The South has been the dominate creative force in rap music for so long now that it’s easy to forget that when Outkast first emerged in the ’90s the region had been dismissed—and even shunned—by the greater hip-hop community. On albums like 1998’s rich, funk-drenched Aquemini and 2000’s even wilder, more psychedelic Stankonia, though, the duo proved that Southern rap could be just as inventive, smart and musical as its coastal counterparts, helping ignite an Atlanta rap renaissance that continues to this day.
It was a welcome surprise, then, when the duo announced their reunion this year. After 2002’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album that highlighted the growing divide between rappers André 3000 and Big Boi by effectively dividing their contributions into separate solo albums, André continued to distance himself from the group, effectively slowing Outkast to a hiatus. And while Big Boi stayed faithful to the spirit of Outkast on a pair of solo albums, André continued recording with seemingly everybody but his old partner, lending guest verses to Drake, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. Nobody’s quite sure what made him acquiesce and return to Outkast for a lengthy tour this summer—the most probable explanation, of course, was the promise of a huge payday—but cash grab or not, reunions don’t get much more exciting than this one.
