15 Landmark Albums That Changed The Face Of Music Forever
2. OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
By incorporating an array of sounds and influences outside of its genre, OutKasts Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was for hip hop what The Clashs London Calling was for punk. By releasing two solo albums together under the OutKast name, Big Boi and Andre 3000 showed a stubborn refusal to let hip-hop become stagnant while proving its limitless potential as an art form. Big Bois Speakerboxxx is not a good hip hop album; its a fantastic hip-hop album. Lyrically its the best of the two; he doesnt reinvent the wheel as a lyricist but he knows how to use it better than most. The lyrics are backed by beats clearly flaunting a funk and soul influence without being derivative of either. On its own, Speakerboxxx stands as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of the 21st century. What The Love Below lacks in clever lyrics, it more than makes up for it with a collage of different musical styles. Drawing bits and pieces from new wave, rock, funk, jazz, and even a little punk, Andre shows how each and all of these sounds can work within the context of hip-hop. As a result, the Love Below pulled in fans of all of those genres, introducing several to how diverse hip-hop can be. Separately, Speakerboxxx and The Love Below couldnt be anymore different which made it all the more risky to release them together. The risk paid off because not only did the albums receive tremendous critical acclaim, they silenced any presumptions of how hip-hop should sound. Paired together they represent the best of what the genre is and the best of what it could be. By deciding to play off the board, OutKast changed the game. Album Highlights: Ghetto Musick, Unhappy, Church, Hey Ya, Happy Valentines Day, Roses
