Aquemini

The record was made with a higher budget and a more relaxed schedule, and the duo and studio musicians lived in the studio for weeks. They brought in a baby grand piano and hired players of everything from stoner funk to prog rock, and many tracks began as jam sessions where one musician set a chord pattern and the rest joined in. The engineer Neal H. Pogue described the mood as almost like a Motown, or like a Stax Records thing. André 3000 listened constantly to Bob Marley. The album opens with Hold On, Be Strong, written by the session guitarist Donny Mathis, with André 3000 on kalimba. West Savannah had been recorded during the sessions for the debut. Guests include Raekwon, George Clinton, Erykah Badu and Goodie Mob.

Aquemini debuted at number two with 227,000 copies, was certified platinum in November 1998 and double platinum on 2 July 1999. Steve Huey of AllMusic called it a virtuosic masterpiece. In 2020 Rolling Stone ranked it 49th on its list of the 500 greatest albums and called it the greatest record ever to come out of the Dirty South. Rolling Stone's review in 2000 had already named it one of the best rap albums of the Nineties.