2. Aquemini
Released: September 29, 1998
Although I don’t have kids yet (*knocks on wood*) I can imagine that trying to pick your favorite ‘Kast album is kind of like picking your favorite child. It’s wrong, unethical, immoral…yet you still do it. While they are all great I have to give the nod to Aquemini. Yea, they were snapping on Southernplayalisticadillacmusic. And yea they went intergalactic on ATLiens. And maybe the skits kinda bog down the pace of the album. However, none of that matters because Aquemini is not only a musical masterpiece, it’s also an experience. It does everything that music should. It makes you feel. It makes you think. It engulfs you into a sonic journey that you’ll gladly take, even long after the trip becomes familiar. Songs like “Liberation” and the title track make you ponder the meaning of life from the macro down to the meandering, while Big Boi may never sound as smooth as he does on “West Savannah”. Even Hemingway could learn a thing or two from the ATL duo as they ‘shoot game in the form of story raps’ on “Da Art Of Storytellin’ Pt. 1”. Is Aquemini perfect? No. But neither is life. And that’s why this is one of the greatest albums of all time, regardless of genre. These cats were truly put life on wax. What’s cooler than that? – GQ-Blu