Stankonia

Recording began in the spring of 1999 and lasted about a year at the Atlanta studio Outkast had bought in 1998. The name came from André 3000, who joined "stank" to "Plutonia", the title of a poster in his bedroom. Owning the room meant no clock was running, and he said you could spend all day on just a kick and a snare. Big Boi spent most of the sessions in the studio while André 3000 worked at home on beats and an acoustic guitar, where Ms. Jackson began as a guitar jam. Many songs grew out of "vibe sessions", in which the group and producers visited clubs in downtown Atlanta and invited performers they liked to the studio. André 3000 moved beyond rapping toward a more melodic voice. Killer Mike made his debut on Snappin' & Trappin'. The duo drew on Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Prince and George Clinton, with faster tempos than on earlier records.

The album entered the Billboard 200 at number two, behind Jay-Z's The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, and was certified quadruple platinum in November 2003. Metacritic gives it 95 out of 100. Rolling Stone's Nathan Brackett called it one of the best albums of the year in October 2000. In 2018 Pitchfork's review called it a transcendental funk fantasia. Pitchfork also placed it 13th among albums of the 2000s. It was reissued with unreleased remixes on 30 October 2020 and as a triple-vinyl deluxe set on 31 October 2025.