For the second rate we will be rating OutKast's discography!

The Lesson Rates OutKast, Google Form: https://forms.gle/FsU2y82v9398ZCcz7

* You will need a Google login (to ensure no duplicate entries) but I am NOT collecting email addresses. Also, I left it so responses can be edited after submission.

This rate includes rating all of OutKast's albums and selecting your favorite song from each. Optionally, you can rate each of Big Boi's solo albums, make a choice between Andre and Big Boi, and finally vote on who's discography we should rate next!

This can be as quick or time-consuming as you want. You can open the form now and submit your ratings or spend a little more time re-listening to some of the albums to refresh your memory/rating. As mentioned above, answers are not final until I close the form, so feel free to go back and update your submissions.

I have not heard ONE Big Boi solo album. Not one.
I feel some kinda way for that because I'm a fan.

I don't want to rate something I haven't heard,
I'm assuming leaving it blank is cool?

I'll come back and edit it as I listen through the albums.

Not sure if I will do the Big Boi albums just because of time.

thanks for putting it together.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) = 10
ATLiens (1996) = 10
Aquemini (1998) = 10
Stankonia (2000) = 8
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) = 7
Idlewild (2006) = 6

No missteps in my book...until Idlewild
Forgot that happened
Couldn't even pick a favorite song
I don't recall anything off that album...except the clocks ringing on that metronome song...SMH
Damn good run gentlemen.

But otherwise....yeah.

What a bad album.
Didn't occur to me that it was their last as 'Kast
But it makes sense
It's like they tried to capitalize on that retro sound that was so popular at the time (Amy/Ronson)
...but as a rap group...
And then doubled down with an accompanying retro movie
It's horrible.

And therefore, not part of the discography cannon?

Do you disqualify Purple Rain as a Prince album because of the movie? Yes, Idlewild is a low point in the catalogue. But it still flies high above their contemporaries albums of the time. We can’t throw out the whole baby. It’s got value.

I was good with it up through hollywood divorce. train 2 is good too.

But Hollywood Divorce, The Mighty "O", and Morris Brown are all dope to me.

I have some minor gripes with each of them but I don't think there is one bad song in them. I don't love every song on their first 4 albums but they are mostly great. The highs carry the not as highs lol

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is odd. Some people seem to love one and not the other. Some consider them separate albums instead of part a and b, which I can understand. If people don't consider Idlewild an Outkast album then should they consider this one? It seems it would more fitting to consider them two separate solo albums if we are going to be so technical.

To me both are Outkast albums, they made six albums. Yes Idlewild was also a soundtrack but it wasn't an afterthought to the movie. It was made together as an experience. Feels like a cop out to not consider it an album.

It was amazing how much bigger Outkast seemed to get with each album. They have a lot of iconic songs that the general public knows yet still loved by heads.

I never hated Idlewild but I do think it was bloated, it does have some songs I would include in a best of Outkast playlist.

and if it was a great album or up to par with their previous albums there wouldn't be a debate on that

I could see separating it if there was a mix of artists and Kast only showed up a couple of times. that's not the case.

nobody will say that Purple Rain or Batman aren't Prince albums.

One thing that struck me was how good Big Boi was. I would say he's actually better than Andre. I never picked up on how dope Big was.

And the production still holds up. Still funky and energetic, with great rhythm and catchy grooves. This is an album that I wish I could go back to '94 and listen to for the first time.

I think I went 9, 10, and 10.

They were the same group on Stankonia, I just didn’t like that one quite ad much over all and went with an 8, which is still really good. After that…..Big Boi made some pretty solid albums and Dre had some dynamic guest appearances.

Do you think those albums aren't of the quality of the other four, or was it just an oversight?

other than a few songs.

Speakerboxxx I thought was solid but not on the level of the first 4 albums. I missed them truly working together. Honestly - I may have received it better if they just put out two solo albums officially, rather than packaging them together as “Outkast”. Just how I felt/feel.

I was just curious.

>And the production still holds up. Still funky and energetic,
>with great rhythm and catchy grooves. This is an album that I
>wish I could go back to '94 and listen to for the first time.
>

Super faux-East Coast rap and beats, you wouldn't listen to past The Nine-Trey (actually saying Nine-Trey instead of 1993.)

The 2nd PA album Straight No Chase is a classic to me. Their first album didn't sound much like a DF album, but the 2nd one was on point!

Like that part of Aquemini when the song cuts out and comes back. My mouth was on the floor when that played. That must have been the first time I heard a song using a long rest in that way. And then a great verse by Big Boi and an all-timer from Andre. Just too dope.

And listening to Spottie for the first time was cool, along with Liberation. So many dope cuts on that album. A ***** release to me.

every release day I was able to get new releases after school on Monday
release day was of course tuesday back then
I bought four records that day
-Love Movement
-Black Star
-Vol 2

I had to take three buses to get back home
listened to the 3 on the way home
I popped in outkast at home
I remember my mom coming home and my mom thought i was possessed
my mind was blown
i didnt really understand what i was listening to
my mom was a parliment groupie and even dated a member
and we just sat there and listened the whole night
that feeling ive only experience a hand full of time
I so understand what you mean about hearing it for the first time

In total we had 27 people rate OutKast’s discography.
Overall we collectively gave an average rating of 8.07.

Results Sheet: https://tinyurl.com/ycpbdn2c
Full Analytics: https://tinyurl.com/5ev88z8k


Discography Rank (excluding Big Boi solos)

1. ATLiens - 9.70
2. Aquemini - 9.56
3. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik - 8.63
4. Stankonia - 8.30
5. Speakerboxxx - 7.48
6. The Love Below - 7.30
7. Idlewild - 5.56


Most Underrated: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (9 votes)
Most Overrated: The Love Below (17 votes)


Top 3 Songs by Album:

Southernplayalistic - 1. Crumblin’ Erb, 2t. Claimin’ True, 2t. Git Up Git Out
ATLiens - 1. Mainstream, 2. Jazzy Belle, 3t. Wheelz of Steel, 3t. ATLiens, 3t. 13th Floor / Growing Old
Aquemini - 1. SpottieOttieDopaliscious, 2. Aquemini, 3t. Chonkyfire, 3t. Liberation
Stankonia - 1. So Fresh So Clean, 2. B.O.B., 3t. Red Velvet, 3t. Humble Mumble
Speakerboxxx - 1. Reset, 2. The Way You Move, 3. Bowtie
The Love Below - 1. She Lives In My Lap, 2. Prototype, 3. A Day in the Life of Andre Benjamin
Idlewild - 1. Hollywood Divorce, 2. Mighty ‘O’, 3. The Train


Big Boi Solo Albums Rank:

1. Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty - 7.74
2. Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors - 7.11
3. Boomiverse - 6.56


Skill and output (group and solo) considered, who would you rank higher?

Andre 3000 - 56.6%
Big Boi - 22.2%
Tie / can't decide - 22.2%


The next Lesson Rates will be… A Tribe Called Quest!


Lessonheads Who Rated OutKast’s Discog the Highest:

bentagain - 9.29
phemom - 9.14
Furiousstyles3000 - 9.14
mista k5 - 8.86
blueeclipse - 8.86
IslaSoul - 8.71
Mignight maruder - 8.71
BillGates - 8.71
JFrost1117 - 8.43
Nick Has a Problem...Seriously - 8.29
fancy_clown - 8.29

I love scrolling through and seeing what other’s responses were.

ha ha.

1. Thanks for doing this.

2. The only slight surprise to me is the The Love Below being listed under Speakerboxx.
I personally had Speakerboxx higher, but I figured after all the votes
came in people would have placed Andre's effort above Big Boi's.

3. I find the discography rankings to be the most interesting in these posts.
That Tribe battle is gonna be over 2 albums. Curious to see what comes out on top.

Hey Ya gets a pass because it’s Andre 3000, but if it was Fergie-BEP era Will I Am people wouldn’t have the same reverence for it.

>Hey Ya gets a pass because it’s Andre 3000, but if it was
>Fergie-BEP era Will I Am people wouldn’t have the same
>reverence for it.

the biggest eh for me is id put stankonia under the love below. the rest are a toss up. i prefer aquemini but dont mind atliens over it.

I probably should know this by now, but why is Stankonia thought of as (very, very slightly) less than their first three albums?

Is it because of the length of the album? Or because it's just *too* weird, even for them? Or because folks thought they went 'pop?'

The highs are incredibly high. But the lows are lower than we were used to from them. It's their most uneven album among the first 4.


>I probably should know this by now, but why is Stankonia
>thought of as (very, very slightly) less than their first
>three albums?
>
>Is it because of the length of the album? Or because it's just
>*too* weird, even for them? Or because folks thought they went
>'pop?'

>The highs are incredibly high. But the lows are lower than we
>were used to from them. It's their most uneven album among the
>first 4.
>

What you typed makes sense, although I don't quite agree. The electronica influence is a trait I really like on Stankonia. So, I didn't pick up the lows that others might have.

The inconsistency kind of works for me in the way that Phrenology works. Both albums are very ambitious and pulled from every possible influence. They threw all the spaghetti on the wall, and a lot of it sticks. Some of it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it usually is jarring. But I just didn't mind that aspect of Stankonia.

But I can see OutKast's approach to Stankonia is so different from their first three. Those albums were lean in the best way. Normally, I prefer that approach too.

Maybe this album is fond to me because it captures perfectly the wild possibilities the 21st Century held at that time. (until it all went to shit. LOL)

Stankonia was my first OutKast album (2000 was my first year as an avid hip hop listener) and at that point in time I was mostly buying albums, listening to the hits and skipping around the rest. I've always liked the album, though consider is kind of bloated and definitely a step down from the albums that preceded it.

SB/TLB would then be the 2nd OutKast album I'd hear (I had yet to go back to their earlier stuff by 2003) and I was super thrown off and disappointed by the lack of traditional hip hop on Andre's side.

But the one major thing that stuck out to me upon relistening to Stankonia last month was it was clear the direction Andre was going and how Big Boi sort of had to try his damndest to keep Andre from going too far left and keep the "traditional" OutKast sound present.

So my question is: for those who were more "veteran" OutKast fans at the time, were you surprised that The Love Below sounded like it did or was it obvious after Stankonia where Andre was going with his music? Was it even a surprise that the two were doing their own solos rather than a collab album?

those two albums. That one didn’t do it for me….and it was the beat, hook, and Andre’s singing at the beginning that I didn’t like.

So yeah, I don’t remember being too surprised at TLB and the split album. It was already trending in a way that I wasn’t into.

You have to understand, 'Kast changed EVERY album.

That interlude on Aquemini in the music store PERFECTLY captures how a lot of people had started to feel about OutKast.

Going from Southernplayalistic to ATLiens was a BIG change.
For the 90s, there weren't a lot of groups that had that strong of a
debut completely changing their sound on the sophomore album.
I mean, you didn't just change up your sound like that.

It's kinda like S2 of The Wire. At first it seemed like they were
totally abandoning what had got them there, but then you realize
EVERY season had a different focus.

So by the time SB/TLB hit, I would have been shocked if it WASN'T different.
I personally was expecting something I hadn't heard before which
is kinda to me the calling card of OutKast.

Aquemini was my first Outkast album and I loved it. From that album I always saw them as making music that was "different". I loved the Stankonia singles but I didn't listen to the album until a couple years after it came out. My brother did buy Big Boi & Dre Present, Outkast so I listened to that. That one has a couple new tracks that could fit in with the Love Below so it wasn't shocking to me when that came out. I loved it.

I'm honestly still not a big fan of Stankonia, great singles but few songs I loved that weren't singles. Even the ones I did like musically had subjects that were eh. The ones with good subjects didn't really sound great to me. For me their first three albums are about on the same level, Speakerboxx/The Love Below are right under then there's a bit of gap before Stankonia, not sure if there's is a gap between Stankonia and Idlewild for me. I kind of feel like Idlewild has more songs on it that I love than Stankonia, lower lows though.

Kast changed (and improved IMO) on every album, and even left clues of their next progression on the last song of each album. If you consider Stanklove or Slum Beautiful the last track on the album, you're put on to Kast's next voyage in music. As mentioned above, the Whole World is more of this. However, Movin Cool really showcased what was to come on The Love below and Idlewild.

*Sidenote... It's not really an "Outkast" album to me if there's no "Naked Lady/Lava Lady" artwork.

>Stankonia was my first OutKast album (2000 was my first year
>as an avid hip hop listener) and at that point in time I was
>mostly buying albums, listening to the hits and skipping
>around the rest. I've always liked the album, though consider
>is kind of bloated and definitely a step down from the albums
>that preceded it.
>
>SB/TLB would then be the 2nd OutKast album I'd hear (I had yet
>to go back to their earlier stuff by 2003) and I was super
>thrown off and disappointed by the lack of traditional hip hop
>on Andre's side.
>
>But the one major thing that stuck out to me upon relistening
>to Stankonia last month was it was clear the direction Andre
>was going and how Big Boi sort of had to try his damndest to
>keep Andre from going too far left and keep the "traditional"
>OutKast sound present.
>
>So my question is: for those who were more "veteran" OutKast
>fans at the time, were you surprised that The Love Below
>sounded like it did or was it obvious after Stankonia where
>Andre was going with his music? Was it even a surprise that
>the two were doing their own solos rather than a collab
>album?

It was very obvious to me where The Love Below was going...

In the grand scheme of things though...The Love Below brought home the last Album of the Year Grammy for an Hip Hop Act...

Speakerboxxx doesn't get enough credit of how good it was either...

Stankonia was the album that got them full fledge Pop appeal and that's attributed to Andre 3000 more than Big Boi but the gap isn't as big as you think...

Big Boi was always loyal to the Outkast sound...

Once word got out that they weren't in the studio together after Aquemini...it was only a matter of time at that point...

So I wasn't surprised that they were had solo albums for the Speakerboxx and The Love Below...

Seems there’s actually some consensus on Love Below