Reflection 1: Outkast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below

The ambiguity of classifying something as creative, especially when it comes to the arts, is part of the enjoyment that happens when witnessing levels of innovation, originality and imagination. Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin, also known as the legendary hip hop duo “Outkast”, were the embodiment of creativity, as soon as they introduced themselves in the rap scene in the early 1990’s. Big Boi known to be brash in his delivery and Andre 3000 as the poet, the two paved their way in the hip hop community, despite initial push back.

The culmination of their creativity came in 2003 with their Grammy-Award winning studio album titled Speakerboxx/The Love Below. This double LP feature was essentially both group members creating solo albums under the umbrella Outkast. Big Boi’s Speakerboxx side of the album combined his love for funk, soul and crunk music, while Andre 3000’s The Love Below was quite unhinged but focused on love and relationships, which prior to the Drake era, was deemed uncool in hip hop. Not only was the group consistently boundary pushing, but this album was something unlike anything many had seen in the hip hop community before. Despite the members creatively wanting to move in different directions, we were able to witness the separate voices (both literally and figuratively) of both artists and cohesively create what would become a certified diamond album. If you’re still not convinced of how deeply creative and different this was for the time, both sides of the albums had #1 hits. Speakerboxx produced The Way You Move, channeling the sounds of funk courtesy of Sleepy Brown’s soulful hook and The Love Below offering an alternative sound with Hey Ya! (the only reason polaroid cameras had relevance in the early 2000’s)

While Speakerboxx/The Love Below is not necessarily my favorite from the duo, it has made its stamp on the industry as undoubtedly one of the most creative albums still 18 years later. They paved the way for bold and unapologetic creativity for artists later to come like Janelle Monae, Tyler the Creator and Jidenna.