5. Stankonia
Released: October 31st, 2000
Stankonia was Outkast’s first major step into the mainstream. The hype began with their first single “B.O.B” This track was more up-tempo compared to any of their previous releases, and probably livened up every high school dance in America. Their second single, “Ms. Jackson” is when the duo really started to gain popularity. It was their first song to debut at #1 on The Billboard’s Top 100. The song was written to Erykah Badu’s mother. It’s about the problems and issues a woman’s mother has to go through when her daughter has a breakup or in Ms. Jackson’s situation, a divorce. After that, the group started to appear all over: radio stations from coast to coast, major magazines, TV spots, interviews and so on. The thing I love about Stankonia was that they were not scared to try something outside of the box. They experimented with several different sounds on the album. They wanted to keep up with the new rave scene, but did it their own way by making beats while listening to non-Hip-Hop musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Prince. – Arkitekt
