So much music is released daily across so many genres, subgenres, and sub-subgenres, that it is remarkable when an album comes along music fans of all stripes can get behind. In 2003, Outkast’s double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below possessed that kind of unifying power. On the heels of simultaneous critical darling/commercial breakthrough Stankonia, a follow-up was hotly anticipated. What would Outkast do next? No one would have predicted a potentially self-indulgent double album. But, the crunked-out Outkast funhouse was too wild to be contained on one tiny disc. Big Boi and André 3000 divided and conquered with solo efforts. Speakerboxxx, Big Boi’s half, was a sexy but comparatively sober affair (that is to say not brazenly off-the-wall). It was epitomized by the slick come-on “The Way You Move”. On André 3000’s The Love Below any conventional idea of “hip-hop” was bent Plasticman style to his whims. An array of flamboyant influences were thrown into a blender and a glorious mess of material such as “Hey Ya!” resulted. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won Album of the Year and Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards of 2004. It is the top selling hip-hop release in the U.S.

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