Deviation. The path less traveled. The mastery of one’s own art, not of another’s.

Aquemini.

Though ATLiens pushed unruly boundaries and set the tempo for Big Boi and Andre, Aquemini created a moment where everyone was excited about potential; of Outkast, of Hip-Hop and of music in general. Could they go farther/bigger/bolder?

Yes. They could. And did.

Anticipation reached a fever pitch with this album’s release as heads got giddy like kids hearing that ice cream truck coming down the street… Run for your dollars! And that’s precisely what makes Aquemini so lasting – it’s grown folks music that lets you be young again. Not with immature frivolity, but with an innocent sensibility that opens the brain/heart/beat to ‘Kast’s rupturing stories of love and life lost and gained on the pavement.

We’re talking the definition of Outkast.

Out. Kast.

Other-worldly stratosphere status.

You gotta come provocative… so let’s rap track by track, Crew Love style. Hold On, Be Strong…

2. “Return of the G” – David D.
There are a lot of fly-by-night Outkast fans who only know the sangin’, suspender-wearing happy-go-lucky André 3000 we see on MTV from time to time. One of my favorite pastimes is throwing on “Return of the G” and watching the lil’ bandwagoners faces as they realize that Mr. Stacks can, indeed, go hard. Dré mimics an automatic, spouting off non-stop bars and taking time to go back to the refrain to reload. Dré ends his first barrage with a plea from all fans of Hip-Hop: “Let’s talk about time-travelin’, rhyme javelin, something mind-unraveling GET DOWN!” The verse is so intense that Big Boi, who’s always sported the more aggressive tone, comes off as the cerebral, reserved MC.

3. “Rosa Parks” – Jesse H.
“…and yes you’re getting booed if your shit do not get down/ and yes you’re getting sued by women who didn’t get up out their seat on the bus” The legal mess that came as a result of “Rosa Parks” shackled the public memory of the song to a rather pointless lawsuit. Planned as the album’s first single, Outkast alludes to Parks to represent their readiness to assert themselves as the new movement in Hip-Hop. Simple in musical theory (the song is only 4 guitar chords and a thunderous one-note 808 bassline), creatively daring (a harmonica solo in a rap song???) heavy in lyrical dexterity and abundantly prophetic (“when the record player get to skippin’ and slowin’ down/all y’all can say is them niggas earned the crown”) this track delivered a devastating right hook to the collective conscious of a Hip-Hop landscape not yet ready for what the South had to bring.

4. “Skew It on The Bar-B” – Chris “Preach” Smith
A fast and furious track that could fit well in a Michael Mann movie, Dré and Big Boi combine with Shallah Raekwon on this banger. Think of it like a baseball lineup and this track being in the clean-up spot on the album. It’s a monumental song because it demonstrates Raekwon’s capability to rip any track despite it’s speed, it ramps up the pace of Aquemini and while Dré 3000 performs above par, Big Boi uses his verse to attack The Source for holding on to a half a mic like Superhead on an MC’s crotch.

5. “Aquemini” – LC Weber
“My mind warps and bends/ floats the wind, count to ten/ meet the twin, André Ben/ Welcome to the lion’s den.” Goose bumps. Every damn time. Like it’s the first time you ever heard André spit. This served as the exemplary track of an era of Hip-Hop fresher than your first crush. That mournful electric strum of a warbling guitar peaks in, cooled out like blunts and brews at a barbecue. The slow, persistent wind of a hi-hat tap accompanies the hit of a snare lip on 2 and 4, making the drummer as visible as the beat. André chants a cosmic hook that syrup drips off the edge as the beat drops out. Then, as if manifested by divine right with a ding!… “The name is Big Boi, Daddy Fat Sacks/ That nigga that like them Cadillacs…” Goose bumps. Every damn time.

6. “Synthesizer” – Corey Bloom
This track was tailor-made for George Clinton. Sonically and conceptually “Synthesizer” is the ultimate nod to Parliament-Funkadelic, laced with a heavy body moving funk, and a murky manifesto of the present state of affairs with many revelations still relevant a decade later. Like only Dré and Big Boi could and would, they tapped into the full spectrum of Parliament-Funkadleic and to no surprise crafted a banger. Big Boi sets it off like a sav, dropping jewels like, “You want me to lollygag and talk that bullshit/I refuse to play so I’m gone speak that Southern good shit/That’s harder than your hood shit.” George Clinton follows and funks ya head up with the scientifical madness, and then André brings it back as equally cosmically charged as the preceding verse but with Big Boi’s precision. By the time you get to this point in the album, it’s already a wrap…It’s gotta be a classic!

7. “Slump” – TC
For one to fully embrace the symbolism behind the song “Slump,” one must first reference its coinciding interlude, found at the tail end of the previous track “Synthesizer.” When Big Boi inexplicably finds the price on his weekly supply of herbal essence had been hit with a $15 tariff, he precedes to touch on the curveballs life throws at us po’ folk with assistance from Backbone and Cool Breeze. The “hooooody-hooooos” and gospel tinged humming only reinforce the message that such struggle and strife is synonymous within the urban communities across the U.S.A. Oh yeah, it’s catchy as a muthafucka too.

8. “West Savannah” – DJ Sorce-1
Few groups besides Outkast could take a subject like hustling and make it so beautiful. In addition to some outstanding autobiographical lyrics from Big Boi, “West Savannah” is further aided by what may be the most soulful hook on the entire album. The end result, much like the rest of Aquemini, is sonic perfection.

9. “Da Art of Storytellin’ Part. 1″ – Contra™
This was the deal sealer for me. I always thought that Outkast was a good duo, but they had never really grabbed my attention until this track came my way. Most of my interest in it was hinged on the Slick Rick featuring (on the radio and video version,) but as soon as I picked up the album and gave it a whirl, the absence of Rick was overshadowed by the greater good that lurked therein. A beautifully painted picture by Big Boi served as an entree to a filling and enlightening main course dished out by his lyrically nimble cohort. This, coupled with the carefully paced, mellow, reflective beat, eerie keys and thumping drums provided the perfect platform for Big Boi’s remarkable flow and Dré’s harrowing cautionary tale.

10. “Da Art of Storytellin’ Part. 2″ – Darius Sinclair™
“Baby did you hear that?/ Yeah, baby I heard it, too.” A lot is said in just two and a half minutes. Dré and Big Boi were on different pages, but read from the same book: Revelations. 3 Stacks paints his version of The Day After Tomorrow, with the Earth being raped “like a hoe coochie soe (sic).” Boi eagerly explains his last days and signs of the end to come. With the ending “All’s well/nothing’s well”, Dré”s global warming predictions, and Big Boi’s accurate claim that “All the weed smell like ammonia”, this song still brings eerie chills to your body after 10 years.

11. “Mamacita” – D. Chanda
The track isn’t as rich production-wise as everything else on album, but the simple yet menacing keys (and Bob Marley-sounding wail) accentuate the theme of single-minded desire. With a chapter-by-chapter format, the haven’t-heard-from-since Masada opens it up as the hungry hustler bitch. Stacks then spins a tale about homegirl line-stepping into lesbian lane, Dungeon fam Witchdoctor goes back into first-person seducing his “Spanish Fly,” and Big and his bois just simply try to get a nut in. Each hit from a different direction but it’s this kind of complex weaving of narrative and perspective that make ‘Kast (and crew) such a welcome anomaly.

12. “Spottieottiedopalicious” – M.Z.
This song is a prime example of music’s ability to take you somewhere. Outkast & Sleepy Brown let you ride in the back of the Cadillac as they take you to their favorite after hours spot. The music takes you back to the days of Sly and The Family Stone as they wax poetic on nightlife themes that are timeless. If “Party Life” inspired you to make a mix CD, this song has to go directly in front or behind it.

13. “Y’all Scared” – Malik V.
Like the album itself, “Ya’ll Scared” was an atmospheric, spiritual, and dark experience. The Goodie Mob helped André and Big Boi speak on what went down in the Dirty on this track. The song was essentially all verses with no hook, but every MC contributed something special. Whether it was André talking about “smoking Billy Clint” or Big Boi saying that his “heart don’t pump no Slushee,” OutKast and Goodie Mob put on a visual and metaphorical display of life down South.

14. “Nathaniel” – Gotty™
Dedicated to anybody’s who’s ever had to push #5 to accept a call…and anybody who’s been on the other side, hoping the call was accepted. Hold ya head.

15. “Liberation” – Patrick M.
Great artists challenge their fans by switching it up on them, challenging preconceptions and taking them along for a (funky) ride. This song, 8 minutes plus of Dungeon Family gospel, shatters the southern player mold Outkast had been slowly moving away from. As a stand alone moment, the song is brilliant, as André, Big Boi, and Cee-Lo eloquently and succinctly, summarize the frustrations of life and the relationships with those around you. The pay off, the release, involves becoming who you are to take on the world around you. Musically and thematically, the crescendo of piano, soul singers, and maracas is a perfect closing moment to a classic album, (with “Chonkyfire” an appropriate encore.) Liberated, the group (and André specifically,) would start taking us places we never could have imagined in 1998.

16. “Chonkyfire”

“We Reign (reign), Supreme (preme), Dungeon (dungeon), Kings (kings)…”