Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Reviewing this massive double project is an exhausting undertaking for someone to whom listening to hip-hop does not come easily. Even though I own the album, there really is simply too much here to take in at once, which explains why I rarely play it. Nonetheless, tackling this sprawling collection track-by-track reveals two completely distinct musical worlds packaged under one banner. Disc 1: Speakerboxxx Big Boi’s half of the project is an excellently produced, eclectic listen that in the main avoids clichés. What stands out immediately are the heavy Prince and Minneapolis funk influences, particularly in the prominent horns and sharp horn stabs on tracks like 'Bowtie' and the standout track 'The Rooster'. Even the rapping style across these songs is highly reminiscent of Prince's vocal work from the late 1980s and 1990s. There is plenty of melody to be found here, especially embedded within the vocal melodies. While I doubt I will ever love the more standard hip-hop tracks, like 'War', the way aficionados of the genre will, they remain good and genuinely enjoyable. That said, the experience is weighed down by structural filler; I would be entirely happy if I never had to hear another hip-hop skit or interlude again, such as the 'D-Boi' snippet or the closing 'Bowtie (Postlude)'. In summary "Speakerboxxx" is a highly polished, melodic funk-rap record driven by excellent production, though slightly bogged down by unnecessary interludes. Rating: 3.1 / 5 Disc 2: The Love Below If the first disc is grounded in funk-infused rap, André 3000's half is inconsistent, self-indulgent, and totally mad - but in a good way. It is an ambitious, adventurous, and challenging listen that is ultimately very hit-and-miss, where the lows are low but the highs are remarkably high. The record opens with 'The Love Below (Intro)', which is reminiscent of Nat King Cole with its lush orchestration, before pivoting into the jazzy but somewhat disjointed 'Love Hater'. Prince influences emerge again on 'Happy Valentine's Day', but they peak on 'Pink & Blue'. Channelling the electro-pop elements of Prince's 1999 era, 'Pink & Blue' stands as the strongest track on the disc outside of the main single. Other highlights include the bizarrely excellent 'She Lives in My Lap' and the wonderfully weird pair of 'She's Alive' and 'Dracula's Wedding', the latter of which I loved. Later on, 'Take Off Your Cool' introduces the delightful and quite lovely Norah Jones, delivering a beautiful acoustic guitar piece quite unlike any other track on either album. However, the album regularly stumbles over its own eccentricity. 'Where Are My Panties?' is laughably poor, and 'Good Day, Good Sir' is just plain ridiculous. 'My Favorite Things', a cover pf the famous tune, shifts back to standard jazz, leaving me wishing he had kept with the weird and whimsical style instead. Meanwhile, tracks like 'Vibrate' typify the flaws of both albums: it brings back that welcome Prince influence and shows promise, but it goes on much longer than it should. The disc ends on a flat note with 'A Life in the Day of Benjamin André', which possesses none of the imagination of the previous tracks. The undisputed oasis here is 'Hey Ya!' It explodes through the speakers with its wonderful pop, acting like a breath of fresh air. It is followed by 'Roses' (4/5), which is lyrically ridiculous but somehow works perfectly. In summary, "The Love Below" is a wildly experimental, unpredictable journey that contains brilliant highlights but suffers from severe pacing issues and narrative self-indulgence. "The Love Below" Rating: 3 / 5 In conclusion and taking both albums as a single package, the inescapable truth is that both discs are individually way too long, and way, way, way too long when taken together. Attempting to listen to both back-to-back requires a huge fit of discipline and patience. In fact, I literally got a dead leg listening to this session, which is not good for the circulation. Overall, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" is an OK listen, but unless you are a dedicated fan of the genre or the artists, you are highly unlikely to listen to this massive collection again in full. Overall Album Rating: 3 / 5 Disc 1 - Speakerboxxx 1 "Intro" (3/5) 2 "GhettoMusick" (4/5) 3 "Unhappy" (2/5) 4 "Bowtie" (featuring Sleepy Brown and Jazze Pha) (4/5) 5 "The Way You Move" (featuring Sleepy Brown) (3/5) 6 "The Rooster" (5/5) 7 "Bust" (featuring Killer Mike) (4/5) 8 "War" (3/5) 9 "Church" (4/5) 10 "Bamboo" (Interlude) (featuring Bamboo) (3/5) 11 "Tomb of the Boom" (featuring Konkrete, Big Gipp, and Ludacris) (2/5) 12 "E-Mac" (Interlude) (featuring E-Mac) (3/5) 13 "Knowing" (2/5) 14 "Flip Flop Rock" (featuring Killer Mike and Jay-Z) (3/5) 15 "Interlude" (3/5) 16 "Reset" (featuring Khujo and Cee-Lo) (3/5) 17 "D-Boi" (Interlude) (featuring Henry Welch) (2/5) 18 "Last Call" (featuring Slimm Calhoun, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, and Mello) (3/5) 19 "Bowtie" (Postlude) (2/5) Speakerboxxx Sub-total - 58 Speakerboxxx Average - 3.1 Disc 2 - The Love Below 1 "The Love Below" (Intro) (4/5) 2 "Love Hater" (2/5) 3 "God" (Interlude) (2/5) 4 "Happy Valentine's Day" (3/5) 5 "Spread" (2/5) 6 "Where Are My Panties?" (Interlude) (featuring Toni Hunter) (1/5) 7 "Prototype" (3/5) 8 "She Lives in My Lap" (featuring Rosario Dawson) (4/5) 9 "Hey Ya!" (5/5) 10 "Roses" (4/5) 11 "Good Day, Good Sir" (Interlude) (featuring Fonzworth Bentley) (1/5) 12 "Behold a Lady" (3/5) 13 "Pink & Blue" (4/5) 14 "Love in War" (3/5) 15 "She's Alive" (4/5) 16 "Dracula's Wedding" (featuring Kelis) (5/5) 17 "The Letter" (featuring Qasha Aman) (3/5) 18 "My Favorite Things" (3/5) 19 "Take Off Your Cool" (featuring Norah Jones) (4/5) 20 "Vibrate" (3/5) 21 "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)" (2/5) The Love Below Sub-total - 66 The Love Below Average - 3 Grand Total - 124 Average - 3 366/1001 193/366 albums reviewed were new to me.

Too long

I didn't realize how misogynistic a lot of their lyrics are. A lot of good dance-able tunes that I enjoyed, often in spite of the actual words that were troubling.

Dnf. Whalevah.

As many others have said, it's far too long and the skits are generally pretty terrible. But it contains loads of bangers, it's hard to hate on it. Probably the Outkast album I reach for the least (after Idlewild, obviously), but still a lot to love

Couldn't finish it because it was so long but I did enjoy a few tracks

2+ hours?! Ok it is 2 albums I guess Hey Ya is one of the best pop songs ever though. The whole album(s) a lot of fun but goes on way too long. Do always lose points for including a kid's voice, in my book

Good album and some nostalgia given the time in my life that it came out, but way too long.

I really don’t know where to start on this album, it’s iconic for the hits. It just comes off choppy, there are some clean transitions and clarity to the narrative being told, and I know the OutKast dynamic is part of their stick, but just was off to me.

Not their best work and honestly a bit of a slog to get through, but definitely some bangers in there to find if you can be bothered to listen through the whole thing.

Yeah this record really explains why OutKast fell apart. Andre leaning further and further into eccentric music while bigboi went further to southern gangster rap. Hey ya still slaps but let's be honest this record is a mess

Undeniable highlights but VERY bloated

I can't believe I listened to two hours of babies babbling into mics and women thinking "where they panties are" just for Hey Ya! and Roses.

Some great tracks. Very eclectic. 2 guys with their own sounds coming together

Really disappointed with this as I thought it would be one I liked. Kept on waiting for Hey Ya but how to endure a lot of mediocre before we finally got there.

So given I didn’t know OutKast was two dudes and not one, let’s keep it simple. It was quite entertaining and Album 1 dude is much better than Album 2 dude. Plus add in standard grumbles about double albums being bloated. Nuff said.

This album hasn’t held up very well.

This was my second day in a row with an album over two hours long (Metallica live yesterday). Although I generally like Outkast I was not looking forward to this record of theirs, knowing it was a double album and knowing that their stuff is usually longer anyway. I was intrigued by the concept, having never listened to it but aware of the dynamic of the very separate records that were released. My biggest "concern" ahead of listening was that it was all going to be way too much. And indeed it was. In other reviews it seemed people really preferred Speakerboxxx, and going in I thought I'd feel the opposite. After listening, I got fatigued by both of their albums midway through. They're both very different and had some interesting bits, but they truly could have pared this down significantly and it'd have been far more entertaining. Instead it all just felt overindulgent. There was tons of talent here and the production was top notch, but I wanted each of their albums to just end long before they were done.

I honestly don't quite know how to rate this album, because they're essentially two different albums mashed into one. Outkast is basically a rap duo of Big Boi (who's responsible for the first disc, Southern hip-hop with a very strong blend of funk and soul) and André 3000 (who made the second disc, the genre of which is very difficult to describe – it's some kind of psychedelic soul-jazz-rap). It would have been logical if they'd each released a single album and been like that, but the label said, "Nah, either the public will buy a double Outkast album or they won't buy anything." The result is a black-and-white mash-up lasting almost two and a half hours. Are these good albums? They're okay; the first half sounds lively and rich. André overdid it in places on the second, but there are far more interesting discoveries, plus the band's main hit. But two hours was too much, it had to be cut.

3.4/5

I enjoyed the first half much more than the second half. The first half had a lot of really good songs. They were still surrounded by songs and interludes that I wasn’t interested in, but I thought the good far outweighed the bad. I thought some of the music in the second half was enjoyable, but the lyrics really put me off, and they were still surrounded by songs and interludes I didn't like. Hey Ya! is a lot of fun though. Fav song: Hey Ya! Least fav: Behold a Lady

Some absolutely goated songs on here but again with OutKast albums it is soo long and some of the other songs / skits are shit. I mean where are my panties what even is that. Also revealed a dislike I never knew I’d have to voice- that an album doesn’t have to say its title over and over again. I know which goddmamn album I’m listening to. Specific rating - 3.1 Fav song - hey ya! Least fav- love in war

I don't know why but before listening I assumed I'd like The Love Below a lot more than Speakerboxxx, I think it was mainly a name based judgement and because Hey Ya! is on The Love Below. And then I heard Unhappy- and immediately added it to my playlist. Speakerboxxx is probably one of the best (if not the best) hip-hop albums I've listened to while doing this project. I forgive all the other interludes because it means we got Bamboo- this is how you put your kid on an album, not the fucked up way Eminem did it. And in contrast I hated The Love Below so much more than I thought I would. I found the God Interlude funny (A-lady!) and Hey Ya! is such an incredible and iconic song. But there were so many songs I just didn't like: overly horny, (literally) shitty lyrics and musically underwhelming. I could happily have never listened to any of the non Hey Ya! tracks on The Love Below (fine, I liked Take Off Your Cool). Favourite song: Unhappy (It's probably actually Hey Ya! but out of protest I won't give it to a song from The Love Below!) Least: Prototype

very disco groovy but it didnt really move me

Man, I thought I liked this album more. I hadn't really listened to it much in recent years. There are moments when this is extraordinary; they're just way too few and far between for me.

"Speakerboxxx" is creative and interesting, but"The Love Below" is, at times, both puerile and self-absorbed. The instrumental cover of "My Favorite Things" is good, and "Hey Ya!" might be the best song on the album, but I could have done without the rest of the songs.

Too bloated

This album is g i g a n t i c (2 ½ hours) and as such it suffers from the main problem that all similarly-sized albums do, that even the best tracks tend to drown in the overall length, making them lack the impact they would have if they weren’t surrounded by so much other material. Plus, by the end, you just get tired of it no matter how good it is (There are, of course, exceptions to this concept, but they can probably be counted on two hands). I remember that when this project was announced people were expecting that Andre 3000’s disc would outclass Big Boi’s, and when the opposite turned out to be the case, nobody really quite knew how to react. But it’s true: Speakerboxxx is a great rap record, whereas The Love Below feels like a less talented, more pretentious Prince (and it’s hard to be more pretentious than Prince). Still, this album is so ambitious and so huge that there’s at least a normal-sized record full of great songs hiding somewhere in there. Best track (or tracks: we’ll do one from each this time since it’s technically two albums stuck together): “Bowtie” and “Pink & Blue”

And that’s just because of André 3000, cause Speakerboxxx is shit.

This album is far too long and very mixed. There are tracks with a strong echoes of classic soul which work well. Even the rap (of which I'm not a fan) is well integrated at times. There are some strong female vocals and the instruments featured are wide ranging and add a lot of variety. Some excellent musicianship with lots of different production sounds. But just when I'm enjoying a track it is followed by something much less sophisticated and poor quality. 40 tracks of such varying quality marks this down for me, despite some good songs. Hey Ha is a great single.

unfortunately speakerboxxx brings this down. if it were just the love below it might be a solid 4. between the way you move, hey ya, and knowing are great. tomb of the boom is fun tho

No nyt oli levyllä pituutta, tupla albumi joista kumpikin levy oli tarkoitus julkaista erikseen. Siksi kumpikin puoli kuullostaa erilaiselta. Vaikea sanoa kumpi parempi, toki jälkimmäisellä on Hey Ya!. Ymmärrän miksi levy on niin pitkä, mutta hyviä kappaleita aika vähän. Tai omaan makuun sopivia. Mielenkiintoinen kuunneltava kummiskin ja kappaleet on massasta poikkeavia. Väliskitit hauskoja. Parhaat: Hey Ya!, My Favorite Things, The Way You Move

Hey Ya is such an anomaly across both of these albums. I think they did too much here. 3 singles, that I can recall from back in the day across 2 albums? Not great odds. I guess Hey Ya was so big it doesn't matter? Idk, I expected to enjoy more than I did for a 2+ hour long album 2.5 and only because of Hey Ya

Feels a lot like they're cheating by sneaking two albums into one listing, but overall I enjoyed it I think I preferred the the second album but it averages out with a three

Great tunes. Fun music.

the Singles are inconic. Listening back 23 years later, it's kind of not that great. It had it's moment.

This is good. But dropping a star for length. Way too long.

This one’s a tricky one to rate, because it is essentially 2 different albums packaged together. Speakerboxxx was definitely the stronger of the two in my opinion. Both had their high points, but this was way too long an experience. 3/5 I guess.

Not my cake again two raps in a row , this is a bit different though and unique kinda better

i actually quite enjoyed speakerboxxx and specifically "ghettomusick" and "church" for their synthy aspects. the love below is... creepy, weird, and made me uncomfortable to listen to; the only thing it has going for it is "hey ya," but i may just be saying that because that's the only track i was previously familiar with. this rating is purely for the combined qualities of both albums, speakerboxxx would probably get a 4 from me on its own

Very fun album. Andre 3000's distinct rapping was very enjoyable to hear. Lot of good songs to choose from but some standouts for me were The Rooster, Roses, Pink & Blue. The album length did catch me off guard at first and it does kinda feel like two albums wrapped together, but thats alright. 6.3/10

I didn't listen to everything, it's definitely unique but they only have 1-2 good songs. Not in my top though.

Speakerboxxx - 4/5 The Love Below - 2/5 Overall - 3/5

some really high highs, but just so darn long.

I was unsure of this until further into the first album. There are a good few very good songs. It's far too long though

I liked it, wayyyyy too long tho.

I have this and it is inventive and fun but it is too long. Even if you split the albums out it is too long. There is one great 40-45 minute album in here or maybe 3 more average 40-45 minute albums.

Obviously this album is way too long. I think that there is a solid 4/5 album here, but there is just wag too much filler and songs I don't care about. I really though I was going to enjoy Andre3000's half better, but besides Hey Ya, I don't think there was a single song I liked. Everything was just a skit, him talking, or a really boring ballad. Mid 3.

Has it's moments

Wild that Hey Ya basically represents this album for me — and it is wholly unrepresentative of the rest of the album

Damn. I always like this record when I hear it but I never go back and listen again. I guess that says something. I’m gonna try again later- wrong vibe for today

Wasn’t looking forward to over two hours of this. Anyway I split it in two sitting. Very listenable. Not being into hip hop so I’m no expert, it sort of lands between the de la soul vibe and the Jay z bullshit. I liked Speakerboxx more than The Love Below. Maybe cos I was getting tired of it ?

bem normal, nada muito cativante, mas divertido até

This doesn't hit me in the way some rap can. Nothing really caught my attention like a PE, Wu, Nas, Dre... album does.

too many bitches and hoes for me. some good tracks tho.

some songs were bops some were absolute trashy flops eh like a good ratio tho

Coon stuff

A double album. A gift or curse, depending on the quality of the music. It's Outkast, so André 3000's genius makes the quality pretty damn high most of the time. The production is ludicrously good and Outkast makes some amazing music. That's true for a majority of this double album, but only a small majority — call it 60%. That's how much of this is a good listen. A gaggle of 3, 4, and 5 star songs. The flip side of that is that this is more than two hours. That means you're getting roughly an hour of subpar music. And don't forget the obligatory transition pieces. I've said this about another Outkast album — transitory tracks between actual songs tend to be fun and break up an artist with minimal variety. But that really isn't needed with Outkast. The quality or fun of the transition tracks are eclipsed by the genuinely good and varied music that is here. They can definitely cut those outta here with minimal losses. On the whole, this is a good album, but it's a good reminder why double albums are such a risk. 20m of meh songs on a 60m album is a lot more forgivable than 40m of meh songs on an 120m album, despite it being the same proportion.

Several hit singles from this album, and when I think of Outkast my mind goes directly to “Hey Ya!”. The two albums recorded separately by the members of OutKast but released together was an interesting concept. However, the album’s length was a bit prohibitive in me having the time to fully immerse myself. For starters, I much preferred this album to Stankonia (previously reviewed as part of this journey) and came away with The Rooster as a standout from Disc 1. Outside of the hits, I also found I appreciated Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx more than Andre 3000’s The Love Below/Disc 2.

3 1/2 Stars: It's ambitious and and sounds great, but this double-album is in desperate need of an edit. And honestly, I don't know why they didn't just release it as to separate, individual albums instead of billing it as an 'OutKast' record. Neither side sounds anything alike with Speakerboxxx being the upbeat, melodic rap of late 90s/early 2000s, and The Love Below definitely goofier, tongue-in-cheek and more experimental. It's still a good listen albeit a little too long.

Bien, pero no me entusiasma. Me gustan las que ya me gustaban, el resto no me ha dejado marca.

I have to give big credit to versatility of this album but I almost hate this structure of sub minute "tracks". It makes me rather frustrated.

A prime example that an album can be overly stacked, even when the majority of the songs are at an excellent calibre. OutKast at their creative peak, consistent, incredibly produced tracks can still feel repetitive if there is over 2 hours worth of them. I feel good albums need a relative punch to them to enhance impact although the album divides itself, I’m Outkasted out by the first half. 6.5/10

Olvidable

Mind bending, occasionally thrilling, but ultimately too damn big. Doesn’t really make the case for the idea of releasing two solo albums together as one under a band label.

lo devo recuperare perché sembra interessante, per ora 3 politico

A game of two half's. Really enjoyed first lp would give it a 4. Second half is alright but don't know why this was a double lp.

Love OutKast and this album contributed to such a unique sound and trends in the 00s. Some fab songs but felt there could’ve been some fat trimmed from both discs to really elevate it

3.5. Lots of stuff that wasn’t for me but then some stuff that was amazing. Take of your cool (Norah jones) was a fave. Didn’t know Roses and Hey Ya came from these guys. All in all a very cool album.

I really respect what Outkast were trying to do here. It's clear they were bursting with ideas and I don't begrudge them for wanting to put them all out into the world. But there's definitely too much filler and too many half baked songs. It's really eclectic, and they're trying out a lot of different sounds, but they don't really sound committed to anything so it comes off a bit like dilettantism. It feels a little like a band rushing to fulfill their record contract. It's cliche to criticize a double album by saying the artists could have trimmed the excess and made a better single album, but I regret to admit that is exactly the case here. Who knows, though -- if someone forced them to cut this album down we may have never been granted Hey Ya, one of the greatest pop songs ever written.

You would never assume that the guys that wrote Hey Ya would have a deserved cultural significance in the music game

heyy yaaaa

Its good also 40 songs is absolute wild they are too fast and im not synced up also smashed phone on floor incase you forgot

i mean its got some pretty peak songs in it

need to finish

It's two separate albums. Speakerboxxx is great. The Love Below has a couple of singles and a bunch of crap.

Not for me, but good for what it is.

This is really two solo albums marketed as a double. Prefer disc 2 but average at best

Two hours is way too long, but classics on both discs

Speakerboxxx: 4/5. The Love Below: 3/5. Overall: 3.5/5. Originally meant to just be two solo albums from Big Boi and Andre 3000, their label encouraged them to package it as an OutKast album, leading to this over 2 hour long album who’s first disc is a Big Boi album and second disc is an Andre 3000 album. Big Boi’s speakerboxxx is much more rap focused, continuing on the trajectory the duo was following on their previous few albums. And it is mostly great, plenty of bangers like the hit “the way you move” or “the rooster.” Andre’s The Love Below is where things start to get weird. There is very little rapping, instead it’s a strange fusion of Funk, Soul, Jazz and pop that’s all about different perspectives on love. And it starts out really strong with “Love Hater” and continues on a good streak for the first 10 or so tracks, including the massive hit “Hey Ya!” Which is one of the best pop songs of its era. But then halfway through, the Love Below just really loses steam. The love below is Andre 3000 trying to experiment with new sounds as he was moving further and further away from rap, but not all of the experiments here succeed. On the whole, Speakerboxxx/the love below is very worth at least one full listen, Big Bois record is a high quality 2000’s hip hop album and Andre 3000’s is an interesting and adventurous, if inconsistent journey. But like most double albums, it doesn’t always stick the landing, leading to an OutKast album that’s quite a bit less consistent than an Aquemini or a Stankonia.

WAY TOO LONG. "Hey Ya" slaps, though. 7

Good album, the Speakerboxxx half runs circles around The Love Below. There's better Outkast albums, but I'm not mad about listening to this.

I lowkey enjoyed some of this, and why was my grade 5 violin piece in it. My Favourite Things remix was fire, 3/5. Favourite song: The Way You Move

The production on this is top-notch, which is what should be expected of OutKast. The songs are ok, with Big Boi focusing more on hip-hop and rap and Andre 3000 doing more varied forays into pop and jazzy r&b. I enjoyed Andre's "side" a lot better, honestly. The record is good, it's just not my wheelhouse.

So I did the math - this isn't a double album, it's more than a triple. 135 minutes (the length of this album) divided by 44 minutes (the length of 1 LP) = 3.068 LPs. Damn that's a lot of music! This album might offer the most bang for the buck on the entire list. That being said - Speakerboxxx (Disc 1) is pretty great hip hop. Each song has its own style - there's plenty of diversity and plenty of guest MCs, most of whom seem to be from the South. "GhettoMusick," "Bowtie," and "Flip Flop Rock" were the standouts. "Church" was so obnoxious I had to skip ahead. My only other complaint is the inclusion of so many time-wasting skits. Otherwise I'd say that's a 4 for Big Boi. Now coming into this, I thought I'd enjoy the Andre 3000 half of this record more than the Big Boi half but I was wrong. The Andre side should be cool. Very Princey, and funky, lots of falsetto. But it gets off to a weak start before it finds a groove, hits "Hey Ya," and "Roses," and then falls apart again. "Good Day, Good Sir," is incredibly embarrassing. But that's just a skit - not a big deal. The worst offender for me is "She's Alive," where Andre squeezes 1 minute of music into four. LIke - why. Dude. The album is already over two hours long. And don't get me started on the anxiety-attack that is "My Favorite Things." He clearly wants to blend jazz into his music, which is fine, but the only place it works is "Vibrate." On the other hand, "Hey Ya" is an all time banger. I appreciate the ambition, and I think Big Boi made a great record - but Andre 3000 really let the rest of us down with his side. It's underbaked, and yet overbaked. The worst baked. It's gotta be - THREE STARS

Insane that they were forced to put this out as an Outkast double album. The two albums are so very different from each other. It's not a band or a duo. It's just two guys that used to work together, working on their own albums, and forced to package them together. Weird. Andre's The Love Below is much better for me than Speakerboxx by Big Boi. Neither are perfect. far from it. And while both have some fun, enjoyable parts, I just like more of Andre's side and his collaborators. Speakerboxx has too many typical rap bits that are just average. Some dick-grabbing, I'm tough, and you bitches... His guests are meh. Ludicris - typical, and we get a cameo by one of the worst, somehow-popular rappers ever, Jay-Z. Yah, I get to dunk on that piece of garbage again! Hope he appears on some other album so I can dis him another time! I like most of it except for the interludes, skits and these three: The Rooster, Bust, Tomb of the Boom - weak, average, typical. For the Andre side, he could drop the interludes and talk-y bits too. They detract a lot. I love the jazzy bits and multi-instrumentation throughout. Sadly, it ends on a low note. Unsure why that weak rap bit is there. I'd give the Big Boi half a 2.5 and the Andre part a 3. But because they're a pretty influential group and were always willing to experiment a bit, I'm going to go ahead and round up. 3 stars

Too much filler

Loved the The Love Below. Not as big a fan of speakerboxxx

Bon album mais trop long. J’ai décroché sur le 2eme disque

Trèèèèèèès long donc ça le dessert, Le premier album est très bon et est un solide 4*, les feats passent bien, le flow est présent et l'album passe vite, j'étais donc confiant pour la suite (: Mais j'ai trouvé le deuxième album soporifique, je n'ai pas accroché du tout et j'avais hâte que ça s'arrête, j'ai juste apprécié les 3/4 derniers sons qui sortent un peu du reste de l'album Donc 3, mais avec un certain regret vu que le premier vaut vraiment le coup, et je l'aurais réécouté pour peut être mettre 5

Ok, but too long

Gesamt: 3,4 Speakerboxxx: 3,8 Highlights: Ghettomusick, The Way You Move The Love Below: 3,0 Highlights: Hey Ya, Roses

Great songs/releases push it to a 4, the lenght pulls it toward a 3 and then Andre’s weirdness brings it back up slightly to a 3.5, has to be one of the most ambitious hip hop releases ever

Too fuckin long and boring

Many bangers but at least as much filler via interludes and experiments that I am not necessarily down with. Surprised to enjoy Speakerboxxx more. "Spread" is one of the greatest beats I've ever heard but man oh man do I not enjoy that song. Highlights: "GhettoMusick", "Flip Flop Rock", "Last Call", "Hey Ya!", "Take Off Your Cool"

Very groovy, I have heard this album before, and I love the instrumentals. It is not my favourite OutKast album, though there are some amazing songs on the album. That said, and it could have just been the headspace I was in today, but the songs on this album do sometimes feel like there is too much going on at once and I prefer their calmer music, as it is easier to follow the lyrics.

I preferred the second disc more. It was easier for me to follow along with and I liked the love story going on.

There’s a 4 star OutKast album in there somewhere for me, most of it coming from Speakerboxxx. Too much shit I don’t care for or don’t care about. 3/5

First album really strong. Second album had fun conceptual moments but didn’t really come together.

I liked this one, but it was pretty long. The cover of my favorite things was very fun.

Definitely the longest album I’ve ever listened to!

Without a doubt their worst of the five albums, but I understand why it needs to be here. Honestly I would put every single one of their albums here but I'm biased. I think I prefer Speakerboxxx just because I don't think all the experiments on The Love Below succeed, but I really admire that Andre tried them all.

surprised

The Speakerboxx half i really did not enjoy, the Love below was far better but did honestly trail off towards the end

Soooooooooooooooo looooooooooooooong.

Clever rhymes and some catchy beats and melodies.

This could have been one fantastic album instead of two albums with some bangers and lots of filler.

Speaker box 4 maybe 5 stars The love below. Honestly. Probably 2. Averages out at 3

Glad to finally listen to all of this. And it is very long. Too long. But there are moments. I've seen people say that you could cut this down and it would make a good 45 minute album, and I do agree. But, that would take away from what this was trying to be. But I dont know. Outkast was always best when you had the "normal" rapper Big Boi and the weirdo Andre 3000, but that also takes away from how weird Big Boi could be, and how hard A3K could go. I do think that they do themselves a bit of a disservice with the two record concept, but still, Big Boi made a pretty great rap album, and Andre made a really great Andre album. So, definitely some conflicting feelings. It was long though.

neither as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue, to different degrees (Speakerboxxx: 3 / The Love Below: 2)

Overall, it’s about as good as I expected it to be. I love Hey ya, and there were a couple other really good songs on here. Some examples are: Unhappy, Love Hater, Prototype, Love in War, and My Favorite Things. Nothing bad on here, but a few skips. At the end of the day, 40 songs is way too many, 3.8/5! (PS: Andre 3k got a bit too freaky like what was he thinking with some of these?)

I don’t think I will return to this album, but it was an interesting listen and I was impressed by the stylistic variety and adventurous spirit.

Classic but something about it wasn’t hitting for me as much as I anticipated

So as this is a double album I will divide my evaluation: Speakerboxxx The project of Big Boi is more rap oriented but there are some killer melodies that do improve the rhythm and the atmosphere of the album. The Way You Move is the highlight, as it is also a single, and the first half is stronger than the second half, as I struggled to listen to it intently. It is a strong album, but I also struggle to grasp what is magical about it. .. The Love Below The project of Andre 3000 got more mainstream and I remember how iconic Hey Ya! and Roses were to my generation, however, the album is lost in the weird narrative Andre is trying to convince the listener. So Speakerboxx is a better album but overall I will give it a 3/5, good project but way too long.

First half is good, great even. Second half spent all of it's cool points on two songs.

Interesting double album. Good, not great IMO.

Nope

intro- weird in a good but plastic way. the "speaker box" was way too...off? ghettomusick- a bit smiliar to Britney, but more upbeat. the drums are too much, way too frequent. it's like '90s cool music. it sounds like a closed mall. with few windows. robotic, but not enough. especially the bass and drums. unhappy- the harmonies are like sprite. smoothly flowing, but a bit poppy. the rap is effortlessly fire. bass is good. bowtie- smash music. almost like whatta man. those two songs are married. harmonies are fire, smooth, raps are on beat, good as hell. the way you move- a bit uncomfy topic (at least not degratory), but the music is really good. the back track is really good. smooth, flowing effortlessly, the bass is not taking up too much space, yet it has a good structure. it's not as boring as the ones before this. the rooster- the intro of it is sooo good. the guitar is funky. it's a bit too manly? like cocky. too cocky. the rap is on spot. it flows, it's smooth. but it scratches nothing in my brain. the rooster sound in the back is annoying bust- the intro is hell nah. don't talk. it's not spooky, it's annoying. the mouth sounds are way too no. nah. way too manly and cocky, it sounds like a muscly guy flexing his big car while having a sloppy dick. war- the melody of the into is a bit basic yet it scratches my brain. it's a bit off key. the rap is cool. overall: horny man music and some really harsh truth

What an absolutely wild ride. TBH, I skimmed through a lot of them because I am trying to catch up and I know this album would take a lot to listen to and I feel like I got the jist. All of the collaborations? and Norah Jones at the end?? What a wild ride. I feel like for a lot of these albums, I would need to be in the right headspace and also grow up in the time and listen to the albums with friends to get the full experience. Not just blandly listen to them in my office with the blasted overhead lighting. But it was still alright.

Wow, didn’t expect two hours of hip hop today. Listened to this in fragments throughout the day. It went *everywhere*. I had to check periodically that it hadn’t gone onto radio mode due to the end of the album. Certainly wasn’t a lack of ideas on the part of these two. Still, it wasn’t particularly coherent, and beyond the songs I recognized it was a bit meh. 5/10 Decent

Speakerboxxx was fun and well produced and just clipped along, great highway-driving music. The Love Below .... was uneven. Hey Ya was everywhere for like a solid year of college ... but Roses I never want to hear again and I'm mad about it. Partner keeps threatening me with Andre 3000's flute jazz album and I'm now both more scared and more intrigued. No clue how to rate this as one piece of media. 4 and 1 and

I was given "Stankonia" not that long ago, and despite my general dislike of rap and hip hop, I didn't hate it. I knew this album was on the list, but I didn't expect to get it so soon. I was already familiar with "The Way You Move" and "Hey Ya" because I used to listen to the radio a lot when I was a teenager. I always thought "The Way You Move" was a random interlude between the other songs on the radio for some reason, but I liked the song in its entirety here. What draws me to this album (and the other one) is the extensive use of multiple instruments, sounds, and melodies. It's not just rapping to a synth beat: it's hip hop, jazz, soul, and r&b all mixed together. The lyrics are also immediate and real, and I can feel the urgency in many of the songs. The first half of the album (Big Boi's) is the most like "Stankonia", and I thought it was the strongest side. I felt like it carried a more serious tone and I liked the instrumentation better.The second half (Andre 3000's) came across as more mellow and soulful, and though different instrumentation was used, I didn't like it as much as the first half. Overall, this album was quite a long listen (over 2 hours), and I did take a break halfway through. I think I enjoyed this more than "Stankonia", in part because of the variety of music and also because it was a clear evolution from the previous album while staying in the same vein.

a wild and wacky tour inside the minds of outkast

Joj slatki su mi oni oduvijek i par pjesama mi je baš super, ali ne mogu hvaliti cijeli album. Neki prosjek rekla bih. 3/5, 5/10

Funny mixture of different styles from hip hop to electronica.

long ass album, but pretty good for background music while discussing absolutely nothing with your friends

TapI liek a lot

Remarkedly long and honestly quite boring other than the hits. Best Song: Roses Rating: 6.0/10 Stars: 3

ok me sente lo escuche. Creo que podria haber muerto sin escucharlo. Heeeeeeyaaaaa unico momento que senti euforia 3/5

haha

Speakerboxx -1.5. Love below - 4

Over two hours of vibes with some ‘00s classics sprinkled in.

some great classic outkast songs on here but the album as a whole wasn't my favorite.

acho que gostei mais do "speakerboxxx" que do "the love below", esse hip hop mais animadinho e dançante com algumas faixas com guitarrinhas são mais do meu gosto. porém, a versatilidade do "the love below" é beeem fora da casinha e interessante. achei legal que do nada, meu mano andre 3000 lança um d&b sampleando favorite things da juliew andrews!! que inesperado.

Bloated. I feel like Speakerboxx is better with age and The Love Below is worse. The idea that we let Andre 3000 get away with those abysmal lyrics!

A fun album with some cool songs. Hey Ya is one of my favorite songs of all time so I'll bump it up a bit for that.

Horrendous start - ghettomusik Absolute yo-yo, some utter drivel mixed with belters. Interludes are terrible Like making a dish from all the ingredients in the fridge: some mouthfuls having you hugging the toilet, others = musical elixir Genuine 4/5* tracks intertwined with swamp Far too long

3.17

Hey Ya! is of couse the stand out track, and nothing else on the ablum is quite like it 40 tracks look quite daunting, but a lot of those are intro's or transitions Dracula's Wedding was funny and nice to hear Norah Jones on the album Ultimately, not my thing at all, but glad I gave it a listen

Its ok im not mad about it

Too long to really get into.

OutKast Speaker Boxxx/the Love 3* much prefer Stankonia. This is apparently two albums in one and it feels that way. I really like Speaker Boxxx would give that a 4 on its own The Love is less consistent and would probably rank 2 to 2.5 on its own. I could do with fewer interludes

Too much. Some good tracks though.

This conscious hip-hop/progressive hip hop album tons of great songs and I love the the hit song Hey Ya. Sadly the album is way too long to enjoy it fully as it is basically two solo albums combined into one, and it's stylistically very inconsistent. It would be much better than as a single album with the strongest songs on it.

This is like if Shrek and Donkey made a double album. It's an interesting idea.. I think at this point just make solo projects, stitching them together makes it really long and inconsistent. There are some really good tracks to cherry pick from here but also a lot of filler.

I remember buying this album (double CD) as a college sophomore. It was an odd decision, because I was not an Outkast guy...didn't own a single other Outkast album. I just dug "Ms. Jackson" like every other white suburban kid, so it felt like it was time to commit to getting more familiar, I guess. I also remember taking to Speakerboxxx quickly, and thinking The Love Below would take up permanent residence in my visor CD organizer and never see the inside of my aftermarket deck (with removable faceplate). And, truth be told, Speakerboxxx probably does have the edge on total played time. But The Love Below eventually lured me in. Revisiting this 20+ years later (what the fuck?), it was deja vu. Grinned all the way through Speakerboxxx and thought "No wonder I preferred this," only to fire up Love Below and find myself bobbing my head and restarting tracks. But how do I feel about the project as a whole? Good. Pretty goddamn good. Not deeply important to me, but definitely a piece of my musical history.

Me moló un poco aunque sea rap, pero el disco es muy largo

40 song album too many skits such as interlude and intro, the big set list doesn’t justify the amount of meh songs it has hey ya is on here out of all of them I enjoyed flip flop rock last call and love hater

I accidentally listened to the censored version. I didn't find out until I was already past Speakerboxxx, so I didn't want to start over again. If I decide to re-listen it will be the uncensored version. The instrumentation is good on most of the tracks. I especially like it when it gets jazzy. There's not too many interludes or sketches and there is a lot of singing, so that's a plus for me. As a whole this was very long though!

Wow, the quadruple(?) album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was a lot to get through. I honestly think that either the two parts could've been released separately or both could've been condensed down to a single album each, because at 2 hours and 15 minutes, I feel like this album goes way too long. To be honest, I didn't care too much for the Speakerboxxx portion overall, which I saw as mostly just pretty average 2000's rap, with a couple of good songs here and there. Where this album really stands out in my opinion, is with The Love Below, which I found interesting with how diverse it is in sound and genre, and how it turns away from much of the rap overall. Obviously it has "Hey Ya!" which became one of their most famous songs, and remains my favorite on the album as well. Both parts share some common problems, though. Firstly, the whole self-centered persona both of them put on is pretty obnoxious, and gets annoying quickly. Secondly, there is a severe overabundance of interludes, and most of them are absolutely abysmal. The album wouldn't have been hurt in the slightest with the removal of those. I give Speakerboxxx a 2.5 since it isn't the worst thing I've heard, but is pretty unimpressive, and The Love Below a 4 since I really enjoyed the variety it takes on and prefer its departure from the rap style the first part has. Favorite Song: "Hey Ya!"

Strange and perplexing. This is a double cd, and never meant to be consumed in one long playlist. It is maddeningly long. Too long. Speakerboxxx is ok. It has good moments. The Love Below is where all the charm is. It’s strange that it’s the second part. Andre 3000 has a lot of charisma that carries a lot of the sometimes stupid tracks. A good album with waaaaay too much filler.

Not my favorite OutKast album. So long

this was a fun vibe, some fun samples/features, saved quite a few songs, more variation than i realized for outkast happy valentine’s day so festive and topical didn’t rly need some of the skits (@ where aren’t panties) felt a littttle long

The concept is a bit strange, but you can see where their collaboration came from. The first part worked better for me, the second one just in parts, particularly up to Hey Ya!.

This started out as two solo albums and then got released as a double CD under the Outkast name. To be honest, it outstays its welcome. It's not short of ideas, but I don't think all of the ideas are strong enough to sustain a 2¼ hr runtime. What with "interludes" and silent tracks, and recordings of babies and spoken word sections, theres quite a bit of self indulgent faffing about. Probably would have been stronger if someone had said, "Give me your best 30 minutes of material and we'll make a single CD." When it's good, it's excellent, but editing is always a good thing.

Did not enjoy quite as much as the last OutKast album

There are some great songs, but they just get lost in the album it is soooo damn long. I feel like Hey Ya just doesn't fit the whole vibe of the album, but not complaining

Listening to an almost 2 hour album in one day is difficult so I think I'll need to listen to it a few more times.

4* for Speakerboxx, 2* for the Love Below

me sigue sorprendiendo la cantidad de audios de tiktok que encuentro en los albumes

Good energy but a lot of it sounds the same as the other songs

Overall Rating - 2.92/5 (5.84/10). Long, at times weird, but overall good.

Įdomus mixas. Pirmoji dalis labiau apie pasaulio problemas, antroji apie meilę.

soooo long

Ohhh this is really good, I love Outkast and I do like the Side A/Side B contrast, BUT it's just too long for me to find a way to rate it as a single album. I'll try to get to know it over the next year and may come back with a higher rating! 6/10

Наконец-то музыка, в которой я ничего не понимаю. Я ничего не понял. 2000 Андре из 3000

Лучшая песня: Hey ya! Худшая: Любая интерлюдия (особенно про трусы) Безусловно, второй диск лучше первого. Но в целом, никогда ещё у меня не было столько желания переключить песню. Альбом может длиться хоть 5 часов, если музыка классная - здесь песни 4 неплохих на втором диске, и может быть 1 на первом (из 40!). Слушать можно, конечно, только зачем?

зачем столько песен на альбоме... вторая часть от моего тезки - поинтереснее. первая часть - 3, вторая - 4, итого 3.5

Ура! Разблокирован новый жанр! В целом, идея такого альбома интересна, но что побудило участников дуэта реализовать её таким образом - загадка. По 10 отборных хитов от каждого и получился бы идеальный не затянутый альбом. Есть интересные треки, но они теряются на фоне бесконечного полотна музыки, интерлюдий и разговоров. Лайк за семпл Aaliyah, я аж вздрогнул.

Not really a double album, just two albums smashed together. I really like the love below and this rating would be much higher if it was stand alone. Hey Ya! has to be one of the best, most interesting songs ever written. Some sections of this TWO HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES were definitely a slog.

felt so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this 2 hour beast of an album that i’m now a week behind on this project. i love outkast and there are some undeniable bangers on this but fuck me could it not have been half the length fellas

makes me feel like i should be either walking confidently through a big city pretending to know where i'm going, or at a house party in the 2000s. i knew a few songs already but this album is insane. i didn't realize just how underrated most of their non-hit songs are, and didn't appreciate how good their hit songs are as well. 2 hours is definitely really long for an album so it was hard to get through but i really liked it.

way too long. with 40 songs on the album, once you've heard about 15 (which is more than the average album) you're tired of listening and dreading the fact you still have 25 to go. some songs were really good but the others were just ok. 6/10

Pros and cons. Biggest con being the unnecessary length. I got bored after a while. Still love Hey Ya, though.

Far out, that is 4 long albums in a row, this one topping out a 2hrs 15mins……… I need the days to be longer if this is what I’m going to get served up. As per other reviewers, this is a 2 disc set, the first - Speakerboxxx - from Big Boi, and then 2nd - The Love Below - from Andre 3000. Big Boi gets some points early with GhettoMusick, soon followed by The Way You Move, which is a great tune. He then falls victim to the hip-hop disease of having to have a guest on every track, along with too many skits and interludes. The Love Below seems to be Andre 3000 showing everyone how he can get into the girls' panties, with easily the best track being 'Hey Ya', even though it contains the couplet 'Don't want to meet your mama, just want to make you cumma' - ewwwwww!!! Anyway, some decent ideas but overly long and lots of filler, so can't give this too high a mark. But I've heard plenty worse. 3 stars

Intressant med klassiker som Wild World. Många modernare låtar har definitivt inspirerats av det här albumet. Lugn klassisk rock som är bekväm att lyssna till, inte så krånglig musik.

I really liked Speakerboxxx and while The Love Below was good, I didn’t like it as much.

First time listening to it in full. Main complaint is that it's way too long. 2 hrs for a rap album is insane but there was some variety at least. Some classics and hits but also some forgettable tracks.

שמעתי רק איזה 10 שירים שמתוכם השירים היו או ממש בסדר או ממש מגניבים

It’s outkast man! Big fan - wouldn’t necessarily put the album on myself, but there’s some bops.

Halfway through point. Saw this got flashbacks to listening to Ella Fitzgerald 3 hours in Disney world 🙄 lost my mind but the quality on this is much better every song so far has been relatively solid and fun + ludacris. My favorite things has a sample from my favorite Ariana grande song! (That’s a joke) the second disc is honestly worse in my opinion, yeah it has hey ya and a few other bangers but tbh it’s definitely not as strong. In all this album is so freaking long it negates all the good from the first half with mid filler shit that just waists my time and for that can’t rate this too crazy high like I want.

eu gosto pra caramba de outkast mas achei ouvir esse álbum de cabo a rabo, de uma vez... puxado. adoro interludes, a ideia de um álbum conceitual e hip hop progressivo, mas tem muita gordurinha sobrando. ao mesmo tempo, é um tour de force, né? 2h15 de pura criatividade e ecletismo. valeu a pena.

3.0 - Ok

Has enough star power on show to not make the 2+ hours feel like a drag, but still could have used a bit of editing

Most songs were fun to listen to. I enjoyed it. With that said, over 2 hours is a long time and I didn't enjoy it that much. Hearing the influence of other cultures outside what is normally represented in hip hop was fun, though.

Speakerboxxx: 4/5 After I heard the first song, I thought I would be in for 2 hours of torture, but then immediately, I started getting into and I ended up really liking this half of the album. A few songs are amazing and only a couple are not very good. The interludes were all pretty fun and it gives a good break. This side isn't even an hour long, the other half is just really long. Speaking of... The Love Below: 2/5 I'm not enjoying this one as much. At the time of writing, I'm about 1/3 of the way through because it's about to give me another album and I want to put this into writing right now. I just don't love this style of music as much as Speakerboxxx. We'll see how the rest goes. So, the rest was just about the same. Hey Ya is very different from the rest of this album. I like that song, but not much from the rest. I averaged out the albums for my final rating. It's good at times, not so much at others. I don't mind it being so long especially when it gets broken up by interludes.

It was way too long. I get what they were doing with the double album concept between the two group members. But an album that is defined by it's catchy radio bangers should play to its strengths. If this album was 40 minutes it would be an all-time classic but as it stands, you have to wait over an hour until you get to Roses and Hey Ya

it's fine, but it is rather samey, and it's far too long. (I know that one CD is one chap, and the other CD is the other chap, but this whole thing would have been a much better listening experience if they had picked the best 22 minutes from each, rather than another ten yards of "here's some more stuff I had fun making".) 3 stars , because I'm feeling generous, and it's a nice vibe even if it is samey

This was a better listen than I expected. I went in a bit sceptical and did not think it would land the same now. It is uneven, but there is enough here to keep me listening. I still cannot stand Hey Ya!, which puts me on the back foot straight away. Once I get past that, there is more going on than I remembered. Different moods, ideas, and some tracks that age better than I thought. Not something I love, but a solid listen. Better than I gave it credit for.

Long album, of two halves, the melodies were pleasant so I didn’t really mind. On the other hand “She Lives in My Lap”, really? Does she have a strong tenancy agreement protecting her rights mate? Can you see how I felt about this one.

Some good stuff but it's way too long and bloated

Here it is, the highest selling rap album of all time. I'm not a massive fan of this album, as I find a lot of it hard to listen to. Might just be my preference for New York or even West Coast style beats, though I love Outkast's 90s album. I just feel like at this point they start getting so experimental in their sound it kind of loses me more often than it wins me over. The Way You Move is a classic, Rooster is great, but the first few tracks on Big Boi's side aren't great. Bust is a solid track, with a great Killer Mike feature. War is another banger, maybe one of the strongest deep cuts. Last Call is a pretty good track as well. As a stand alone album, Speakerboxxx is decent, though not as good as Outkast's previous albums, especially those in the 90s. Now, to get to the Love Below. In retrospect, this is the beginning of a long journey that ended up with Andre3000 releasing a flute album. If you aren't well-versed in Outkast, just look up the Key and Peele skit about them, that pretty much explains this album. This starts off with some strange lounge-like track, then a skit where 3-Stack talks to god... telling her "head don't count." Ok. Then suddenly he's Cupid Valentino singing about Valentine's Day. You can't make this stuff up in some spaced out funk track with lyrics so bad they make George Clinton's songs seem like utter genius. First decent track on 3 Stacks' album is Roses, which was one of the singles. Behold a Lady is a good track., Pink and Blue is OK. She's Alive, Dracula's Wedding...wtf. Then some beebop jazz, because why not. The last track is decent as well. Speakerboxx is likely a high 3/5. Love Below... I don't even know. Probably Hey Ya alone is what makes this the top selling rap album of all time, but it certainly doesn't deserve that distinction otherwise. I used to think that song was likely just a random joke song Andree3000 made, but I'm no longer sure, having listened to the rest of the album. The reality doesn't live up to the hype for me, and I'm a big hiphop head. Super uneven. Barely a 3/5

i could definitely grow to love this album!

Starting with the Speakerboxxx side, just not really into this southern hip-hop sound. Some good stuff, beats, flows on this, but the vibe in general is doing nothing for me. Some standouts though like Flip Flop Rock. The Love Below definitely has more variety I feel, but a lot of it is just too smooth for my tastes. Hey Ya obviously being the standout single here. But yeah, two hours later, and I'm just not really that into this album. I tried listening to Stankonia a while back, and remember feeling similarly underwhelmed by it. It's good, but not really the type of hip-hop I go for. And at two hours long, it's a slog. Even each side by itself is a bit exhausting.

trebalo mi je dosta da odslušam. ovo su, ako shvaćam, u stvari dva albuma (mislim, jako se čuje), a traju zajedno preko dva sata... krenimo redom. prvi mi je album bio za rep standarde okej. malo možda iznadprosječan, ali ništa posebno. skitovi znaju dojaditi ali zato drugi... izvrstan! nije rep album jer ima svega živog, ali nevjerojatno, nisam to očekivao. na njemu je i klasični benger "hey ya!", al ima svega stvarno. ovaj bih album čak i tu i tamo slušao no šteta što je ovako spojeno. zbog toga nažalost moram dati trojku. prvi album ne može prismrdjet drugom

Took 4 days to finish. Was expecting that Andre half will be exceptional. Turned out BigBoi first 6 songs are only ones that I liked. Disliked a lot here.. monologues with no music, monologues with just few beats, over the place random synth sounds, offensive lyrics, making Coltrain sound like a jingle from a Pepsi commercial/sailor moon intro…. I think I don’t even like Hey Ya anymore. Crazy bitch . Stupid bitch. Stupid add bitch….. man wtf Want to give it 2 but some bigboi songs are dope

Middle of the road for outkast

Speakerboxxx is definitely a 4⭐ Sadly, there is also The Love Below

More enjoyable than I would've guessed but at the same time it's quite long with way too many interludes.

I like half of this album more or less. The flow is sick but sometime is too crazy for me. But the jazzy vibe are awesome. Song I like are: The way you move, Church, I love the way you move, Take off your cool, Hey ya, Roses, Vibrate, Unhappy, Bowtie, A life in a the day of Benjamin Andree..

too long... over 2h

tooo long, some bangers

Very fun! This albums makes me wanna skateboard into the sunset.

I generally enjoy Outkast's music, but this album will be the longest one I've listened to yet for this project and I am kind of dreading it. Here we go. So far, I think the intro is doing a good job of setting a tone/vibe for the album and I am enjoying it. I thought track 2 was a little uninteresting, and there was a weird transition in the beginning of it that felt really out of place. I think this is a good song but it isn't really that catchy to me, I wouldn't dedicate my time to learning the lyrics to this song. I enjoy the slower sections more than the faster parts. I like track 3 more than 2, it is catchier. I think this genre of music is also something I am not super familiar with, which means I don't really have a lot to say about it. Track 4 has no lyrics available. I have heard this song before, although I did not recognize it at first. It is a very good, catchy song, I cannot lie. The song is mostly interlude/background vocals so it makes sense now why the lyrics are not available. Track 5 is pretty good, there is nothing really remarkable about it to me. Track 6 feels about the same to me as track 5 did. Track 7 reminds me of "20 Questions," specifically the style of rap and the enunciation. Honestly, this album is really long and I am tempted to not finish it. I am on track 11 now and I do like it a lot. It is catchy. There is still 28 songs after this one. I truly might not finish this. Maybe I will just listen until Disc 2, which means only 8 more songs. The first half of this has been really good. I like the vibes, style of rap, lyrics, and most other elements of the songs. Occasionally, some songs sound very similar and I feel like overall it could do with less 20 to 30 second interludes. However, it was good.

Well at first I was a bit skeptical, this genre is normally not my thing, but I already knew OutKast so for that I was excited. Yes 2 hours is maybe a bit too long. But so far, I’m enjoying it! I really do like the layout of the album. It’s like a story that goes on!

When this album came out I had a friend who was very excited about it. He came down into the basement exclaiming "The new Outkast single is amazing. It reminds me of The Beatles!" I filed that away as an interesting thought since I only knew Outkast as a Hip-Hop group. Cut to a few days later when I catch the new Outkast single on MTV. And I am very confused, because it is a Hip-Hop song. I know The Beatles are a huge influence on pop music but this seems like a big stretch. What is my friend thinking. Cut to a few days after that and I catch a different Outkast single . This one is called "Hey Ya" where the other one I heard was "I Like the Way You Move" and now it clicks. Then I mentally apologize to my friend who I thought was crazy. Eventually the world caught up to my friend and "Hey Ya" became gigantic. Have I heard it too many times? Probably. But I can't deny that it was overplayed because it was so catchy and good. Besides it, the aforementioned "Way You Move" and the poo poo song I was not familiar with this album. It's too long , but I say that about most double albums. But the good stuff here is really good.

It was really great but I didn’t listen to the whole album because it was too long for my day

2 albums, obviously but loses something from being too long when trying to listen to both consecutively. Prefer speakerboxx which I wasn't expecting, the love below is trying to do a lot but sometimes feels disjointed.

iskreno mnogo pesama, nisam ih bas detaljno slusao pustio sam u pozadini, andre 3k goat, speakerboxxx je sve big boi, i to je ono pare kola picke, a andre je ceo drugi deo i to je mekanija prica vise mi se to svidelo

Would have been 4 stars but the double album was too long to enjoy. With half the tracks it’s a better album overall

It was good even if not my favorite type of music. Too long. Haha

• GhettoMusick is a really cool first track • I love The Rooster, the piano chords in the back of the verses mixed with the trumpets sounds great • Big Boi's verses in both The Rooster and Bust have been incredible • The groove in Church is really catchy • I wasn't expecting much from the Interludes but Bamboo acting as a lead-in to Tomb of the Boom works really well • "That don't belong to urse–I mean us" to switch up the rhyming pattern in Reset is so good • Taking a break after finishing Speakerboxxx. I really enjoyed this half of the album. Big Boi's rapping is consistently great and there are a lot of really interesting instrumentals. I feel like Last Call is going to be stuck in my head until I listen to The Love Below. I also really like the repeated "Speakerboxxx" tag used throughout the album, it really made the whole thing feel cohesive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wound up listening to The Love Below while I was running errands, so I don't have in-depth thoughts for most of the songs. However, Hey Ya is obviously a fantastic song, and Roses, Vibrate and A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre were all standout tracks from this half of the album too. Favourite songs: Speakerboxxx: The Rooster The Love Below: Hey Ya

Innovative but not for me mostly. Some good songs but hard to categorize

Speakerboxxx: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Love Below: ⭐️⭐️

nice, rap is not my genre... but fineeeeeeee

A bold double album split into two distinct personalities. Speakerboxxx delivers solid Southern hip-hop with Big Boi’s confident flow, but it feels more “okay” than groundbreaking. The Love Below, on the other hand, aims for eccentric funk-pop but often comes across as a diluted Prince pastiche—ambitious yet uneven. The saving grace? “Hey Ya,” a timeless burst of energy that outshines the rest.

I don’t live it but it has bangers

Over time my allegiance seems to have shifted from the indulgence of the Andre side to the more pure hip-hop side of Big Boi. A great album but exhausting, especially with the final couple of Love Below songs Vibrate and A Life in the Day.

There were some great tracks on here but the majority of them I would consider to be just good. I tried to treat the halves as different albums but still listened to the whole thing in one sitting, which may have been a mistake since the whole thing got to be pretty tiresome and felt bloated. I'll probably come back to give it another shot at some point but the sheer length makes it pretty daunting.

I love OutKast and there are definite jams on this album but... meh.

Way too long (couldn't these have stood alone as 2 separate lps, or did they think Hey Ya would be enough to get people to buy this), but mostly kept my interest.

Very good, although a little bit long.

Best Song: Hey Ya Seriously, 2+ hour album?!?! I get it is two albums in one, but c'mon. There are some really good tracks on here. There are also some mediocre (at best) tracks on here. This is one of those cases where it is just too much. If they had tightened this up and only put out the best tracks instead of forcing this double album it would easily be a 4 but alas, that isn't the case. 3/5.

Ate

I appreciate the variety across the track list, but the quality isn't very consistent and 40 tracks is a bit much even for a double album. The Speakerboxxx half isn't really my thing, but GhettoMusick is an amazing song and Last Call was fun too. The Love Below was more interesting and has a lot more diverse influences but other than Hey Ya and Roses there weren't any tracks that stood out.

Bloated (long). Innovative in places. Doesn’t sound 20+ years old. Like aspects of both discs. But surprised for me it’s more of a 3 than a 4 on re listening after some time. Cut some tracks and there’s a 4 there.

Look, I’m never going to dedicate my time to an album(s) this long. I owned it back in the day. It’s vastly overrated and could do with some serious editing even to make it two separate and digestible release. There’s a 50 minute work of brilliance in there somewhere, but I can’t be arsed to find it.

If I could give this negative stars I would

40 songs! Interesting start but not gripping.

Хороший такой рэп-альбом. Стилистически - конечно это гламурные 00-е, а не гангстерские 90-е. Есть немало интересных битов, есть и абсолютно проходные треки. Альбом тем не менее очень долгий и за раз его послушать тяжело. Но все же - крепкий НЕПЛОХ.

This album is ambitious to a fault. It’s less a double album than two solo statements released under a shared name, and the contrast between the halves is so stark it becomes the defining feature of the experience. Speakerboxxx is competent, groove-driven Southern hip hop that’s well made but rarely surprising. It does what it’s supposed to do, but much of it blends together for me and never quite hooks in. The Love Below is more interesting, messier, and riskier. André 3000’s willingness to experiment, be playful, and veer into left-field pop is genuinely fun at times, and tracks like “Roses” show how effective that approach can be. But the self-indulgence becomes hard to ignore. Too many ideas overstay their welcome, and the lack of editorial restraint eventually dulls the impact. I respect this album far more than I enjoy it. The ambition is real, the cultural importance is obvious, and individual moments absolutely work. But as a full listen, it’s uneven and not something I feel compelled to return to. A three-star record for me: interesting, occasionally fun, historically significant, but ultimately more admirable than satisfying.

I hear some hints of old time R&B/Soul and nice use of horns.

Above anything, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below demonstrates that Outkast was greater that the sum of its parts. This is an overly long album that is sonically splattered. There is a lot to like about both parts, but my ears found “The Love Below” to be the more interesting part. There is some interesting experimental music throughout the second half, but like all experiments, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. The result is higher highs and lower lows. The first album, Speakerboxx, is more straightforward hip-hop, with a fun and funky vibe. I enjoyed the tracks that leaned most heavily into the funky grooves. Some interesting horns and guitar work. The real trouble here, particularly with respect to this project, is the length. Normally I like to give each album several listens, but that simply is not practical in this case. Too bad.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed a lot of the songs on here. It's a very long album and not all of them were for me, but so many great hits and deep cuts I didn't know. So many different interesting sounds and clashing styles. A fun listening experience, even if not my type of musics. Top Songs: Pink & Blue, Spread, Dracula's Wedding, Roses

way too long

Speakerboxxx is a 4 let down by interludes The Love Below is a 2 with a small amount of excellent songs

I assume one of the longest albums of all time. Fun listen though.

Speakerboxxx: This album is so ATL. The features are great on here and the beats are very nostalgic for me. Big Boi brought the heat with this one. [4] The Love Below: So different from Speakerboxxx, wow. They were smart to put this second on the double album. How horny was 3K when he made this? This comes across as a love album made made for any woman willing to listen. Hey Ya and Roses in the middle of this feels like he just slapped a couple pop hits in the middle of his experimental hip hop project. [2]

7.4

Muy buen disco, descubriendo de donde viene la mítica "Killing me softly with his song".

I enjoyed this one. It’s a bop.

I’d love to rate this higher but it’s really unnecessarily long

Prototype supremacy

Ich habs mir jetzt gehört,schon geil aber nicht so mein geschmack. Ich höre gern Hip hop,aber ich habe ein weirdo geschmack weil ich kaum was aus amerika höre. Ich mag Gorillaz aber das glaube ich aus england. Naja Ich fühle es einfach leider nicht. Meine verbindung mit Rap/Hip Hop ist tief politisch über die verhältnisse in Deutschland,Frankreich oder Spanien oder es muss einfach sehr sehr dumm sein manchmal auch beides. Ich geb es jetzt persönlich 3 sterne, aber ich verstehe warum andere es 5 geben würden weil es gut sehr gut produziert ist und vermutlich flow feiern weil der sehr gut. Aber ich fühle es nicht

I like the jazzy tracks, interesting sounds, acoustic instruments on some songs, and the guys' sense of humor. But I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it again. Good stuff, but not my taste. 6/10

Something I heard when it first came out. Some big hits on here and Hey Ya! is a song which is pretty ubiquitous. Outkast are a group who get a huge amount of respect and deservedly so.

Too fun to ignore, even though I don't really like the genre too much. The musicality really shines here, I just can't relate to the music very well...yet.

I've heard OutKast described as Hip Hop for people that don't like Hip Hop and on listening to this, I can sort of hear why. I thought there were some great songs on here and the production level was really high. But.... at over two hours they could afford to pick some winners and put out a more concise and higher quality album. Couldn't quite manage all of it but will probably return and finish it off at the weekend.

5/10 Speakerboxxx 4/10 The Love Below The good songs are great but there is far too much filler. Should have been a single album

A busy Monday with an extended after school meeting was not the day for a double album of over two hours…

I can see why some people might highly rate this album. It really is one of two parts though. One a more straight rap album, the other wearing its other influences on its sleeve more and not being afraid to try something different. If they were independent of one another I’d likely rate speakerboxxx a 2 and the love below a 4 so trying to combine the two in an overall score. As a double album its length is a bit too long to really absorb in one sitting.

As with most OutKast albums there are some spectacular highs and some unbelievable lows.

Long

Cool but impenetrable. I just can't take in all of a 2.25hr double album and appreciate how it develops in just one day. Some fantastic individual tracks. Love big boi's rap style. Love some of the more R&B stuff on the love below (more than I thought I would certainly.) will listen more

later

Not my usual style of music but I liked The Rooster and Knowing the most.

Album 55/1001 My one criticism of this double album would be that I think Outkast are better when they're working collaboratively than apart like this. It's the juxtaposition of their 2 very different styles on the same record that makes them such a special and unique band. Still, 2 excellent albums that bring back some great memories. Back then I much preferred The Love Below, but listening to them back now, Speakerboxx is a lot better than I remembered. Favourite lyrics: HEY YA! If what they say is "Nothing is forever" Then what makes, then what makes Then what makes, then what makes (what makes, what makes) Love the exception? So why, oh, why, oh Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh Are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here? ROSES Caroline, (Caroline), see She's the reason for the word 'bitch' (bitch) I hope she's speedin' on the way to the club Tryna hurry up to get to a baller or singer or somebody like that And try to put on her make up in the mirror and crash, crash Crash into a ditch (Just playin') (Bitch) Crazy bitch (Stupid-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (Old punk-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (Old dumb-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (A bitch's bitch) Crazy bitch (Just a bitch) Crazy bitch (Stupid-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (Old punk-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (Old dumb-ass bitch) Crazy bitch (A bitch's bitch) Crazy bitch (Just a bitch) Speakerboxx 🔊📦 Favourite song: The Way You Move 💃 Honourable mention: Unhappy ☹️ Reset 🔄 Knowing 🧠 War 🪖 Bowtie 🎀 3½ / 5 The Love Below ❤️⬇️ Favourite song: Hey Ya! 👋 Honourable mention: Roses 🌹🌹 Prototype 💘 Pink & Blue 🌸💠 Take Off Your Cool 😎🤓 Vibrate 📳 3½ / 5

Much of the music is good here, but I am soured by the context in which this album was released. This should have been two solo albums, and it feels like the studio's greed decided to put them together for easier marketing. Nevertheless, each side is good in their own way, but as a whole it feels less than its parts due to the cynicism surrounding it. Speakerboxxx (Big Boi): Bold, consistently good, fully-realized, solid. 4 stars. The Love Below (Andre 3000): Playful, inconsistent, higher peaks but lower lows. 3 stars.

This album hits with a surprising consistency for something that runs well over two hours. It moves with a confidence that makes it hard to find a real low point, almost as if the duo couldn’t help but deliver quality no matter how wide they stretched the concept. The split structure gives the whole thing its character. Two different visions, two different moods, but somehow still a unified statement. One side sharp and grounded, the other drifting into its own world, yet both pushing the boundaries of what hip-hop could be at the time. The production can feel a bit overbuilt in places, almost like it’s overflowing with ideas, but that’s also part of the charm. It’s ambitious in a way very few mainstream records dared to be. And the big tracks land exactly the way they should. Those huge, era-defining moments pop up almost casually in the middle of the tracklist. It might not be the OutKast album I’d personally place at the very top, but it’s undeniably impressive. Long, bold, inventive, and almost stubbornly free of weak spots. A record that still earns its reputation.

So good and creative. Just way too long. Needs editing.

I divided it into 2 listenings and i must say if you listen to only one take the second. Speakerboxxx was very forgetable and sounded like every other 90s hip hop album while the other was at least bit inovative and andres voice gives a more unique touch. Both albums are well mixed and produceced. but all hits are in the love below Subject matters are as you'd expect from hip hop so i just disregard that. Better than expected but the hits are still the only ones i remember.

For sure overly long. The Love Below is at least twice as interesting as speakerboxxx. But when that half starts, the music really kicks. Very cool and funky. Suffers from it's overload. A shorter version could have been perfect.

“Hey Ya” arrives on disc 2, as it were, about an hour and twenty into the whole affair, and it sounds nothing like rest of the album. It’s followed by a 6 1/2 minute track that’s just “you think your shit don’t stink, but oh honey it do”. Which is to say, there are many great tracks, the album is still way too long, and OutKast love to prank their audience.

Long winded - a few good songs but the double album is tiring to listen in full.

This album’s a near 4 for me, but it’s just too darn long. I’m not sure if I’d want an album from any artist that’s over 2 hours long. That being said, it still wasn’t a complete lull. It’s packed with a lot and it’s entertaining throughout. Some of the interludes and even the songs are hilarious. Hey Ya! is such a classic and always a welcome listen. Not bad by any means, but just too long.

Weird but surprisingly good. I'm not a massive rap fan - but this was a bit more than just rap?

Golden

Some super cool songs, but I'm sorry I couldn't wait for this to be over. Nearly 3 hours?? Far too long for an album (yes I know this is a double album, even so it should be <2).

There's four- or five-star album hiding in here. Waaay too much filler.

Its a great album, but its too damn long

I liked "The Love Below" a lot more. This is maybe a 2 for me but "Hey Ya" is great, I actually thought a lot of the skits were funny, and I do love Andre 3000's voice so it's elevated to a 3.

какой же он длинный, господи... зачем.... два альбома альбома из них нормальных бы вполне получилось. а так это ж даже не заслушаешь сразу все. а вообще-то музыка вроде бы вполне себе хорошая

There are some hits on here but it's too long. I'm not the biggest OutKast fan but I thought it was alright but I'm can't listen to this straight through.

Honestly, less impressed than I thought I'd be. Per usual for Outkast, the production was amazing but in this case, I didn't vibe with the lyrics. Still a great album. 7/10.

This is an example of music that’s aged well on me. If I’d recorded this double album back when it came out I’d have surely given it 1 star, but with time I’ve somehow come to respect OutKast a bit more, to the point where I even enjoyed the majority of tracks on this (albeit far too long) offering. I’d also totally missed that The Way You Move - a true banger - was by OutKast.

Pre: outkasts worst album? Post: 2 solo albums , completely disjointed. Some highlights

The first disc was a slog, disc 2 though was pretty damn good, this should have been released as two separate albums cause collectively it was TOO LONG!!

Just so long so deducting marks. the continuation of the 'speakerboxxx' theme throughout that part of the album was great.

That was a lot of music. It's very creative, but I am not sure it gave me the best picture of the group, since the two halves are almost entirely separate. I thought this one was pretty good, but it doesn't earn credit for being two albums.

Decent 3,5

Was fucking waiting for this one to be over oh my god. Like it’s not bad but did it need to be over 2 fucking hours long? No. The answer is fucking No

It has some good tracks, but definitely too long

The first record - awesome, liked every track. The second record felt like Andre had only Hey Ya and then was like “shit I gotta add like twenty songs” and threw them together in an afternoon.

Lot of great songs and inspiration for artists to come. The album is a bit long, but doesn’t quite overstay its welcome. OutKast, despite being wildly popular, somehow feels underrated for their influence

Great dancy pop album but I don’t remember a single song, nothing worth listening on repeat

Speakerboxxx is a 4/5. It's a clear, relatively concise (by 2003 standards) thesis statement for the next 10+ years of Big Boi's career sans OutKast. There are bops, bangers, and jams. Everything you need is here, but it's not superlative. The Love Below is also a 4/5. It has the most ubiquitous pop song of the last quarter century or more - one that somehow, none of us have tired of - as well as some really brilliant compositions that rank among the best things Andre3000 has released. It is smart, introspective, clever, and a little goofy. It is everything you could need from an Andre3000 album and maybe a little more. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, somehow, is a 3/5. It is less than the sum of its parts by virtue of both its length and the disparate nature of those parts. I would happily listen to either as a discrete solo album. I will probably never again listen to them both, back to back, as released/intended.

Very diverse set of music, mostly hip-hop, almost without anything tying it together. Well produced and an excellent showcase of talented.

This is a double album of two guys who were about to break up but released as a double album because they just won a Grammy? Already at cognitive overload. Anyway on Big Bois side I hated his hit singles (sound like 10 guys went into a music shop and pressed all the keys) but liked Bowtie and Rooster and generally about every other track. There are some killer tracks I‘d listen to again if I was into hip hop. Second disc is about alters ego of Andre 3000. Cognitive overload 2.0. How is Hey Ya the standout track? Cannot connect at all. Still the tracks are ok I guess. But then after Roses all tracks turn meh and it’s pure chore until my today’s duty is done. 2.3h! Sure I know they recorded separately but was there really no way to pack this into one album? Or at least a 2x40m double album?

A good album that kinda buckles under the weight of such a long track list

Enjoyable, many bangers, way too long.

Might just be a few too many tracks. Disk 2 is levels above Disk 1. Otherwise it's an absolute classic and some brilliance on there, just before Andre fell off the deep end and started doing mad shit.

Bloated but some good tracks, if you cut it down it would be on par with other OutKast albums

Some great tracks for sure, and overall a pretty wild ride. I'm glad to finally have the push to sit down and listen to this whole thing. I can't see putting it all on again though.

There is absolutely no reason why this album needs to be 2hrs and 15minutes long. That is too long. I liked it and it was good for the most part but wanted to turn it off after hey ya. Should be 4 stars but losing a point for the unnecessary length.

Yep, still only like Hey Ya!, My Favorite Things, and Take Off Your Cool. Rife with misogyny. So long.

I get why these guys each did their own disk, but the release is yet another reason why two-disk albums almost never work. Way too many intros/outros, among other problems. But the highlights have staying power.

Lot of creatively, but also some pretty bad songs on this 2-disc set, ultimately this stank of self-indulgence

Always a fan of these guys in passing. Never got into them that much, but I really did enjoy this one. 3.5 if I could rate it that way.

I don’t care for OutKast in general. Though, I suppose it’s good I’ve finally heard all of Hey Ya.

Hadn’t listened to the whole double album before. Lots of creativity, but probably could have been trimmed to just one album