OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below; Classic, Dope, Regular, or Garbage?

There’s an old saying that if you want to stay relevant, you must be willing to change with the times. Of course, there’s always an exception to the rule. OutKast is the exception. Or maybe not.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Outkast’s fifth album, was hell, not an Outkast album. It was two solos; Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx and Andre 3000’s The Love Below, sold together. It was different because of it’s format. But on the flipside of the coin, it was the same regarding ‘Kast. They never did trends. They did OutKast.

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Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx was more a Hip Hop album for the most part. Tracks such as “Ghettomusick,” “The Way You Move,” and “War” was more in aligned with the sound we were familiar with. However, Big Boi pushed the envelope a little with “Bust” — being Rock infused.

If you were elated every time you heard Big Boi and Dre on the same track, you enjoyed “Roses.”

If Sir Lucious pushed the envelope a little, Dré shoved it in The Love Below. It was far from a traditional rap album. He does more singing than rapping. Songs such as “Happy Valentine’s Day” and “Prototype” is clear cut case of that.

Again, it was traditional OutKast — which means marching to the beat on their own drum.

André appears to tap into his inner Prince in “Spread,” — respectively making sexually induced songs.

When I bought this album back in the early 2000’s, I immediately gravitated to Speakerboxxx. The Love Below had to grow on me. It was different. However, 3 Stax forewarned me in “Behold a Lady”: “Today I might snow, tomorrow I’ll rain. 3000’s always changing but you stay the same.”