OutKast represents the Atlanta scene with their debut album: on music made mainly live by the affiliated production team Organized Noize and some instrumentalists, André Benjamin aka André 3000 and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton bring themes such as gangsterism, weed, pimpin', women and bravado with socio-conscious and political traits.
Through fat bass, guitar licks, eclectic keyboards and minimal drums, the album breathes deeply the southern sound tainted with funk, jazz and soul, drawing elements from the rest of the hip-hop scene: on these melodic rhythms, André 3000 offers a relaxed delivery, while Big Boi boasts a quicker style, and both have great voices, allowing most tracks to stretch well beyond five minutes without being boring or excessive. Organized Noise help the two artists to get a deal with LaFace Records and they're distributed by Arista: critics welcome the work very positively and the record flies up to third place in the hip-hop chart.
Cohesive effort, solid, fun, devoid of weaknesses or a particularly distinct piece, the greatest strength of the entire LP lies in the centrality of its origins: local artists who talk about local topics with local slang on local music. It's not their best project, but its influence is undeniable, proving that the local hip-hop scenes, until then considered "minor", could be strong, lively and successful even maintaining total independence from the Coasts. While Luke Campbell, Kriss Kross and Arrested Development gain momentary glory with a few lucky hits, OutKast places the first tile cementing itself as one of the best rap groups in history.
Rating: 9/10.
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