at all. Neither is Roses. Honestly, I'm struggling to finish this half. Overall, I found that Speakerboxxx was more consistently enjoyable, while the Love Below had higher highs and lower lows and unfortunately those lows out numbered the highs quite significantly. I wish they had edited this down to even a standard length double album; 2 hours and 15 minutes is just too much to digest. It almost as if I wish these two guys made one cohesive album rather than slapping two individual albums together and calling it a day.

This would've been improved with some ruthless editing.

Feels less like a double album and more like two albums jammed together randomly. The Love Below is the better of the two - more ambitious and has the standout single in Hey Ya. TLB = 3, Speakerbox is a 2.

I'm not even going to go there...

this is another example of a double album that would have been better if it weren't.

How fucking long is this thing?

Too long

2.5/5. A proper slog of an effort. Speakerboxxx starts out so promising, some really cool and experimental sounds. Seems to get worse as it goes on, moulding into quite generic hip-hop. The less said about The Love Below, the better. Roses/Hey Ya aside, it's a load of self-indulgent nonsense.

I'm mostly not a fan of hip-hop and rap aside from the odd album or song, so being presented with a two-hour double album like this is already a big pill to swallow. Blending genres and influences normally helps the medicine go down here but here I struggled to stomach all the sugar piled on the spoon. If you like pop and hip-hop there's probably a wealth of content here to indulge in but it feels too much for me. As I was listening there were moments of excellence that popped up but again, it was generally lost in a landslide of ideas. After 40 minutes I started skipping the 'interludes'. Probably good for a party? I wouldn't know, I don't get invited to parties. It's a 2.5 from me.

Some of the beats and rapping are nice, and some songs are fun and catchy. There are some redeeming qualities here and there. But minus one point because no album in the history doesn't have the need to be 2 h 15 min, unless it's Joe's Garage and, as far as I'm concerned, this one isn't Joe's Garage.

Hey Ya + other 20 unoriginal songs

Not their best.

Speakerboxxx - funky, having fun, fairly simplistic dumbed down lyrics with some clever alliterations or word plays, nothing special. The Love Below - jazz like jazz jazz, 30s vocals, soul, feelings on the platter, dumb lyrics. I guess the novelty of this album is it simply being a double album of seeming opposites.

2.5 - ok

Why is this so long? Good 2 for Roses and Hey Ya

Hey ya hey ya

Stankonia, their supposed best release, did not get me excited. So I wasn't too happy to see a double album by outkast. Did not make it through. +1 star for the hits

This album would be fine if it was about an hour and a half shorter. A lot of the overly sexual songs and skits can go. There are a few decent songs, and if the album of as just those few songs, it’d be 4-5 stars, but there’s sooooo much crap

Speakerboxx/The Love Below “Musicality, blah blah blah” - My father, listening with me this morning I recently listened to a podcast where the journalist-presenter made an impassioned argument for Big Boi as one of the greatest rappers of all time. The host may be correct - as this project has gone on, it has become clear that I have no idea what really differentiates good rapping from great rapping. What did become clear to me, through the host’s argumentation, was that the attributes valued in rapping are speed, dexterity, and diction. And that ranking these skills and ranking rapping was an important part of the culture. I realised that rappers are not vocalists or singers, but guitar heroes. They are shredders. And the competition that fuels much guitar talk is replicated in rap culture. This is not really how we talk about singers, who are rarely put in direct competition with each other - outside the rank of the divas but it how we speak about virtuosos. I don’t really care for virtuosity. Especially when virtuosity - speed, dexterity, diction - is skill at the expense of musicality. The bragaduccio that is an integral part of hip hop lyricism is an expression of that competitive virtuosity. It is all in aggressive conversation with everything else and at such speed that you have to be really invested to follow it. I’m not that invested. Even the two halves of this double album are put in argument with each other. There is no sense of a whole and one has to pick a side as to which is better: Big Boi’s true hip hop or Andre’s light Prince. It should be clear then that the musicality that my father noted, with surprise, was on The Love Below and I have to agree. More songs, more playfulness, even when that means painful skits and trite jazz parody. But some of that aggression peeks through anyway. For all the imitation here, Prince was never so mean-spirited about the women in his life and that sours the taste somewhat. I don’t know if Big Boi is mean to his ladies, as he’s shredding through it all and I can’t keep up. In recent years, Andre has said that, at 50, he is too old to rap - it is a young man’s game, fuelled by young man’s passions and concerns and a young man’s competitiveness. His most recent album was an instrumental flute record, a turn to pure musicality ( for better or worse). The first track is I Swear I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time. 2 Speakerboxxx/The Love Below As everyone has long agreed, there is a decent single album hiding inside Outkast’s double album and it’s ‘The Love Below’ half. Imagine my surprise to discover, after not listening to it for many years, that this is untrue! The Love Below half is shit and all. There are many moments of brilliance throughout this slog of a record. The problem is that almost every one of them is then copied back in without variation. The Way You Move has that chorus - cut and pasted to absurdity - and nothing else. Amid the airless buzz of pointlessly repeated choruses there are only the attempts at comedy to keep us going. The multitracked ‘funny vocal’ style in the songs grates very quickly. The actual sketches are excruciating. I still like Hey Ya and Dracula’s Wedding. Take Off Your Cool is very nice, and even if it is only a miniature it ought to have been the template; say the very little you have to say musically and leave. Nothing here should have been longer than 2 1/2 minutes. 1.5/5

Allright allright allright allright allright they could've done with less than an hour too.

Some good. 2/5

Way Wayne way too long and it suffers for the self-indulgence.

I liked part 2 more but I don't think I would listen to it again.

These albums could have been so good, seriously a missed opportunity. Having them be one album that's two hours long was their first mistake. It plays as two albums, so should be treated as such. Andre and Big Boi literally made their own seperate albums and decided to make them one, when this would already have been so much better as two solo albums from them each. And then you have the issue of the music itself not even being all that interesting. It has a few good songs in there, Hey Ya is an obvious classic. But it's just not at all worth listening to all two hours of this just for a handful of good songs.

Das Doppelalbum „Speakerboxxx/The Love Below“ von OutKast besteht aus zwei getrennten Alben: „Speakerboxxx“ von Big Boi und „The Love Below“ von André 3000. Es zeigt die unterschiedlichen künstlerischen Perspektiven der beiden Mitglieder und erweitert die Grenzen des Hip-Hop. Speakerboxxx – Big Boi: Big Boi liefert energiegeladenen Southern Hip-Hop mit Funk- und Soul-Einflüssen. Bekannte Songs sind „GhettoMusick“, „The Way You Move“ und „War“. Die Produktion ist inspiriert von George Clinton und bietet eine starke Basis für Big Bois präzises Rappen. The Love Below – André 3000: André 3000 experimentiert mit Pop, Funk, Jazz und Soul. Höhepunkte sind „Hey Ya!“, „Prototype“ und „Roses“, die durch Falsettstimme und ungewöhnliche Arrangements hervorstechen. Humor und Romantik prägen den Charakter des Albums. Das Album erhielt breite Anerkennung, gewann mehrere Grammys, darunter „Album des Jahres“, und verkaufte über fünf Millionen Exemplare. Es ist ein Meilenstein in der Geschichte des Hip-Hop.

2 Stars (5/15)

Had to skip a lot of this - too long not to. Hey Ya! Is good and I quite liked Last Call, but the other 126 minutes was so bad this was almost a 1