Tag Archives: Outkast

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Song of the Day #6,417: ‘Wheelz of Steel’ – OutKast

Concluding a look at notable albums of 1996…

Regular readers know I struggle to enjoy most rap music. I’m not proud of that fact, knowing the musical, cultural, and societal relevance of the genre, but my ears like what they like.

One of the few exceptions is OutKast, the Atlanta-based duo who rank among the most acclaimed and successful hip-hop acts in history. I have enjoyed everything I’ve heard from them, including the two albums I know quite well — 2000’s Stankonia and 2004’s Album of the Year-winning Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

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Song of the Day #4,504: ‘Bust’ – Outkast feat. Killer Mike

I’m continuing my Decades series over the next two weeks, writing about some of the 2003 albums that didn’t crack my top ten. Most of these records are completely new to me. A few are in my music library but neglected enough that I’m treating them as new.

Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below falls into the latter category. I know the big songs from this album very well (‘Hey Ya,’ ‘The Rooster,’ ‘The Way You Move‘) but the rest haven’t stuck with me. And listening to it again this week, that didn’t really change.

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Song of the Day #3,590: ‘Ms. Jackson’ – Outkast

In contrast to my last three selections, Outkast is a band I’ve featured on the blog several times already. And today’s 2000 album, Stankonia, is at least somewhat familiar to me.

Stankonia is the Atlanta rap duo’s fourth studio album. They would follow it up with 2003’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (essentially two solo albums packaged as a double album under the band’s name) and 2006’s Idlewild (a soundtrack album to a film Big Boi and Andre 3000 starred in). Then they split up.

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Song of the Day #1,296: ‘The Rooster’ – Outkast

If there’s one genre I’ve given short shrift over nearly 1,300 Songs of the Day, it’s rap. OK, heavy metal as well, but that’s never gonna happen.

But if I can dedicate a week to opera, surely I can dedicate a week to rap. So to paraphrase my mother, that’s what I’ll do.

Starting things off is a track from the Speakerboxxx half of Outkast’s smash 2003 release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. That record, which won the Album of the Year Grammy and sold more than 5.5 million copies (of a double album), marked the peak of the band’s career. Their only subsequent release was the mostly ignored soundtrack album to a film they conceived, 2006’s Idlewild.

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