23 Years Ago Today, a Hip-Hop Duo on the Verge of a Breakup Made the Weirdest, Most Successful Album of Their Career

Very rarely do breakups lead to big hits. Divorces almost always turn out ugly. Save for the tension in Fleetwood Mac on Rumours, groups splitting up just live in juicy rumor mills and speculation. But for Outkast, as they were eyeing potential solo careers, they made their some of the biggest songs of their career on an extremely ambitious double album.

Released 23 years ago, Speakerboxx/The Love Below was the tale of two halves. Rather than rap as a duo, Big Boi and André 3000 essentially operated on their own islands. Speakerboxx had its fair share of eccentricities that made Big Boi such an infectious presence. There were bizarre, alien synths surrounding bass-heavy anthems. But it still centered around the tried-and-true trunk rattlers that the South was known for.

Meanwhile, André made a wild concept album that centered more around Prince and psychedelia than his rapping. They feel like two totally distinct albums rather than one singular vision because they were made that way. Their management insisted they stay together as Outkast. So, instead of splitting off into their own ventures, they combined both into a double album.

The result became the most successful album of their careers, earning them Grammys and a ton of hits despite their wilder, weirder ideas.

Outkast Released The Wildest Yet Most Successful Album of Their Career 23 Years Ago Today

On February 8, 2004, André 3000 and Big Boi won Album of the Year at the Grammys, becoming the second rap artists to ever win the award after Lauryn Hill in 1999. Additionally, they sold 509,600 copies in its first week in the US. After only a month, they went platinum. Both “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move” both topped the Billboard Hot 100 during this time as well.

Aside from Jon Caramanica for Rolling Stone, critics largely adored Speakerboxx/The Love Below. Rather than bristle at the fractured state of Outkast, they largely embraced their creative differences joining for one album. Kris Ex of The Los Angeles Times wrote, “It’s not just that the collection stands so far above much of today’s contemporary hip-hop and R&B; but that it surpasses the high level of genre-defying craftsmanship that the duo has cultivated for nearly a decade.”

Outkast would release one last album, Idlewild, to pair with their equally ambitious film. Then, Big Boi would continue to soar in his solo efforts. Meanwhile, André would largely duck the music industry entirely, occasionally popping up for features until he fell in love with the flute and made jazz albums instead.

Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage

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