Album Anniversaries: The Stinging Resonance of OutKast’s ‘Stankonia’ 20 Years Later
In OutKast’s fourth studio album, revved up production techniques and political critiques carry a chaotic omen into the 21st century. 20 years after its release, the album remains hauntingly relevant.
In Album Anniversaries, writers honor their favorite aging albums and their subsequent legacies, revealing which projects have stood the test of time.
Written by Kendel Jones
Photo courtesy of GRIP Magazine
Before OutKast released radio singles like "Hey Ya!," the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo found commercial success with Stankonia, a sonic prediction of society's downfall at the turn of the century. On the album cover, members André Benjamin (André 3000) and Antwon Patton (Big Boi) pose in front of a black and white American flag with inverted stars. The flag, which hangs in their studio today, suggests that a different version of America can exist. In this imagined funky future named Stankonia, freedom is realistic. The album reads like a blueprint towards this goal, doused with political critiques and energetic production trends to reflect the turn of the century.
Released in 2000, Stankonia was the result of producer experimentation and OutKast's desire for more creative control. The duo purchased their own studio and named it ‘Stankonia,’ inspired by the words 'Stank' and “Plutonia,” an early Russian science fiction novel. In the studio, the two brought their futuristic utopia to life. Working with Organized Noize, Earthtone III, and Carl Mo, OutKast produced Stankonia the way everyone was partying: like it was 1999.
The record used fast tempos as an ode to the emerging rave culture. In “Snappin' and Trappin',” strident synth lines and freakishly fast drum patterns score a rap about how it feels to be at the top of your game, while “Humble Mumble”'s rhythmic scratches and soulful harmonizations from Erykah Badu (André’s partner at the time) lay a track for a duet best described as a vocal high speed chase.
Discordant drums and lilting electric guitars also reflect the political and social chaos of the time. Stankonia's opener, "Gasoline Dreams," is a critique of the United States' dependence on fossil fuels ("Don't everybody like the smell of gasoline? / Well burn muthaf-cka burn American dreams''). In the same way inhaling gasoline can negatively affect a person's health, burning fossil fuels to preserve a consumerist society proliferates the global climate crisis. As guitar distortions and whistles kick off the track, André raps, "I hear that Mother Nature's now on birth control," warning of fossil fuels’ environmental disturbances. "Gasoline Dreams'' also narrates racism, drug addiction, and the destructive lengths people will go to achieve the American Dream. With a president who ignores science and fails to denounce white supremacy, André's verses feel more urgent than ever. Listening to the mordant rap-rock track today, OutKast's warnings are eerily fitting of the country's present state.
Image courtesy of LaFace Records
The album’s first single, "B.O.B. -Bombs Over Baghdad" sits at a frantic 154 BPM. The track title came to be when André heard a news reporter say, “something, something, Bombs Over Baghdad” — he thought the phrase had a ring to it. The fast-paced chorus, accompanied by a chanting gospel choir, critiques the Clinton administration's handling of the 1998 bombing of Iraq ("Don’t pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang / Bombs over Baghdad"). In an interview with Rolling Stone, André explained the double entendre: "The U.S. was trying to beat around the bush. We was trying to scare them by bombing the outskirts. If you gonna do anything at all, do it. If you gonna push it, push it." With restless drums and hysteric electric guitar licks, the track feels like an omen. "B.O.B." dropped one year before the 9/11 attacks and three years before the U.S. declared war on Iraq. The song took on an entirely new meaning after these events, and even became the background track for CNN’s Iraq War segments.
While "B.O.B" discusses political affairs, the single also captures the joys and struggles of living in the “inslumnational underground” of Atlanta, a recurring theme on the album. Declarations of André and Big Boi’s hometown pride and plights appear in “Slum-Beautiful,” featuring Cee-Lo Green; the Atlanta bounce-style “Intro” track; and “Spaghetti Junction,” a funky brass-driven tune that compares the struggles of Black men to a long highway.
Stankonia’s more lighthearted tracks contributed to its commercial success, officially verifying Southern rap as a viable competitor against coastal hip-hop artists. “Ms. Jackson” is an apology to André’s “baby mama mama” (Erykah Badu’s mother) for the pain he caused her daughter. Arguably the most-recognized single from Stankonia, "Ms. Jackson" reached triple platinum status earlier this month. With background “ooh’s,” humorous vibrato, and a piano ironically poking at “Here Comes the Bride,” the track establishes André’s sincerity and vulnerability. Another popular track, “So Fresh, So Clean,” comically established the members of OutKast as fresh gentlemen. Sleepy Brown, an uncredited collaborator, gently sings, “Don’t you think I’m so sexy? I’m dressed so fresh, so clean," over a groovy drum track and echoing synth notes. The funky classic proves it’s possible for cool boys to shower — an idea which demands a revisit for some in 2020.
OutKast's Stankonia unequivocally influenced future artists of the hip-hop genre through its experimentation, vulnerable raps, and accelerated tempos. Twenty years after its release, the album's themes have the same stinging resonance in listeners as they did in Y2K. André 3000 and Big Boi’s vision of freedom, as well as their political predictions and commentaries on Stankonia, suggests there's a reality where the two run as a political ticket — a funky futuristic utopia, indeed.