Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

I love this album

Unreal album, I'm not sure how to describe this album tbh but it has everything.

I must admit, when I saw an Outkast double album clocking in at over 2 hours I wasn't overly optimistic. So glad to be proven wrong. This is probably best taken in as 2 separate albums like I did. Banger after banger after banger. Liked The Love Below slightly more mostly for the best version of My Favourite Things I've ever heard.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

This is basically a four star album and a six star album back to back, and which is which changes every time I listen to it. This time Speakerboxxx was the six star.

One of my favorite albums of all time, great songs and genre bending in a way that brings a lot of cool sounds to the masses, masquerading as a popular Hip Hop Album. Even the interludes are top-notch compared to others released around this time. More albums like this, less crappy boring British pop rock and punk. Would give more than 5 stars if possible.

Double your pleasure with the finest output imaginable from the legendary duo.

Two albums for the price of one, and both feel fresh, innovative and funky.

In 2002 there was no escaping OutCast, nor did you want to. They took rap/hip-hop to a new level by incorporating New Orleans Jazz, techno, rap, and every other genre until it all spilled out the Speakerboxxx! A personal favorite is Bow Tie for the jazz roots. There are some great collabs here too: Tomb of the Boom with Ludacris, Big Gripp and Konkrete; Reset with Cee-Lo; She Lives in My Lap, which is kinda’ weird thinking about Ahsoka’s Miss Dawson that way (…so I am told from a friend, I would never…); and Take Off You Cool with chanteuse Norah Jones. …and that one with Jay-Z. Overall this album delivers and through its multifaceted approach feels just as relevant today as it did two decades ago.

Amazing top to bottom

8/2/24. This isn't my top OutKast album but still consider this a classic. Never gets old, amazing production, and loved the idea of each member highlighting their individuality as a double album.

Better than I expected, I really enjoyed the lyricism of the songs and the storytelling in the album

Arrancamos nueva semana con disco nuevo para mis oídos. Recuerdo las canciones más hiteras de Outkast de cuando era niño pero jamás escuché éste trabajo completo. Disco súper arriba, lleno de cancionazas. Tremendísima forma de empezar un lunes.

This album is excellent! Since it's a double album, each one of the albums is easily 5. Speakerboxxx has a distinct sound and is full of lyrical inventiveness, while The Lover Below contains artistic freedom and sounds Jazzy. OutKast were perfect!

Usually I rate based on the quality of the entire album. An album this plentiful, however, despite having it's downs, has some insane ups. There exists a kind of substance that a "five star album" lacks, even. Outkast will always be on my list.

2 for 1 and both great albums, what more could you want?

I was excited to get this album as I already like Hey Ya and The Way You Move. This album is interesting as it is basically two in one so I'll review each one separately. Speakerboxxx is the first album and it's great. This is the Big Boi side and it's style is more traditional Outkast. The balance of Big Boi's deep voice while rapping with the great backing and usually higher voice of the chorus work really well together. Every song is pretty good and all work together. Favorite songs: Bowtie, The Way You Move, Church, Knowing, Flip Flop Rock Now for Andre 3000's side, The Love Below. Immediately you notice the difference from the first half. Every song is different taking from a bunch of genres creating a cool eclectic listening experience. It especially works considering Speakerboxxx tends to not switch it up like this half does in terms of musical styles. I mean there's an instrumental version of My Favourite Things which is crazy. Lyrically it is also impressive showing the different views of love both positive and negative. Favorite songs: Love Hater, Happy Valentine's Day, Prototype, She Lives In My Lap, Hey Ya, Roses, Dracula's Wedding, My Favorite Things, Take Off Your Cool Overall these albums are amazing musically and lyrically. Combined it is a legendary listening experience which is easily a 5/5.

I'm listening to this album 3 months after I was supposed to, so I am going to keep my listening notes brief. This album is too long and I hand out a lot of negative reviews for that crime. However... this time.... I'm going to let it go. This album is nothing but bars the entire way through. Amazing features and beats. I put it on and two hours flew by. My neck started hurting from two consecutive hours of head bopping. You're supposed to see a doctor after four right? So good, I saved the entire album. 9/10

My pick for Outkast’s best album. An insane amount of range given that it’s over two hours. One of the only, if not, the only album I can think of that long where the length is justified. Production feels new and original. Lyrics and flow are substantial and unique. My only suggestion would have been that it may have worked better as two separate albums rather than two stitched together, but it doesn’t feel forced. They complement each other well. Love it. 5/5

This is a double album, and it was absolutely worth the 2 hour and 15 minute runtime. Speakerboxx is primarily conscious rap, and The Love Below can best be described as a beautiful mix of soul, pop, funk, and hip-hop. Speakerboxx was strong, but this entire record truly starts to shine with The Love Below, in my opinion. On The Love Below, Outkast transcends hip-hop, or any other genre invoked, and they simply become “musical,” so to speak. The best artists do this. Speakerboxx/The Love Below ultimately merits a 5/5.

Hell yeah

I mean...it's just such an absolute beast of an album from both rappers. Full circle type projects.

Personal all time favourite of mine! Fond memories of listening to it in the car with my dad when it came out.

5 stars! Fond memories of listening to this in the car with Will's Dad

All Bangers all the time.

Fantastic. Diverse, groovy, interesting, etc. Absolutely banger album.

Honestly, this was a crazy cool experience. Big Boi and Andre 3000 have such unique approaches to art, and the fact that they pieced together this behemoth of a double album which so distinctly captures each of their styles is crazy. It took me several days to fully experience this thing, but it is certainly deserving of a spot on this list. 4.5/5 -> 5/5.

Absolutely excellent! Like progressive hip hop

Steeped in the history of space funk and psychedelic soul but ahead of their time in terms of beat making and their pop / hip hop sensibility this album is an eclectic epic full of hits and hooks, catchy as hell, raunchy, funny, and perfectly executed. It's It's too long, but it's the pinnacle of their career: great features, distinctive voices, signature production style.

The album as a whole contrasts its self in an interesting way. Part one is a solid hip-hop album while part two is an experimental mix of hip-hop, RnB and several other genre influences mixed in. Part two really does the heavy lifting of this album for me, both thematically and in execution. André 3000’s unique artistic vision combines with strange romantic-ish songs and messages that are different than a lot of what comes out of hip-hop, especially modern hip-hop, and are much needed from music as a whole.

Two albums. Same old flow Speakerboxxx: Holy FUCK this is one of the best hip hop albums I've ever heard. Oozing with style, filled to the brim with not just incredible wordplay and flow, but also SUPER catchy choruses. The features are all great too, and I love the beats The Love Below: And yet somehow, André 3000 tops Speakerboxxx with a concept album detailing every single aspect of romantic love. So diverse, long, yet every song is incredible and an experience of its own. The fact that these 2 albums were sold together is astounding, because they both hold their own easily. But together, it's the greatest deal on Earth

Here's one I own and love, and I went into this listen with the prejudicial bias that it was a 4 before I even started listening. It's brilliant, and chock full of good tunes, but it's incredibly long and I considered that would be a detraction. But, god damn, it's just really good from start to finish. For us CD lovers, the album is packaged as two discs, but more than that, as two distinct albums. It's not so much a double album as two simultaneous releases. And that makes a ton of sense, given the material within, and doing it differently would have been detrimental to either release. So I am fully on board. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is pretty frenetic, but I love the eclectic sounds and vibe that he produces. At the end of the day, it isn't even super rap-heavy, or at least rap is one of the many elements that make the album what it is. Great production. Excellent album. And, while it's been a little while since I listened to this (loved that I had to grab the CD out of Sylvia's car because he was borrowing it), I'll admit that, with each listen, I wonder if Andre 3000's schtick is going to start feeling tired. But, man, it's not a schtick. Dude is ice cold, and I can't think of another album that makes me want to dance and groove and then makes me laugh out loud as I'm doing it. I love his sense of humor and style, and his album is killer. The song Roses has always tread on being a little sillier than necessary, but damned if that wasn't the song running through my head all morning after having heard it yesterday. It's a big ask to get through this whole thing in one sitting — it took me a day and a half to do it — and I typically listen to this one album at a time. But it's an extraordinary work, and for that, what else can you rate it?

Cooler and better than I remember

Never heard an 808 work so hard. Sublime.

Was never a huge hip-hop listener growing up, but this album was the one exception. Specifically, The Love Below pulled me in and I have always held it in super high regard. Over the years, though, I've come to realize that I actually like Speakerboxxx better. The Love Below has higher highs, but Speakerboxxx is more consistently awesome. In the end, collectively, it holds up as one of my all time favorites.

I only knew the hits and I really HATE Roses but the whole album is very good!

A classic concept album, where Andre 3000 asks the question, "what if you were in a relationship but still horny for other people" and Big Boi asks "what if you were a cool dude." Somehow when I was 17 years old I remember thinking this shit was soft. 20 years later it sounds incredible. I wonder what that means.

💬

This is a pretty amazing record. I spent a good bit of time listening to it when it came out, and the overall quality is very high. Melodic in a way that makes it feel fresh.

Love these beats. Love the bars. So much to like here. So many fusions of styles that always work together. Super influential album.

I love this record! I love the hip hop from Speakerboxxx. The mix of sounds, instrumentation and genres is super unique, I also like the political / social nature of the songs. The Love Below is more interesting to me. The lyrics are lighter and even silly at some points, but I like the R&B, Soul, Rock influences and how they merge with Hip Hop. I'm also just stoked that they went for it and made a freakin 40 song, 2 hour long record. Its pretty bold. I'd like to spend more time with this entire record, but when will I have time??

I never listened to this album all the way through before and based off the hits, it’s not what I expected in the best way possible. The stark contrast in the content between the two, even the production and overall mood of the two disc don’t feel the same. I think they did an incredible job of showcasing 3 stacks and Big Bois differences as artists. The music just sounds good to me. Classic album (The hits sound better in the flow of the project)!!

This is actually 9 stars: 4 for Speakerboxxx, 5 for The Love Below. And yes, I added the ratings and not average them, because the two sides and personalities complement each other.

Such a classic! Favorite track: Hey Ya

It’s sticky and sweet and I love this album

Hell to the yeah.

Two Outkast albums in one week is nice. Although this album signaled that Outkast were starting to prefer being solo artists, they still combined to make a classic. Big Boi brings it on the first half with multiple rap classics and Andre takes it home on the back half with soulful and jazzy tracks. "The Way You Move" and "Hey Ya" are the clear standouts and still classics 20 years later, but the whole album is great.

Spectacular album. Hard to say if it’s OutKast’s best. But it’s nearly perfect as far as I’m concerned.

You wouldn’t think the two halves would work together. But I totally think they do! Just a great collection of songs that range in complexity and danceability. 5/5

Perhaps the best hip hop double album of all time. Speakeboxx beginning is awesome. It’s dripping in P Funk at the beginning and Bow tie is particularly great. Love Below has some classic tunes but is less consistent.

Speakerboxxx is a 5 star album. This is what I expect from Outkast and it holds the test of time. I can listen to this album all day, and I don't think it's their best work. The Love Below has some great tracks on it, but it's more experimental, and misses on a lot of tracks. It even takes about 6 tracks to find itself.

it's no flute album, but this sends me back home to Atlanta.

awesome i loved it

classic album, with a lot of guests and well known songs

My biggest issues with these albums are the length of some of the songs, and the amount of interludes. Idk what it is with hip hop and copious interludes, but they’re so unnecessary and 99% of the time they take away from the flow of the album. That being said, these are fantastic albums. Speakerboxxx is the tighter album, but The Love Below has the better songs. “Roses” is probably the absolute standout, but there are so many great songs. The albums compliment and contrast each other well. Not perfect, but some of the best hip hop albums of the 2000.

Crazy given the ubiquity of Hey Ya, Andre’s disc is pretty weak. Has way too many interstitial skits, doesn’t really hit a good song for a while and overall goes on for too long. Big Bois is incredible though. Overall still an essential album

A literal album of two halves. The Love below is amazing, weird, intricate, silly and catchy at different moments. The Speakerboxxx is a bit more traditional plodding hip hop of the time. Five stars for Andre 3000, 2 stars for Big Boi. But I'm going to ignore spreakerboxx for the rating.

9/10 Speakerboxxx was fantastic, and The Love Below was legendary such a great rap album

Noice

predobar album. i rijeci i beat

always so gooooood

One of my all time favorite hip hop albums. Great beats, fun skits, some good lyrics, some great guests. What's not to like? Highlights - Unhappy, Bowtie, The Way You Move, Church, Knowing, Last Call, Love Hater, Happy Valentine's Day, Hey Ya, Roses, Behold a Lady

I went in hating this album. 2 hours! Are they insane?? It is too much! But hey, I loved Stankonia back in the day and I like Outkast in general, so I kept on going. I am glad I did. The first disc dragged me right in, but near the end I was wondering how far I'd get on the second disc. Well, let me tell you, dear reader, I did not stop nodding my head the entirety of disc 2. Engrossed, is the word. So yeah, long ass album but worth it to me. Which is a rarity.

A classic

Holy crap! 20 years?? I will always remember driving down the freeway listening to alternative radio when Hey Ya came on. My booty started bouncing in the seat all by itself. Hey Ya could be one of the biggest bangers of all time. Used to listen to this all the way through all the time. Big Boi and Andre3000 had mostly gotten into their separate projects at this point and the two discs on the double album are pretty much totally separate. Big Boi’s Speakerboxx is the southern rap is the first disc and Andre3000 sexy disc is full of all kinds of influences from funk to jazz and classical. Perhaps not as groundbreaking or party friendly as the earlier albums Stankonia and ATLiens but it is still my favorite OutKast

absolute fuckin heater album cannot go wrong with outkast almost every track got me BUMPIN big boi's disk is just fire all the way through, some heater features including my goat killer mike, produced AMAZINGLY and honestly a 4.8/5 album then you go into andre 3000's disk and its just this absolutely amazing jazzy type beat and it just works. gets better as it progresses and its just stunning 4.6/5

The album that had everyone shaking like a Polaroid picture. I was thinking about Fonzworth Bentley earlier today, when is that style going to make a comeback?! This isn't really an Outkast album, it's a Big Boi album and an Andre 3000 album, but I'll still take it because I love these dudes. Are Stankonia or Aquemini on the list? I haven't listened to this in years outside of the singles - excited to revisit this over 20 years later. Close to Spectacular! Speakerboxxx is a damn good album, cool experimental beats, great flow, cool features from some big names. It sounds like an Outkast album minus Andre rapping on most songs. Very good - I was especially feeling Bowtie today. The Love Below is a damn good album too! It's a lot longer and stranger than Speakerboxxx, with funny interludes and just strange moments like a drum and bass cover of Favorite Things?! It brings in a lot of Prince and pop influences, whereas Big Boi was digging into southern hip hop and funkadelic energy (plus some second line horns). You can hear a lot of influence from The Love Below in newer artists, who have embraced weird R&B. I like when folks get weird with it! And Outkast always get weird with it!

One of the top 10 hip hop albums of all time.

4.5

I mean, this is two five star albums, so I'm giving it 10 🌟

Great!

Originals! Great album. I love how it's split down middle big boi and then Andre. So good not my favorite album but still a five!

OutKast were huge in Atlanta and the rest of the dirty south for almost a decade but this was when the rest of the world really got to know them. The Dungeon Family heavily represented-appearances from CeeLo and Killer Mike. Here you can really start to see the creative differences between the two. Amazing album lots of hits. Two creative geniuses doing their thing. Love OutKast but I’m heavily biased due to my Georgia ties

Outstanding!

Chances of me finishing this album today are low so I’ll say some stuff now since I have heard this one so many times. It’s only flaw is it’s length in my opinion, the beats all over both parts are so fucking FUN. OutKast has always prioritized their vision above all else and it yields the truest versions of themselves which allows the music to be consistently entertaining, even more than some music releasing today. Being someone whose main exposure to rap has always been northeast coast and west coast, I’ve always been a firm believer that the south makes the best version of it and the longevity of this album proves that for me. 4.8/5

Growing up is realising that 3 Stacks fucking carries this project.

Here’s me, a slightly chubby, nerdy 14 year old kid, having only recently discovered a wider world of music outside of CCM, knowing absolutely nothing about hip hop other than it must’ve been terrible because I wasn’t allowed to listen to it and “all they ever talked about was guns and sex.” I hear Hey Ya on the radio, and decide to explore that more. I borrow a friend’s copy of the CD to listen to on my Walkman on the bus because I will be thrown out of my house if I get caught with it. What follows is an expansive double album that covers virtually every base of important music styles I would go on to discover and love over the next two decades of my life. This album informed so much of my taste in music, it’s really astonishing. And while I don’t think it’s the best hip hop album of all time (hell, Love Below is hardly hip hop), I think it’s one of the best double albums ever, and certainly in the top 10 of greatest 21st century records.

OutKast split it down the middle so you can see both the visions; the resulting divine dichotomy's the closest I'll ever get to religion.

Speakerboxxx: An absolute slapper. If you aren't a fan or rap or interludes, this won't be for you. If you do like rap, this is a must listen to. Big Boi and Andre 3000 helped put Atlanta on the rap map and started a shift away from New York and LA as the rap centrals. The Way You Move is an all time rap song. Bowtie was another song that really stood out to me. The Love Below: This feels like Andre 3000's project more than Big Boi's. Hey Ya is probably one of the best songs of the the 21st century and Roses is another high point of this portion. I liked Spearkerboxxx more than The Love Below overall. I thought The Love Below had the higher highs but the lower lows. Overall an incredible album, a bit long at times but it can easily be split. I would probably give Speakerboxxx a 5 and The Love Below a 4 if I rated them separately.

Really Interesting! all the big recognizable hits were from The Love Below, but listening to it all the way through, I really liked the Speakerboxxx side a lot more

Damn every song is great damn And theres 2 hours of it? Damn

I don't think the gimmick was conducive to a good cohesive project, but if it forced people to respect that both parts of the duo were integral to how amazing they were then I am cool with it. Great album track by track for the most part, overall not quite there but still awesome and spawned some crazy big hits, could listen to Roses and The Way You Move every day and love it

Really love this double album

Sensacional, mas sou mais The Love Bellow que Speakerboxxx Dito isso "The Way you move" é sensacional, e não entendo como não fez mais sucesso. Flip flop rock foi uma surpresa agradável na primeira metade. Mas como álbum tem o problema de ser muito grande, muitas músicas "baixas" até chegar nos grandes hits De qualquer forma toma 5

Im not the biggest rap fan in the entire world but wow this album is a masterpiece. How Andre 3000 manages to turn this into a jazz album is beyond me

Revolutionary

One of the greatest albums of all time. Big Boi's side is peak mid 00s hip hop, with everyone on board, amazing beats and incisive rhymes (from him at least. Some of the smaller names and Jay Z deliver a couple of stinkers). Then 3000s side is essentially a concept album about a relationship happening, falling apart, then the growth that comes after. But with Hey Ya, vampires and a jazz/breaks version of The Sound of Music. If it hadn't been for the jazz flute album a few months ago, you'd say it was the most out there thing he'd ever done. I can't see how anyone could hear this and give it less than full marks.

Not perfect and it is essentially 2 different albums fused together but this is still a singular achievement over 20 years on. Can remember LOVING this when it came out, still stands up now - so creative.

Hey ya alone gives this 5 stars. A dance song you can’t dance to - it’s in 22/8. A happy melody about a relationship breakdown. One of the greatest songs and singles of the 21st century. In 2003. Will it be matched over the following 97 years? 21 years later there’s not a lot of competition. * The rest of the double album swerves from great to middling. Without hey ya it’d be a solid 3.5. With Hey Ya it’s a 5. *This isn’t a ‘music these days!’ comment. Hey Ya is that good. .

Love this album. You can listen from start to finish, absolutely brilliant.

cmon son that's a classic joint. only problem is it's a little too poppy. 4.5 stars. definitely listen to their earlier work for perfect works of art and music!

Absolutely fantastic

Church my favorite track. Was amazed by how much I liked this album.

Wow what a lush tapestry of sounds. I loved the diversity of the tracks. This is a masterpiece.

Brilliant

Classic

I was ready to call this album a 5+ but I will agree with the other critics who said that The Love Below does take some odd turns. It's a double album so its bound to have some filler but do we really need a free jazz/breakcore version of a song from The Sound of Music? I know I don't. That inclusion of that track and some of the other clunkers knock this down to a solid five.

I have been a big fan of The XX since first hearing them. Love the mellow vibe of this album.

Already listened to this album but I am so excited to start my year off with it! A wonderful blast from the past, can't wait to get started on this journey

Love this. Speakerboxxx 💯

loved it

#1

I don't know if this is a masterpiece or two masterpieces. Maybe three masterpieces if I consider the combo "Hey Ya!"+"Roses" are a third masterpiece by themselves.

Fuck yeah

Two classics in a row???? This album was one of the first I ever bought, and on eBay so I didn't have to worry about a check out person asking for my ID since it was parental advisory. I found out many years later that they do not check ID with PA albums so there's some irony there. If I remember right, I had bought Now 16 which had Hey Ya on it, and of course it was on the radio too, but I wanted to get the whole album. And once I did, I played that thing out on my CD player. I loaded this album up on Xbox too and had these songs playing while we played Tony Hawks Underground. This is an easy 5 for me in the same way the last one was, filled with memories of youth and sneaking listens whenever the parents weren't around. Not every song is perfect, but with so many hits on here, and at over 2 hours, this is how you did a long form album. And this puts any of Drakes long albums to shame. Now that I think of it, this might have been the first rap album I ever had. Major Keepers: GhettoMusick, The Way You Move, Knowing, Happy Valentine's Day, Prototype, Hey Ya!, Roses, Dracula's Wedding, My Favorite Things And if I'm picking, I'm giving the edge to The Love Below

Good lord, talk about a one-two punch, thankfully we got a weekend to breathe between Hendrix and OutKast. We went from a five-star album that reminded Alex of me to a five-star album that reminds me of him. I wasn't sure if this would be five stars, not an instant one in the sense Jimi was. But listening through it, which I haven't done in years, it's hard to deny. I know way more tracks than I thought, and it's frustrating because I swear Stankonia is my favorite OutKast album, but then ATLiens and Aquemini and Speakerboxxx/Love Below beat my ass. These dudes are really just that good. A double album, two hours plus but a TRUE double album in the sense that Speakerboxxx is Big Boi's showcase album, and the Love Below is Andre 3000's. Three Stacks is inarguably one of the greatest rappers ever (now a solid ambient artist), but it's funny to think that paired with just about any other rapper, Big Boi would be the better rapper in the duo. It's like the "bad cop bad cop" joke in the Other Guys, "I saw how hard you came in and thought 'I gotta go higher than that??'" Alex and I listened to this many a time as kids, well before I really understood what hip hop was. So many tracks take me right back to those days, especially "Bamboo Interlude" which I almost forgot about, and the "Panties" skit that still gives me PTSD, worrying mom or dad might walk in the room while I'm listening. Big Boi made the "hip hop" album here, and it rips, and Andre 3000 made a more experimental/R&B fusion kind of album, but it also rips. Just unfair how good these two are individually and together. Side note: there's definitely a connection between Hendrix and Andre 3000: sure the guitar-playing influence is there, but Andre also played Jimi in a movie. Anyway, five stars, could talk for much longer about this album but just go listen again. Favorite tracks: Unhappy, Ghetto Musick, Bowtie, The Way You Move, The Rooster, Bust, Bamboo Interlude, Knowing, Reset, Bowtie (Postlude), Happy Valentine's Day, Prototype, Hey Ya, Roses, Behold a Lady, Dracula's Wedding, Take Off Your Cool, A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre. Album art: Perfect representation of the split nature of this project, and how cool do both of these guys look? I'll say it here because I forgot to above: this was one of the few albums by non-white artists to win AOTY at the Grammys over the last two decades and damn did it deserve it. 5/5

Fantastic album! Even the lesser known tracks are total jams. This was one of the first hip hop albums I loved.

just great. these two have unlimited ideas. they play characters and sing songs that seem like they’ve been around forever. probably cliche to say but the variety is like the white album.

LOVED.

Incredible album. Half of it is weird, experimental, psychedelic, electro-funk, genre expanding, hip hop. Then Andre 3000's half starts and shit gets REALLY crazy.

Stankonia was good but. couldn't quite get past the misogyny. I cannot ignore the collective genius that is this album. The best combination of clever lyrics, imppecable flow and masterful production to ever grace this Earth, OutKast is everlasting.

Some great songs. High energy. Energy dips a bit toward the end—it’s a lot of songs.

If someone asks me what R&B is, I will tell them to listen this album.

Outkast really are in a league (and on a planet) of their own. Dragging old school into the far off future, this is a long ass album that deserves every second to be heard and savoured. In my opinion this is their magnum opus, an incredible feat considering the quality of their previous records.

Great!

Phenomenal. This is a long album, but it is incredible from start to finish. I wouldn't change a single thing.

great hip hop album, exemplifying the best of the genre and covering so many great topics too.

What an amazing dual album.

Top notch

Good tunes!

Great album. Still like Love Below more, butSpeakerboxxx is so solid

So many surprising moments and depth.

The cup of raw creativity runneth over – way f-ing over. There is enough for three or four great albums here, and this seemed to open up new possibilities for and epxand the horizons of hip-hop. Sprawling and sublime, the combination of ambition and anything-goes works fabulously well, almost too well as it's borderline too much multiple times. Some of the filigree may get close to filler but the quantity of quality and variety of originality make this a landmark and it holds up well. Beyond “The Way You Move” and “Hey Ya,” “Church,””Flip Flop Rock,” “Prototype” “Take Off Your Cool," “My Favorite Things” and "Vibrate" are among the many other highlights. The jokes mostly land or at least at a higher rate than most hip-hop records (not that this is one, only). The guest appearances are mostly additive but one wonders just how much would be lost if they weren't here. Fusing multiple styles beyond hip-hop, one hears elements of many of the best musical maximalists – Prince, George Clinton, Coltrane, Rick James, Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis – an alt history of black music, basically. OutKast possess as much raw fireeower as those acts, as well as a boldness and relentlessness in making it new.

Classic album, solid gold

First of all, very funny that this is another Hip-Hop album with a “god is a woman?!” moment on it. That having been said, blown away by this listen. I wasn’t stoked about a 40-track album where I only knew 4 of them prior, but this is a real fun listen. Speakerboxxx is banger after banger with some great features (those Killer Mike tracks go hard), and The Love Below is an eclectic experimental trip that really shows why André 3000 had a blank check to do whatever for the next decade. I’m not a fan of most of the interludes, and of course every track isn’t a hit (The Love Below certainly being the more inconsistent half), but I can’t say the overall enjoyment was affected a ton by that for me. It still stands up for me as a weird, wild, wholly realized artistic expression. This is twice as long as Layla and that record had me tuning out and skipping around after a bit, while I was genuinely engaged the whole way through here. Great stuff.

Wow! This is what a double album should be, 2 albums! Andre isn’t as consistent as big boi’s side, but you can definitely get something out of it. Weird, experimental, groovy! GREAT!

One of my faves, smooth AF

My childhood memories

This is the pinnacle of the Drrty South sound and goddamn does it feature everyone - Killer Mike, Cee-Lo Green, Lil Jon, Ludacris. Hell, even JAY-Z had to get in on the action. It’s an opus magnum dei. I loved this album when it came out and bought it the first week. I am down with the crunk.

Some absolute classics in this album. OutKast were at their peak when this came out. Was very unique to have two separate albums in each, but goes to show that the duo were likely looking for different things from the music by that point.

I miss rap like this. It's got good flow. I feel like a lot of hip hop nowadays is just "a guy talking" (I'm looking at you Jay Z). On top of that, side two is fresh, what with the jazz / lounge infusion. And on side one we have "The Way You Move", an awesome recreation of something Earth, Wind, and Fire might do (and which they wound up covering). I wish there were more hip hop like this.

Love this sh!t

The most Double of Albums, since it is literally two Albums that were smashed together. I think that it is missing some of what I enjoy about OutKast, but Andre really makes up for it in The Love Below.

A COMPLEX hip hop album. It needs another listen to fully grasp.

Prototype is favorite track

🐐🐐

I knew some of the latest songs of this group but the album was so fresh, so clean ;D

long ass album

Solid

Album starts very strong with some great energy in the opening tracks and then get's lost for a bit in generic hip hop sounds and tropes. Andre's eclectic sounds and inventive lyrics keeps the album flowing in between the well known, timeless songs that even your grandparents could enjoy. Killer Mike provides a solid, aggressive contrast in a few spots.

Absolutely delightful. What a fun double album. Very cool to essentially see two solo albums considered one collective band album. Definitely a must-listen.

I absolutely adore this album. Every single song (with the exception of Behold A Lady) was a solid 4.5/5. Shoutout to Andre 3000 and Big Boi for making one of the best hip-hop albums ever. It's fucking fantastic.

This one is a five star classic, these guys never missed!

When I was a teenager the local record store sold packs of random used CDs for pretty cheap - I used to love buying them because you'd find all kinds of weird shit in them, and also some all time classics. One of them had just The Love Below and not Speakerboxxx, which ended up being my first foray into Outkast - a group I love dearly. That's all a roundabout way of saying that, despite my love of all things Outkast, I've for some reason never listened to Speakerboxxx until today. What a mistake; I think I prefer it to The Love Below. I wish they'd get back together, but what an incredible album to leave on (shhh, Idlewild doesn't count)

"Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast. It is a double album with a solo album from each member, Big Boi and Andre 3000. Big Boi's "Speakerboxxx" is southern hip hop with a P-Funk influence. It has themes of family, philosophy, religion and politics. Andre 3000's "The Love Below" is pyschedelic, pop, funk, electro and jazz with themes of basically love. The album had widespread critical acclaim and was a commercial success spending seven weeks in the US at #1. It also won Grammy's for Best Album and Best Rap Album. "Intro" opens "Speakerboxxx" with weird noises, a Gong and goes straight into "Ghetto Musick." This is fast and hard. We're kind of in EDM and industrial territory. It slows down with a sample of Patti Labelle's "Live, Need and Want You." Goes back fast. Big Boi using the vocoder. OutKast has one of the seven times when a song of theirs replaces another song of theirs at #1. And that's what "The Way You Move" did to "Hey Ya." Guest vocals by Sleepy Brown. The beat starts. Horns. Great R&B groove and overall song. Killer Mike brings it on "Bust." This is a little more hardcore rap. Big Boi still adds weird noises. Oh, those are throughout this album. Another great groove song is "Knowing." Big Boi going falsetto. "Last Call" has a host of rappers. Catchy chorus. Yes, they are talking about drinking. Right away you know, it's a different album with "The Love Below (Intro)." Strings. Piano. More majestic. Andre 3000 crooning. "Happy Valentine's Day" is funky with a great beat. Very Prince. A catchy female backing vocal chorus. "Prototype" is slower, acoustic guitar. Andre can go falsetto too. He's in love....again. "1,2,3, uh" and we're off with "Hey Ya!" Extremely catchy chorus. That bassline. I think Andre's background vocal sounds are a highlight. "Roses" is more in the R&B vein. Very interesting lyrics "Roses really smell like poo-poo-ooh." One of the few songs with actual rapping. I thought I was back listening to New Order in "Love in War." An 80's synth/key melody. Alright, I'm in. Acoustic guitar and Norah Jones in "Take Off Your Cool." I was just thinking what's needed here is a folk-rock-pop song and got my wish. Wow! This is a lot of music. No denying the creativity and substance of both. "Speakerboxx" is more rap and hip hop but the weird noises and everything else make this unique for that genre. I don't even know if I would consider "The Live Below" hip hop. It's jazzy, poppy, danceable, folk, EDM and probably more. Both of these albums are worth a listen. Give yourself some time.

This is the epitome of "Cry because it's over, smile because it happened" RIP Outkast, you changed the game and put ATL on the hip-hop map

Used to always love the love below and never really listened to speakerbodxxx but big boy is very very good

Classic yet underrated

Love it

Classic

Won’t be my first time, excited to relisten!!!! Speakerbox- Fav: bowtie & flip flop rock Least fav: Bust “Feeling good feeling great Feeling great feeling good how are you?” I thought I liked the love below better But this unexpectedly amazing The love below- Fav: Hey Ya & Pink and Blue Least fav: she’s alive The love below is more memorable to me I love this album as a concept, two different albums in one record.

4.5 stars Creative hip hop double album that spans different sounds . First Speakerboxxx by Big Boi and lots of guest artists is just solid track after track and sounds a little more like traditional hip-hop. Then The Love Below by Andre 3000 is more poppy, jazz/funky and longer and drawn out with more filler and doesn't have the same bass-driven oomph as the former. There's absolute hits that are timeless led by "Hey Ya!," "The Way You Move," and "Roses." This record is expansive and showed what hip hop could be. Half star deduction for The Love Below not being on quite the same level as Speakerboxxx.

This really blew my 13/14 year old mind, and probably remains my favourite hip-hop album(s) to this day. I listened to The Love Below in particular on repeat on my CD Walkman, and it kept me company during some dark times. Andre 3000 lead me on a funky, sexy musical odyssey that could also be supremely pretty (those strings at the end of Pink & Blue…) or kind of cold and eerie (most of the second half of the disc). He always sounded effortlessly cool, no matter how goofy the rhymes or how strange the music. I neglected Speakerboxxx a bit at the time, which is both a shame and quite baffling, as it’s a 5 star album in its own right. It’s closer to a typical hip-hop sound, but in its way it’s just as packed with fun ideas as TLB, and pound for pound arguably contains more bangers.

Hell Ya

This really is two solo albums in one. Big Boi and André 3000 is such a power duo and both Speakerboxxx and The Love Below have an exceptional quality to them. It's hard to do a follow up to a killer album like Stankonia but somehow they manage to succeed even though it's in a different direction. Speakerboxxx is more of a traditional hip-hop album and The Love Below is more experimental with jazzy influences. As it is two albums it's very demanding for the listener if you want to listen to it in one session.

So many stars. It's long, but I love every minute of it. Two different styles, each one adding to this great double album. Andre 3000's used to be my favourite, but I think Big Boi's has maybe stood the test of time more... or maybe I just like the party vibes more now that I'm not an emotional teenager!

Two solid albums in different styles. I enjoyed both but like the Love Below better. Great production and performances throughout. Appreciate all the other rappers and singers keeping it really interesting throughout.

A tale of two halves to make once complete album. ‘Speakerboxxx’ provides an excellent album of old school hip-hip whereas ‘The Love Below’ tells the story of André 3000’s unfortunate attempts to find “a Layydayy” using funk and jazz. All in all, one excellent album even if both halves are listened to consecutively or separately.

You go into this album expecting to get the epitome of 2000s hip hop, and come out with a full anthology showing how talented both of these artists are, individually and together. I'll forever maintain that Big Boi is the most underrated figure in hip hop. The best tracks on each are obvious, so the best of the non-obvious tracks: Speakerboxxx: Flip Flop Rock The Love Below: Love in War

❤️

I remember really liking Outkast around the time that this album came out, and yet I don’t think I actually listened to the album in full. Well it’s better late than never, so let’s listen! Songs I already knew: Hey Ya, Roses Favourites: Hey Ya, Roses, Bowtie Generally, if I’m generated a long listen to album to, I start off slightly miffed. But not today! I was excited to listen to an album with a run time of over 2 hours, which says a lot for me. The music is very catchy from front to back (I personally prefer The Love Below but both discs are genuinely excellent). The lyrics are very smart, but rarely overly intricate so it isn’t too alienating. Overall, a fantastic record demonstrating a great mix of hip hop and pop.

Great album

Yooooo Amazing album! I will contend that this contains one of the best recorded versions of My Favourite Things in the history of mankind What more can we wish for

GUHHH GHH GUHHHHH HGHHHH KYAHHHHHH

Roses is a fuckin banger

This album is on a whole other level, I cannot speak highly enough of it! Such an incredible split album for both Andre and Big Boi! The differences between Speakerboxx and The Love Below are so apparent but they mesh so well in this double album, two albums with the same flow. Big Boi starts it out with that classic souther-style hip hop and then Andre comes in and makes everything so funky and shows love and heartbreak is great pictures. All around such a good album, too many good songs to count and even tho it’s 2 hours long I could just keep listening to it. Absolutely incredible album.

have listened so many times...

This album’s kinda cheating because it’s really two albums in one, but hot DAMN are they some slammin’ albums! Truly a shame that OutKast disbanded when they did, though this album shows how explicitly different Big Boi and André 3000’s artistic directions were heading. At least we got two definitive artistic statements from each they brought down from the height of their partnership.

OutKast reclaims their title as one of the best hip hop duos with this 2-hour double album packed with hits. Albums don't have a write to be this long and engaging, not with 40 tracks, most of which over 3 minutes. These tracks are full of lush instrumentation, crisp production style, and full of engaging effects that keep you on your feet. It's organized pretty well, with hits dispersed evenly, starting out with a stream of disco-oriented tracks to pull in mainstream audiences. Speakerboxxx then moves in a more standard hip hop style approach based on the works of Dr Dre and other acts influenced strongly by P-funk. There are a couple tracks I didn't care for, but it's all good, and I loved most of it. Andre 3000 moves us into a more eclectic artsy direction on The Love Below with influences from jazz, electronic, funk, rock, and psychedelia. Even though both sides are genius, The Love Below fits with my music interests of crazy avant-garde melodies, strange samples, and eery atmospheric synths and other instrumentals. It blows my mind how a song like "Hey Ya" could exist and define the era but yet no one could even attempt to imitate it. There's an insanely strong string of tracks from "Prototype" to "Pink & Blue" that demonstrate the craziest strengths of this side, but the rest of the album is just as incredible.

Struggling to decide between 4 and 5 stars. Although the double album spanning 2 hours is quite the ballsy move, I think it works and loved the whole thing. Most of the OutKast songs that got really big are the more André 3000 type songs, probably since they’ve got a unique sound. But with that said, I think I enjoyed Big Boi’s half even more. I guess if something tops Hey Ya, then it must deserve 5 stars.

Loved it! Reminded me of Uni days

Not the best Outkast album but still so much better than the rest

10/10

Classic hip hop album

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

Excellent one of my favourites

Bangers only

Saweeeet! Listen to this many more times.

Great lyrics and music.

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

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, released 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!!

Such an ambitious, awesome, and FUN album

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.

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

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

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.

so good it’s criminal

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!

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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)

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!

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.

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).

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.

So good.

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

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

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!

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

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.

I like it

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!

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!

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.

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

5

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.

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.

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

album a day

This shit don't stink.

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.

Yeah man, this shit is thoroughly entertaining.

A+ music

Rating: 10/10 Best songs: all

A nostalgic album for me

Banger after banger

Bangers

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Shake it sh sh shake it

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

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.

Outkast are great. Sorely missed. Great album

come on! love this!

Just fantastic so much good music in one album.

ya! and it has Norah on it. perfect.

a very cool album very interesting 🥸 enjoyed the second half

Great album

This album has it ALL. What a collection.

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.

Loved it 03. Love it in 20’

Excellent album

<3

2 Outkast albums in 3 days. Well, I suppose it's 3 as this was originally intended to be 2 albums. I tend to struggle with long double albums, but when the second album feels like a mix tape it's a little easier to digest. As ever, I always imagine what a regular length album of just the best tracks would've been like though - that would've been truly great instead of being very good.

Speakerboxxx - 3.5 stars with no real lows (outside of the interludes) The Love Below - 4 stars with some real lows (better interludes)

Tricky one to review, since this is pretty much 2 albums on one disc. Which is a lot of music to go through, yes its long, but with the thought that this is 2 separate albums combined into one, I will forgive its length. Each artist brings their own unique flavour, so I think its kind of cool getting to see both styles which make up Outkast deconstructed into two sides. With that we get some major hits, and some of my personal favorite songs, The Way You Move, Flip Flop Rock, Happy Valentines Day, Hey Ya, Roses, and a sleeper hit for me being Take Off Your Cool (featuring Norah Jones?! Love this, seems like such a random feature for this album, but maybe her and Andre are tight?) Some moments and songs I wasn't too sure about, that being more on Andres side, I think he could have trimmed outa few songs to improve the album. Speakerboxx seemed pretty tight, and flowed well. Definitely an interesting album/double album. I've been an Andre 3000 fan ever since I heard Hey Ya back in an oldschool runescape music video posted to Youtube back in like 2008. Love his cadence, flow, and creativity. 8/10

Hey Ya! What great music!

I know it’s a pivotal album but I think it’s ok.

I remember when this album came out. It was a very cool and unique concept, but also made me feel a certain type of way. This great duo did their own things, as much as they tried to convince everyone there were no issues between them (which might be true), but it seemed sad to me. I also always felt bad for Big Boi because it seemed like everyone liked Andre’s album more lol. Had never listened to it until now though and I can say with 100% certainty Big Boi’s album is far superior. 5 stars for the first half, 3 stars for the second half = 4 stars Hey Ya and Roses still slap though.

Listened to Stankonia instead

Far too long. Andre 3000 Love Below is the better half

Masterful arrangement of each of the members feel. Speakerboxxx is purely rap and hip-hop, it's well paced and energetic, and The Love Below feels soul-like and it heightens the influence if had on many artists like Thundercat. Exquisite experience.

It's way too long. But it's also unabashedly weird & iconoclastic. There's not nearly enough weird rap these days, and I'd rather wade through a bloated Outkast album, skits and all, any day, than listen to contemporary southern or trap.

Génial, je préfère 100 fois la partie de André 3000 (même si celle de big boi est sympa). Très bon album, les interludes apportent vraiment quelque chose à l'ambiance générale.

C'était cool mais particulièrement la deuxième partie

Disc 1 - 3.5/5 Intro - 3/5 GhettoMusick - 4.5/5 Unhappy - 4/5 Bowtie (feat. Sleepy Brown & Jazz Pha) - 3.5/5 The Way You Move (feat. Sleepy Brown) - 3.5/5 The Rooster - 4/5 Bust (feat. Killer Mike) - 2.5/5 War - 3/5 Church - 4/5 Bamboo (Interlude) - 2/5 Tomb of the Boom (feat. Konkrete, Big Gipp & Ludacris) - 3.5/5 E-Mac (Interlude) - 3/5 Knowing - 3/5 Flip Flop Rock (feat. Killer Mike & JAY-Z) - 3/5 Interlude - 2/5 Reset (feat. Khujo Goodie & Cee-Lo) - 2.5/5 D-Boi (Interlude) - 2/5 Last Call (feat. Slimm Calhoun, Lil’ Jon, The EastSide Boyz & Mello) - 2.5/5 Bowtie (Postlude) - 2/5 Disc 2 - 3/5 The Love Below (Intro) - 3/5 Love Hater - 3/5 God (Interlude) - 2.5/5 Happy Valentine’s Day - 3.5/5 Spread - 3/5 Where Are My Panties - 2/5 Prototype - 3/5 She Lives in My Lap (feat. Rosario Dawson) - 2.5/5 Hey Ya! - 5/5 Roses - 2/5 Good Day, Good Sir (Interlude) - 2/5 Behold a Lady - 3/5 Pink & Blue - 3/5 Love In War - 3/5 She’s Alive - 3.5/5 Dracula’s Wedding (feat. Kelis) - 3/5 The Letter - 3.5/5 My Favorite Things - 3/5 Take Off Your Cool (feat. Norah Jones) - 3.5/5 Vibrate - 2.5/5 A Life In The Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete) - 2.5/5

I've listened to The Love Below several times in the past and love it but always kinda wrote off Speakerboxxx as more commercial and boring because of the single. I didn't realize that without Andre around, Big Boi would be the weirdo in most rap circles. I loved both of them this time through. Each half of the album is individually a 4 and the project as a whole almost adds up to a 5 somehow but ultimately falls just short.

Two Outkast albums in a row. That was very cool and snazzy

The love below > Speaker boxxx J'ai même quasiment beaucoup aimé le deuxième album. 4 étoiles pour l'ambition et la redéfinition du rap des débuts '00s, Roses et Hey Ya auront quand même marqué mon secondaire en background.

Not too long for a single sitting. Good, and a hip-hop classic but found it overwhelming in the end.

some fat trimming would have done wonder for this project

First double album I've gotten where it really is two totally separate experiences. Disc 1 has more of a classic hip hop/ rap style and does it exceptionally well, really enjoyed a large amount of what was on here aside from the round table stuff. Disc 2 slows down quite a bit and goes more intimate and introspective, this one has the mega hits and the highest highs, but also drags more and has more misses. Overall I think its an achievement of the art style.

Two. Hours. Fifteen. Minutes. If this album was condensed into an hour, it would be a straight 10. In fact, the whole album is great, there isn't a single song that you could call ‘bad’. The hip hop grooves, instrumentals and vocal delivery are brilliant and undeniably Oukast at their best. BUT, any album this long takes it out of me by the end, and that's no different here. Great music, loved the vast majority of it, but a point off for being a bit of a slog to complete in one day.

I remember buying this album was I was a kid! One of the first I bought with my own money, I loved it then and I love it now! Great double album, almost as if Andre and Big Boi are dueling back and front with their own unique musical styles

This is two albuns in one! Giant list of songs but oukast did a great job on this. So funky and so well produced with true hip-hop in their veins. Plus the interludes in this album are a true artform. Loved it!

Speakerboxx - A great Rap album with excellent lyricism and instrumentation at points. Probably a more consistent album overall than The Love Below, and at just over 40 minutes is extremely tight. Falls away slightly towards the end due to the number of interludes. 3.5/5 The Love Below - Hits higher highs than Speakerboxx and shows an unbelievable level of variety, from the several Prince-esque tracks to the fully rapped “A Life in the Day of Andre Benjamin (Incomplete)” (I assume a clever play on Sgt Pepper’s iconic closer). I also love the way the interludes add to the album and connect songs, compared to the aimless skits of many albums. However, I feel the album does slightly overstay its welcome, with the stretch from “Roses” to “Dracula’s Wedding” really dragging for me. 4/5 Overall, I think that the two albums can be enjoyed individually from each other, without detracting from your enjoyment, as the two are essentially two completely separate albums that have been grouped together, and this thing would be an absolute mammoth listened to back to back (I listened to them on separate days). That being said the variety on display in the 134 minutes of this combined album make for a great overall record that does enough to keep your attention the whole way through.

Well this is very long, but there is great stuff here. Speakerboxxx is solid all the way through. Ghetto Musick is probably my favorite track. The Love Below really drags on and some songs seem very unnecessary. However, this one has some very high highs. Of course Hey Ya! But I also think She Lives In My Lap is an underrated gem. Still way too long though!

Oh man. I’m familiar with this and it’s pretty much two separate albums as a double album. It’s long. Going to give it a listen, but this is filled with well known songs that are still played today everywhere. I remember it being like two separate genres entirely on the separate albums. Big Boi’s album feels very Outkast. It’s soulful with his typical fast rhyming style. It’s got a lot of funk and soul to it though. It’s fun and energetic. Loving it early on. The Way You Move is a jam still, and everything around it is fun still. Church is fun and one of the highlights. Really like the sound on a lot of Andre’s album too. It’s way less hip hop, more like jazzy rocky soul music. It’s really good. Hey Ya and Roses is a great back to back. Timeless songs that don’t age. Biggest issue is that as a double album, it’s just too long. It’s really two separate albums and I think if you view it that way, it’s all great. Was debating going down to a 3 because felt so long, but the music is all solid. I’ll go up to 4.

One of the greatest hip hop acts of all time. I'm glad I managed to see them live once back in 2001. This double double solo album has lots of classics, but also a lot of fluff. I think overall Big Boi's 'Speakerboxxx' is a stronger record on its own. But Andre's 'The Love Below' has some of the most creative and memorable songs ever released by a mainstream hip hop act. But it's so dense and abstract at times it's hard to follow. It plays sort of like those old self-indulgent Prince independent releases. Interesting but too quirky for a casual listen. But there's too much great stuff on this set to rate any lower than 3. I'll give it a 3.5 rounded to 4.

Oei, dit is lastig. Dit is een album dat ik al best goed ken, sowieso de hits. Wil hier ook wel echt goed voor gaan zitten. Maar dubbelalbums? Ik ben gewoon niet zo'n fan hiervan... Zelfs niet van Outkast. Knalt er wel gewoon KEIHARD in met GhettoMusick, heb dit album in het verleden wel eens aan gezet en vond dan vaak de Big Boi kant wat beter te doen dan de Andre kant, ondanks dat Andre misschien technisch de betere rapper is, is Big Boi denk ik de betere artiest. Speakerboxxx is echt in alles een pure Dirtyy South hiphop plaat. Niet heel experimenteel, je weet een soort van wat je kan verwachten; de beats gaan hard, de verses zijn heel vet en de features (Jay-Z, Killer Mike, Luda) weten precies wat er verwacht word en gaan er vol voor. Dus dan The Love Below; alleen de opener 'Love Hater' - pure jazz. Ok Andre? We gaan een compleet andere richting op dus?? Heerlijk interlude zoals God, waarin Andre een goed gesprek heeft met God, de vrouw. Wel heel ironisch; het Love Below album is veel experimenteler dan Speakerboxxx, maar toch staan de grote hits (Hey ya, Roses) op Love Below. Tsja, zijn die nummers overplayed? Misschien. Heb ik het nog steeds naar mn zin? Ohjazeker! Ik heb expres dit album in 2 stukken gedeeld, dus na Speakerboxxx even een pauze voordat je doorgaat met The Love Below. Dat werkt wel echt ene stuk beter, sowieso zijn de 2 albums ontzettend verschillend, het zijn echt 2 losse albums wat dat betreft. The Love Below het jazzy, experimentele maar soms toch poppy album en Speakerboxxx het hard hittende echte Southside hiphop album. Dit zie je ook perfect aan de features waar je op Speakerboxxx veel meer echte Atlanta/ hiphop features hebt, krijg je bij The Love Below features als Kelis en Norah Jones. Ironisch, aan het begin was ik al overtuigd dat ik dit dubbelalbum te lang en te veel vond, maar aan het einde kan ik eigenlijk weinig anders doen dan concluderen dat dit een fantastisch album is en dat ik het heel erg naar mn zin heb gehad hierbij. Net net net net geen 5 sterren, ik merkte dat de laatste paar nummers, ik toch wel echt klaar was met het album. Maar desalniettemin; geweldig album, absoluut een must listen en bizar hoeveel creativiteit er in 1 album is gepropt. FAVO: GhettoMusick, Bowtie, The way you move, Flip flop rock, Last call, Prototype, Hey ya, Roses, Behold a Lady, Draculas wedding, take off your cool

Leuk concept dat het twee albums zijn en dat ze hun eigen ding konden doen maar nog steeds op elkaar konden leunen. Ik heb wel een voorkeur voor the love below. Die is veel speelser, vrolijker, melodieuser een beetje vies, maar met een verhaal die je mee neemt. Ik vind het verschil tussen de twee dat big boi klinkt als een domme dude die diep probeert te zijn en andre3000 een diepe dude die dom probeert te zijn. Mijn voorkeur gaat naar andre. The love below alleen zou van mij 5 sterren krijgen. Spread vind ik heel cool! Hey ya is een klassieker. Ik vind het leuk hoe de tekst een contrast is met de muziek qua vrolijkheid. Iets wat de beatles ook vaak deden, daarom past de videoclip er ook perfect bij. Roses is ook geniaal met vooral de line die eindigt op ditch. Bij speakerboxx kan ik dat niet zo over de nummers zeggen.

Ik was een beetje gefrustreerd over de 1001 lijst dat ze dit album kiezen en het beste album Aquemini er niet in staat. Een schande, een doodzonde, een aanfluiting er zijn op zn minst drie betere albums van Outkast. Ik moest even minder kinderachtig doen en over mijn frustratie heenstappen om dit los waarderen. Het is toch wel een goed album. Of twee losse. Andre 3000 is nog steeds bijzonder alleen is het geen rapper meer. Hij evalueert natuurlijk maar dat betekend ook dat we afscheid moeten nemen van één van de beste rappers die ik dan vervolgens toch mis. Het slaat eigenlijk nergens op dat dit 1 albums is. Ze hebben niks meer met elkaars werk te maken. De eerdere albums zijn echt samen en op Aquemini hoor je al goed dat het twee verschillende kanten op gaan maar hier zit het nog precies op het perfecte randje dat het juist goed met elkaar werkt, er zit wat spanning in. Het verschil is te groot geworden op dit album, Speakerboxxx gaat hard en is ok maar voelt ook weer conservatief als je het afzet tegen the love below. The love below daarintegen niet heel consistent qua kwaliteit. Of je het met elkaar moet vergelijken is een beetje de vraag omdat het zo los staat van elkaar maar het staat weer samen op 1 album waardoor je er niet aan ontkomt. Het is in ieder geval boeiend ondanks dat ik niet precies weet wat ik er nou van vind.

Crazy but too long imo so you get lost in it

Feels overwhelming if you try to listen to it in just one sitting, took me half a day to finish. First time listening to an Outkast album, have only listened to a handful of their songs, and I believe it’s a strong rap album. As far as rap albums go, it’s a pretty long one; a double cd/album in fact. Enjoyed the Speakerboxxx side more, though. Psychedelia meets hip hop, and I’m here for it. Favorites: Knowing, GhettoMusick, Flip Flop Rock (feat. Killer Mike & Jay Z), Reset (feat. Khujo Goodie & Cee-Lo), Church, Spread, Roses

If you can't find something you like on here you might need to reconsider if you actually like music or not.

7 - GOOD

I don't remember this album being that good but it is! I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this album. During this time I was listening to a lot of Ludacris, and I loved that Atlanta sound!

Es tan largo que tiene momentos buenisimos y momentos bajos. Es dificil de poner nota a algo así, creo que brillaria muchisimo mas por separado en 2 o incluso 3 discos distintos. Creo que cuando más brilla es cuando toman elementos del jazz, los beats son gloriosos ahí. Terminandolo, es una experiencia el disco. te va paseando por distintos lugares. Va a quedar guardado pero solo gracias a The Love Box, si fuera por Speakerboxxx no alcanzaría. Hay un corte de 3 o 4 canciones más bien románticos que me pareció muy bueno y también llegando al final otro corte más centrado en los beats que despliega el laburo del productor (que escribiendo desconozco quien es pero que voy a averiguar)

I don’t know OutKast beyond some of the hits, but I'm excited for this. Speakerboxxx: full of engaging songs, with full mixes, lots of horns, catchy riffs. Lots of rap, which is hard for me to follow from audio only but that’s okay - the vibe is generally fine, and the features tasteful, eg Killer Mike sounds a bit aggro but I have established positive attitude to his work on the basis of Run the Jewels. If this is Southern hip hop (positive and conscious), I’m down for it. The Love Below: "experimental pop"? Prince is an obvious reference point, the comparison is not unreasonable - Andre 3000 not a genius guitarist but has no lack of musical imagination and conviction. Not every song is great but it's an interesting album, I could imagine playing it in full on another occasion. Overall, it's Very Good, 8/10.

Simply for the song “the way you move” this is a stand-out album. Overall a good listen

rare to go beneath the hood and see what makes each artist in a duo so special to the duo without detracting from quality. love the distinctness of each side. first time, maybe, i was excited about listening to something this long

When to listen: off Kazaa in my childhood bedroom, or in Julianna's Woodstock house. Obviously I've known a few of these songs from back in the day but surprised how many other songs I enjoyed, especially the ones with brass instrumentation. Not every song was a banger, but enough of 'em were for me to wholeheartedly recommend the album.

Beside the Billion Play song "Hey Ya" there is a powerhouse at over 2 hours. A bit overwhelming but fun.

So many great songs that one can't help but forgive it for the great sin of being a double album (closer to the length of four regular albums at that!). Besides, it has the added benefit of being of a post-split diptych. P.S. Outkast, and maybe Andre 3000 specifically, seem to be a bigger influence of Kendrick Lamar than any other artists. No small thing.

Very fun album with a lot of fun touches like the Gunbuster esque interstitial Speakerboxxx throughout that album, and really really enjoyed The Love Below as a goofier more experimental album, but it is just so long as a double album it is hard to listen to as one thing.

Speakerboxxx is a fantastic rump-shaker funked-out blast of looking back and looking around for a great sound and Big Boi kills it as a lead on that, and Love Below is a fascinating almost-explosion of ideas from Andre 3000 across a wide breadth of tone and genre and all the rest of it which feels like it’s had tangible inspiration on all sorts of people. The thing is I just don’t know if it’s a strength that they’re together on “one” album - honestly, 40 tracks (I’m not gonna try to count without interludes) would be a lot anyway, 134 and a half minutes would be a lot anyway, but more crucially, an hour of Speakerboxxx jumping straight off the 100m diving board from Last Call and Bowtie into an hour of The Love Below just feels too much. I wouldn’t want either really compressed is the fucked up thing, there’s very little fat you could trim and you surely wouldn’t want to - I think you’d just have to Fuel/Refuel it as a separate pair who are spiritually a double, which would give you more room to breathe on The Love Below especially. And then also maybe I’d be able to purely focus on A Life In The Day without also dying for the pee break at the end.

Eclectic mixture always interesting, rap and ballads soul tinged at times and poppy. There’s a lot going on and on the whole it is excellent.

I bought this album 20 years ago for the Hay Ya song but was disappointed when the rest of the songs were more rap. But listening again, there are some great songs on this album.

klassiker!

Vraiment cool et éclectique

belle découverte

lopetus erityisen hyvä, sairas my favorite things

Here we go, I’ve been hopeful and excited to get some OutKast on here, and this is a very interesting, polarizing record to talk about, nead the end of their discography. I’m a big fan of OutKast’s work, this being the most commercially successful of their releases, yet never my favorite, largely because I love hearing the duo work together. That conclusion is less shade to this album and more a credit to my favorites of their projects, which sit among my favorite hip-hop records of all-time. Yes, this is long, but it’s really two albums, and with some mental gymnastics with how it’s constructed, I can get on board. Big Boi, the less iconic member, was never any slouch, he’s a tier below the greatest of rappers, and he proves here he can carry a full disc on his own. The flow, creative vision, and ability is on full display here, as Speakerboxx is a special southern hip-hop release with awesome tracks all over. Then there’s Andre, who digs as deep as ever into his experimentation and ideas with a record that’s only loosely connected to hip-hop but cool and super entertaining with a historic run of tracks towards the middle. It may be unfair, but I struggle not to compare the group to themselves, and this is an awesome release I enjoyed more this time around than ever before, but not quite enough for a perfect score yet. 2 listens Favorite Track: Roses Honorable Mentions: She Lives In My Lap, Hey Ya!, Bowtie, The Way You Move, Reset, Prototype

I had forgotten how good the deep cuts were on this one.

Speakerboxxx: 4 Stars Big Boi made a great hip-hop album but personally not as good as The Love Belowm Favourite Songs: The Way You Move, Bust, Flip Flop Rock, Reset. Least Favourite Songs: War, Tomb of the Boom. The Love Below: 5 Stars André 3000 is one if the best rappers ever, just below Yuno Miles. Favourite Songs: Love Hater, Spread, She Lives in My Lap, Hey Ya!, Roses. Least Favourite Songs: Behold A Lady.

OutKasts final proper album (not including the soundtrack). A double album that is distinctly two halves. I enjoy both sides. Big Boi brings the hip hop vibes on Speakerboxx, while Andre goes in an incredibly interesting and unexpected direction of R&B and spacy pop on The Love Below. Very good album, but I prefer Aquemini or Stankonia.

3.5/5

Peak?

the goats

Really long but I don’t count that against it since it’s 2 albums in 1. Enjoyed both of them.