Outkast has been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 2019 and it’s kind of a surprise they didn’t receive their first nomination until 2025. The Atlanta duo is one of the most acclaimed and influential hip-hop acts in history.
Big Boi and André 3000 had a relatively short run before splitting in 2007 — 15 years in total — but that was enough time to release six Platinum or multi-Platinum albums, place two #1 hits on the Hot 100, and win only the second Album of the Year Grammy for a rap album (following The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill).
In 2021, the band’s ‘Hey Ya’ was named by Rolling Stone as one of the ten best songs of all time. Every other act with a song on that list is already in the Rock Hall, so it only makes sense that Outkast joins them.
Outkast was notable for the complementary personalities of Big Boi and André 3000 (“the player and the poet”), and for infusing their Southern hip-hop with jazz, funk, psychedelia, and electronic music. They made heady music you could dance to.
Their 2003 album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below — really two solo albums sandwiched together as an Outkast release — earned them Album of the Year honors and spawned #1 hits ‘The Way You Move’ and ‘Hey Ya.’ It’s a perfect display of what makes both men uniquely talented, even as it found them drifting apart creatively.
Both men’s solo careers have been unimpressive. Andre released one album after a 17-year hiatus, and it consisted of 85 minutes of “experimental flute music.” Big Boi has released a trio of more traditional albums that failed to catch on.
The magic of Outkast was their personal and musical chemistry, and it has been appropriately recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Woo!
Turn me up! Don’t turn me down
Cut me up! Heh, don’t let me down
Find… find a way…
[Chorus: André 3000, Joi, Myrna Crenshaw & Sleepy Brown]
Find a way to get out, a-without a hit out
You dig in, you dig out, you get out
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick (Woo!)
Find a way to get in, to fit in, to get on
To get out, without a doubt
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick
[Interlude: André 3000]
Climbing out this hole (Climbing out this hole)
With a frown on my face
(In the place to be)
In the place to be
And not to be at the same time
[Pre-Chorus: André 3000]
G-H-E-T-T-O M-U-S-I-C-K, stay down
O-U-T-K-A-S-T, just know that we don’t play ’round
If it don’t stank like they stank, then they can’t swallow that down
Your battleship is sunk, I wish Grandma could see us—
[Chorus: André 3000, Joi, Myrna Crenshaw & Sleepy Brown]
Find a way to get out, a-without a hit out
You dig in, you dig out, you get out
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick
Find a way to get in, to fit in
You get on, you get out, without a doubt
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick
[Post-Chorus: Big Boi & Patti LaBelle sample]
I just want you to know how I feel
Feeling good, feeling great
How I feel… oh, I…
Feeling great, feeling good, how are you? (You… you… you…)
I just want you to know how I feel
Feeling good, feeling great
How I feel… oh, I…
Feeling great, feeling good, how are you?
[Verse: Big Boi]
Hot tub, bad to the bone-y, I’m Tony
Ask my Grandmama, Edna Mae Kearse, she showed me
How to be the smooth operator, dominator
In the state of Georgia, Hip-Hop standard destroyer
Leave a motherfucker open like a foyer
“He from the Dirty” — now here come the paranoia
A lawyer couldn’t object, or disrespect the technique
Sweat me, wipe off the sweat
Fight off the shit, then flush the waste down
The pipes of my life flow deep into the ground
Find my purpose on the surface of this Earth, this
Planet’s standards, trust they have their purpose
Campaign in vain for the same lame fame you’ve obtained
You ought to be detained
By the Hip-Hop Sheriff, locked up, no possibility
Of getting out, because the shit you make is killin’ me
And my ears, and my peers
I hear the end is near – no fear, we disappear
Then re-appear again in a fresh new light
I hope it’s peaceful and cloudy, ’cause if it’s not, we gotta fight, like –
[Pre-Chorus: André 3000]
G-H-E-T-T-O M-U-S-I-C-K, stay down
O-U-T-K-A-S-T, just know that we don’t play ’round
If it don’t stank like they stank, then they can’t swallow that down
Your battleship is sunk, I wish Grandma could see us—
[Chorus: André 3000, Joi, Myrna Crenshaw & Sleepy Brown]
Find a way to get out, a-without a hit out
You dig in, you dig out, you get out
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick (Woo!)
Find a way to get in, to fit in, to get on
To get out, without a doubt
GhettoMusick
GhettoMusick
[Post-Chorus: Big Boi & Patti LaBelle sample]
I just want you to know how I feel
Feeling good, feeling great
How I feel… oh, I…
Feeling great, feeling good, how are you? (You… you… you…)
I just want you to know how I feel
Feeling good, feeling great
How I feel… oh, I…
Feeling great, feeling good, how are you?
Meet Me In Montauk 