Speakerboxxx / The Love Below
| Speakerboxxx / The Love Below | ||||
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| Studio album by OutKast | ||||
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Publication |
September 29, 2003 |
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| Label (s) | Arista Records / | |||
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Down South , Funk ( Speakerboxxx ) |
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Title (number) |
19 ( Speakerboxxx ) |
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running time |
56:28 min ( Speakerboxxx ) |
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Speakerboxxx / The Love Below is a double album by the US rap duo OutKast and one of the most successful albums of the new millennium . It practically consists of two solo projects that were published together for marketing reasons: Speakerboxxx is by Big Boi , while The Love Below was written almost exclusively by André 3000 .
About the albums
Speakerboxxx is over 20 minutes shorter than The Love Below with almost the same number of songs and has a significantly longer guest list. While Big Boi mainly worked with other rappers, both internationally successful and members of the Dungeon Family , on André 3000's album, apart from Big Boi, only female singers are involved. This is probably part of The Love Below's concept of depicting love in its various forms. On the other hand, Speakerboxxx deals with various topics, including Big Boi's childhood (“Unhappy”), his relationship with André 3000 (“Tomb of the Boom”, “Flip Flop Rock”), criticism of the USA (“War”) and the traditional Storytelling (“Knowing”). In addition to modern beats , most of the songs feature electric guitars , electric bass and keyboards . Horns were also recorded live on several songs, but samples were rarely used. An entire orchestra was sometimes used on The Love Below . The instrumentation of the individual songs on the album, as well as the musical styles , are very different.
While André 3000 developed his album practically independently of Big Boi, he also works on Speakerboxx as a singer or producer of some songs, so "OutKast songs" can be heard on both albums.
Singles
Two weeks before the album, the singles The Way You Move (from Speakerboxxx ) and Hey Ya! (from The Love Below ). After Hey Ya! Topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks (also in Canada , Brazil , Sweden , Norway and Australia ), The Way You Move , which was previously ranked number 2 for eight weeks, was superseded. In German-speaking countries, Hey Ya! with top 10 placements much more successful than The Way You Move . Hey ya! was also the first song to achieve platinum status through downloads alone. In 2004 the song received a Grammy in the category Best Urban / Alternative Performance . It was also nominated for Record of the Year , the accompanying video, based on the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 , in the Best Short-Form Music Video category .
Hey ya! was, among others, Razorlight , Will Young and The BossHoss , The Way You Move by Earth, Wind & Fire along with Kenny G gecovert.
The subsequently published Roses reached number 9 in the US charts and number 21 in the German single charts . The following singles GhettoMusick and Prototype could no longer be placed.
Track list
Speakerboxxx
-
Intro
- Produced by Cutmaster Swiff
-
GhettoMusick feat. André 3000
- Produced by André 3000
-
Unhappy
- Produced by Mr. DJ
-
Bowtie feat. Sleepy Brown & Jazze Pha
- Produced by Big Boi
-
The Way You Move feat. Sleepy Brown
- Produced by Carl Mo
- Co-produced by Big Boi
-
The Rooster
- Produced by Carl Mo
- Co-produced by Big Boi
-
Bust feat. Killer Mike
- Produced by Big Boi
-
Was
- Produced by Mr. DJ
-
Church
- Produced by André 3000
- Bamboo (interlude)
-
Tomb of the Boom feat. Concrete, Big Gipp and Ludacris
- Produced by Big Boi
- E-Mac (Interlude)
-
Knowing
- Produced by Mr. DJ
- Co-produced by Big Boi
-
Flip Flop Rock feat. Killer Mike & Jay-Z
- Produced by Big Boi
- Co-produced by Mr. DJ
- Interlude
-
Reset feat. Khujo Goodie & Cee-Lo
- Produced by Big Boi
- D-Boi (Interlude)
-
Last Call feat. Slimm Calhoun, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz and Mello
- Produced by André 3000
- Bowtie (postlude)
The Love Below
All songs produced by André 3000, Roses produced by André 3000 and Dojo5
- The Love Below (intro)
- Love hater
- God (interlude)
- Happy Valentine's Day
- Spread
- Where are my panties?
- Prototype
- She Lives in My Lap feat. Rosario Dawson
- Hey ya!
- Roses feat. Big boi
- Good Day, Good Sir (Interlude)
- Behold a lady
- Pink & Blue
- Love in War
- She's Alive
- Dracula's Wedding feat. Kelis
- My Favorite Things
- Take Off Your Cool feat. Norah Jones
- Vibrate
- A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)
reception
successes
The double album was particularly successful in the USA, where it was the only OutKast album to take first place on the Billboard 200 . With 11 million units sold (5.5 million double albums) in the US, it is the 59th best-selling album of all time and the last to be awarded diamond status by the RIAA . In the US in 2004, only the album was Confessions of Usher successful.
At the 2004 Grammy Awards , OutKast and Speakerboxxx / The Love Below won awards in the Best Rap Album and Album of the Year categories , making it the first time in the history of the Grammys that one of the main prizes was awarded to a rap group.
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 platinum
|
70,000 |
 Denmark (IFPI)
|
 gold
|
(20,000) |
 Germany (BVMI)
|
gold
|
(100,000) |
 Europe (IFPI)
|
platinum
|
1,000,000 |
 Japan (RIAJ)
|
gold
|
100,000 |
 Canada (MC)
|
gold
|
50,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
2 × platinum
|
30,000 |
 Norway (IFPI)
|
gold
|
(25,000) |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
gold
|
(30,000) |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
gold
|
(20,000) |
 Hungary (MAHASZ)
|
gold
|
(10,000) |
 United States (RIAA)
|
 11 × platinum
|
5,500,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
2 × platinum
|
(600,000) |
| All in all |
8 × gold 6 × platinum 1 × diamond |
6,750,000 |
Reviews
The reviews for Speakerboxxx / The Love Below were mostly positive, with Speakerboxxx often being described as a conventional, typical OutKast album, The Love Below, however, as experimental and eccentric.
The e-zine laut.de praises both albums (4 out of 5 points), primarily for their diversity, but also says:
“After enjoying the double album, you feel a bit overwhelmed. With this coup, Outkast certainly have their place in hip hop history. "
Rolling Stone magazine criticizes Big Bois Speakerboxxx for the fact that, in contrast to earlier OutKast albums, it did not take any risks and therefore did not exhaust all possibilities. André 3000, on the other hand, tries to be even more eccentric on his album than he already is. She rates the double album with 3 out of 5 possible points.
The All Music Guide criticizes both albums extremely positively and gives them 4.5 out of 5 points.
"Both records are visionary, imaginative lists, providing some of the best music of 2003, regardless of genre. (...) Big Boi and Andre 3000 took off in different directions from the same starting point, yet they wind up sounding unified because they share the same freewheeling aesthetic, where everything is alive and everything is possible within their music. That spirit fuels not just the best hip-hop, but the best pop music, and both Speakerboxxx and The Love Below are among the best hip-hop and best pop music released this decade. Each is a knockout individually, and paired together, their force is undeniable. "
RapReviews.com rates Speakerboxxx much more positively (9 out of 10 points) than The Love Below (7 out of 10 points) and praises Big Boi's lyrical improvement and his “impeccable breath control”. André 3000, on the other hand, has strayed far too far from his rap origins.
"(...) the two albums of this two disc set couldn't be any MORE different than night and day (...) What Speakerboxxx / The Love Below proves so perfectly is that what these two artists do best is work TOGETHER. (...) The chi has been broken, and yin and yang are FAR out of balance. "
Trivia
- Speakerboxxx / The Love Below is the only OutKast album for which Organized Noize did not produce a single song.
- The songs "Bowtie", "The Rooster", and "Church" from Speakerboxxx , as well as "Take Off Your Cool", "She Lives in My Lap" and "Vibrate" from The Love Below are in the musical film Idlewild , in the Big Boi and André 3000 play the leading roles.
swell
- ↑ Facts about Hey Ya!
- ↑ arte .tv: "The clip of the week - André 3000" ( Memento from April 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), updated on May 27, 2004
- ^ "Top 100 Best Selling Albums Of All Time" ( Memento from September 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ riaa.com : List of Diamond Albums
- ↑ billboard.com : "The Billboard 200 2004" ( Memento from October 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Award in Australia
- ↑ Award in Denmark ( Memento from June 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Award in Germany
- ↑ Award in Europe ( Memento from October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Award in Japan
- ↑ Award in Canada
- ↑ Award in New Zealand
- ↑ Award in Norway ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Award in Sweden
- ↑ Award in Switzerland
- ↑ Award in Hungary
- ↑ Distinction in the United States
- ↑ Award in the United Kingdom
- ↑ Review on laut.de
- ↑ Review on rollingstone.com
- ↑ Review on allmusic.com
- ↑ Review on rapreviews.com
- ^ Review of the Montreal Film Journal
Members: André 3000 | Big boi
Albums: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) | ATLiens (1996) | Aquemini (1998) | Stankonia (2000) | Big Boi and Dre Present… OutKast (2001) | Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (2003) | Idlewild (2006)