The album proved to be the Atlanta, GA duos crowning achievement.
Back in 1998 Outkast's Aquemini was a southern hip-hop monster, that brought them accolades and hip hop world wide fame, but not necessarily huge commercial success. With the Halloween release of their follow up, Stankonia, that would change as I don't believe anyone understood the worldwide appeal this album would attain. Other albums we give Anniversary love to are sometimes solid, sometimes personal favorites that faded, and sometimes all-time classics. Stankonia clearly falls into the last section.
Top to bottom the album works, surprisingly self-produced, with a few Organized Noize tracks, the music is wide ranging, from pop to deep beats. Hip-hop purists love it and your grandma probably loves it, I am sure she dances to "Ms. Jackson" at parties and weddings. That broad appeal is what ignited the firestorm for Outkast and allows Andre 3000 to make flute albums as everyone owned a copy of the record.
"Gasoline Dreams" rips with rock riffs, "So Fresh and So Clean" bumps and bruises, "I'll Call Before I Come" is a fun sexy time, "Gangsta Shit" thumps, and all the skits keep things breezy and moving. Guest appearances from close friends Killer Mike, GOODIE Mob, Erykah Badu, add to the dynamic sounds and rhymes as the band are in such a flow.
We already mentioned the colossal single "Ms. Jackson", but the all-time track is "B.O.B". The mega bounce, the skittering drums, the 155 beats per minute just instantly gets the blood pumping as Andre and Big Boi drop perhaps their two best verses of their amazing career, and that is saying something. An amazing song that instantly jumped to the top of my personal favorite hip hop songs of all time.
Some other albums we celebrate Anniversaries of were released before RtBE's time, not Stankonia. As already huge fans of Outkast, we actually grabbed this album right upon release and listened to it over and over the weekend it came out. Rarely do you know an album is instantly going to be classics, but this was a clear time that was true. That weekend it came out a bunch of friends came together to hang out, actually pairing it with The Dropper and some mushrooms, for a really fun musical time. Right from that first crazy weekend, we knew Stankonia was going to be a part of the musical fabric going forward.
So on this day, the 25th Anniversary of the albums release, play it loud and proud. Here are a few albums to get you started....
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