Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
While it showed the growing divide between André 3000 and Big Boi (and presaged their long hiatus), OutKast\'s fifth studio effort was a highwater mark for the group all the same. It was essentially two solo albums: André\'s *The Love Below* and Big Boi\'s *Speakerboxx*, packaged as a double record. Two of OutKast\'s most enduring and innovative tunes are here: Big Boi\'s \"The Way You Move\" (a \'70s funk throwback in the style of Cameo and Chic) and \"Hey Ya\" (André 3000\'s kaleidoscopic, decade-defining rave-up). Selling more than 10 million copies, *Speakerboxx/The Love Below* was OutKast\'s least classically hip-hop album to date; it was an ambitious amalgam of funk, soul, R&B, disco, and rock (try classifying the snarky kiss-off \"Roses\"). In mashing up so many sounds so successfully, the album closed the door on hip-hop\'s boom-bap \'90s period, ushering in an era of sonic cross-pollination between hip-hop and pop that persisted into the next decade. Awarded a GRAMMY® for Album of the Year in 2004, this was one of OutKast\'s (and pop music\'s) finest hours.
The twelve-lane Connector plows through Atlanta like the Nile of pavement. Along its fenced banks lie the majority of the ...
Check out our album review of Artist's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below on Rolling Stone.com.