OutKast

Atlanta

Antwan Patton and André Benjamin met in 1992 at Lenox Square mall in Atlanta. Both were 16, and both attended Tri-Cities High School, where they traded rhymes in the cafeteria. Their first group name was 2 Shades Deep, dropped because a local group already used 4 Shades Deep. They became Outkast and joined the producers Organized Noize and the group Goodie Mob in the Dungeon Family collective. Signed to LaFace Records, they were the label's first hip-hop act.

Their first single, Player's Ball, came out in the holiday season of 1993 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik followed on 26 April 1994. Organized Noize produced all of it, with live instruments, and it was certified platinum in April 1995. At the 1995 Source Awards the duo won a newcomer award and were booed. André answered from the stage with a line that Pitchfork quotes: the South got something to say.

ATLiens and Aquemini

ATLiens arrived on 27 August 1996 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. The duo produced part of it themselves, as Earthtone III with Mr. DJ, and its first single, Elevators (Me & You), reached number 12 on the Hot 100. Writing in 2026, Pitchfork's Paul A. Thompson described a record "bathed in reverb."

Aquemini followed on 29 September 1998. Its title joins the zodiac signs of Big Boi, an Aquarius, and André, a Gemini. The pair recorded with live musicians in Atlanta, built songs out of jam sessions, and again debuted at number two. It was certified double platinum in July 1999, and Rolling Stone moved it from 500 to 49 between its 2003 and 2020 lists of the greatest albums. Its single Rosa Parks was nominated for a Grammy.

Stankonia

In March 1998 Outkast bought a studio in Atlanta and named it Stankonia. They made Stankonia there in 1999 and 2000, with no rented clock running. Released on 31 October 2000, it sold 525,844 copies in its first week and entered at number two. The lead single B.O.B was banned by many urban radio stations because of its title and peaked at 69 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, yet Pitchfork's Stuart Berman later called it the song of the decade. Ms. Jackson reached number one on the Hot 100 in February 2001. At the 2002 Grammys the album won Best Rap Album and the single won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, although Album of the Year went to the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

One album, two discs

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, released by Arista on 23 September 2003, was a double album. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx filled one disc and André 3000's The Love Below the other. The two records began as separate solo projects and were combined under the Outkast name. Speakerboxxx draws on Parliament-Funkadelic, and The Love Below on Prince, with funk, jazz and pop. It entered at number one with 509,600 copies.

Hey Ya! spent nine weeks at number one on the Hot 100, then The Way You Move took the top spot for one week, which made Outkast the first duo to replace itself at the summit. On 8 February 2004 the album won Album of the Year and Best Rap Album at the Grammys. The RIAA certified it diamond in December 2004, and in 2023 it reached 13 times platinum, the highest certification of any rap album.

After

Idlewild, a film and soundtrack album, appeared in 2006 and was the duo's last album. They returned in 2014 to headline Coachella on 11 and 18 April and to play more than 40 festivals, including the #ATLast homecoming shows in Atlanta on the weekend of 26 September. Stankonia was reissued with unreleased remixes in October 2020 and in a deluxe set on 31 October 2025. The Recording Academy lists six Grammy wins and 16 nominations. Outkast were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 8 November 2025.