Disco de OutKast: “Atliens [PA]”

"Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" was good, and I do not doubt that it was groundbreaking and put Outkast on the map. But "ATLiens" was by far and best album they put out. The Source gave it 4 mics and gave "Aquemini" 5, but I really believe that they were giving "Aquemini" an extra mic to make up for not labeling "ATLiens" a hip-hop classic. I can understand how fans of the first album might not have understood or liked the new sound, and it truly is a departure from the pimp stylings of their debut. "ATLiens" runs deeper, fusing soul, R&B and smooth-as-molasses hip-hop with Big Boi's street-wise raps and Dre's spiritual soliloquies. It's a beautiful album, and one that any real hip-hopper should have in their collection. Highlights, well, every song is a highlight, but when it comes down to it, the driving beats of "Ova Da Wudz," "Jazzy Belle" and "Elevators" surpass anything Master P or the Hot Boys ever came out with. And "13th Floor/Growing Old" is one of the most poignant hip-hop spirituals of all time. Get this album.

All I can say is this one of my favorite cds of all time and I own over three hundred. This is bob your head, smile wide, jump up and down, chill out music. I don't skip any tracks on the album but my favorite songs that I keep on repeat are Two Dope Boys, and Elevators. Many people are put off by the new poppy Outkast but people that love old school classics are sure to feel this.

Outkast have shone with lucidity on this album, all the while showing too that where they come from is never worth forgetting. By intertwining urban philosophy with masterful storytelling and go-beyond musicality, Outkast has raised the bar on what hip hop can be and how polished it can become without sacrificing it's essential rap flavor. At times reminiscent of the under-recognized "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em" by Erik B. and Rakim, Outkast follows suit with sounds that evolve, sounds so thickly claivoyant that they make a journey into outer space seem superfluous. While it was of course Erik B. and Rakim who turned rap music from streetcorner hollering to journeys through sound and city life, Outkast took advantage of their uniquely southern stylistics (and some newer big budget production technology) to add another trusty thruster to the now-maligned but once authentic hip hop rocket ship.

The first song to stand up and recognize on ATliens is "Millenium." When Big Boi culminates his turn at the microphone by announcing the immanent threat to hip hop sanctity from shady dealers, and up-and-crummy rap stars, his fatalism is disheartening, but still one feels that all hope is not lost:

When your back was turned, them slackers learned and now we fallin apart

You lookin me in my eye, but you ain't feelin me in your heart

Yes, yes Lord, give me the power within the final hour

These n****z, they leavin me stranded like Rapunzel in the tower

Now or never, let's stick together and overcome

But they don't feel like marchin, cuz they shoes is overrun

Ain't that a b****

"Now or never, let's stick together, and overcome, but they don't feel like marchin cuz they shoes is overrun." This line alone illuminates the struggle and the contradictions facing anybody who recognizes that the problems they face are never theirs alone. One senes that Big Boi knows what it takes to protect the game and break the chains, and one can touch his disgust when he recognizes amidst his desperation that the people are too tired to make happen the movement that would save their situation. Dré, too, hits the very soul on this tune, with lyrics that astonish in their pulsating, vital truthfulness :

Life never lived up to my expectations, so I accept the patience

Expect the worse but now I'm pacin

Back and forth, inside, I'm melting like water on wicked witches

A monster truck done came and ran over my picket fences

I had the best of life in my clenches but monkey wrenches was thrown

Like chairs kings sit on, my prayers seem to long

I fall asleep before the endin, don't even get to say Amen

I hope He understand I be on bended knees

Of a life that can get away, there is no better professor. But ATLiens is not all truth in philosophy, there is also that storytelling and wheel-spinning urban flavor for which Outkast made themselves know on "Southernplayalistic." And then there is "Growing Old," which is by far the finest treatment in hip-hop history of aging and mortality :

see all them leaves must fall down, growin old

Fat t**ties turn to teardrops as fat a** turns to flab

Sores that was open wounds eventually turn to scab

Trees bright and green turn yellow brown

Autumn caught em, see all them leaves must fall down, growin old

For Outkast and ATLiens, the cycle of life can be painful, and illusions can crash smack into forces beyond our control, but there is something to be said for the good times that come along the way, and it is only knowledge of the inevitable that brings breathing room to a people who've known what the meaning of difficulty is.

Outkast is one of the greatest rap groups in hip hop history and they prove it in this album. Every track on this album is a must listen and thats hard to find even now on hip hop albums today. The combination of Andre and Big Boi go well and they are both so lyrical that even if the beats weren't on point they would still turn the song into a good track. I may be being bias because I am a huge fan of outkast but if you are a lover of hip hop then this is the album to listen to. Peace!

I had already owned and loved both Aquemini and Stankonia before i decided to buy another OutKast album. I had my doubts about buying ATLiens after i had read some reviews that it [was bad]. But when i went to the record store the next day i bought it anyway. After only listening to the first 5 tracks, it had already became the best album i had ever listened to, 3 times better than Aquemini, even if the other 10 tracks were terrible. My favorite songs are Two Dope Boyz, Wheelz of Steel, Jazzy Belle, Babylon, Millenium, and (the best one of all) Growing Old. Listen to me: even if u don't like rap or hip hop at all or even hate all music, you HAVE to give this record a try. I have owned it more than a month now and can't even stand listening to anything else.