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Stankonia
by OutKast
TV:
Featuring the hit singles "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson," 'Stankonia' was a commercial and critical hit for the innovative Atlanta hip-hop duo of Dré and Big Boi.
| LABEL: |
Arista/La Face |
| RELEASE DATE: |
31 October 2000 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rap |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Entertainment Weekly
Stankonia reeks of artful ambition rendered with impeccable skill -- or as one song title so concisely has it, ''So Fresh, So Clean.''
100
Alternative Press
Experienced, acclaimed groups rarely make albums as bold and confrontational as Stankonia, because they have too much to lose. OutKast don't care.... The Atlanta duo coalesced the political and societal challenges of hip hop's past into what is one of the genre's most artistically unortodox releases so far. [12/2000, p.108]
100
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
There's more bounce-to-the-ounce and less molasses in the jams, more delight and less braggadocio in the raps.
100
Urb
To call Stankonia the album of the year would be easy. It would also be somewhat incomplete. The Atlanta duo's fourth album is more than simply a great record; it's a complex tome that enmeshes contemporary hip-hop values with a timeless Southern soul, while pushing the envelope damn near off the table. [#79, p.134]
100
New York Magazine
On their astonishing new Stankonia (LaFace/Arista), Outkast explore their own disappointment with hip-hop's self-satisfied acquisitiveness. But though it attacks the genre's tunnel vision, the album -- which takes its name from George Clinton's vision of funk as expressing the raw, unruly side of life -- does so with joy (and huge doses of absurdity) instead of with the polemics of Public Enemy.... Stankonia is among the most exciting albums of the year, not only because it brazenly addresses hip-hop's spiritual emptiness (other well-intentioned rappers have tried) but because it musically surpasses the most innovative work of street production dons like Swizz Beatz, Manny Fresh, and Timbaland. By offering something for both the mind and the ass, to borrow from George Clinton's slogan, Outkast, like Gang of Four and Funkadelic before them, make revolution you can dance to.
100
All Music Guide
It takes a few listens to pull everything together, but given the immense scope, it's striking how few weak tracks there are. It's no wonder Stankonia consolidated OutKast's status as critics' darlings, and began attracting broad new audiences: its across-the-board appeal and ambition overshadowed nearly every other pop album released in 2000.
100
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Many rappers derive inspiration from Clinton, but OutKast has constructed its own far-reaching and experimental mythology, drenching its surrealistic, Southern-fried flows in brilliantly executed funk, blissful soul, rattling live drums, spacey synthesizers, and psychedelic guitars.... In its messy brilliance, OutKast has created a hip-hop Sign O' The Times, a messy, vital classic and a major step forward for both its members and hip-hop as a whole.
100
Mojo
Crafting a sound that incorporates stinky Funkadelic psych with Prince harmonics and Rick James' pimp disco, this is hip hop with the power to convert even the most reactionary nonbelievers. [Jan 2001, p.107]
90
Vibe
Stankonia leaves nothing to be desired as it is energized by Outkast's clever lyrics coupled with their cutting edge production, which is an expansive take on the original Atlanta sound.
90
Village Voice
When talking about an album as multilayered, thematically diverse, and sonically rich as OutKast's Stankonia, though, the best thing is to boil it down to its essentials, its influences, its approaches. You know, the uppercase conceptual stuff. This album, the acclaimed Atlanta duo's fourth and best, contains so many hummable hooks, so many snap-your-head beats, so many break-'em-out-and-talk-about-'em metaphors, that it's easy to get lost in the sauce.
90
Revolver
Stankonia lays bare the group's desire to be something greater than just rap stars. No two tracks sound alike, and they've taken time in the woodshed to pen rhymes that are even more dexterous and honest than their past work--no mean feat. [#3, p.107]
90
CDNow
Throughout, the music (produced almost exclusively by the group and its DJ) shines with the glint of successful experimentation. However, it never outshines the words, which is where the group has as much to offer, if not more so.
86
Wall of Sound
Outkast's fourth album, Stankonia, is a far more complex effort than the critically acclaimed Aquemini. While Aquemini dealt with Big Boi and Dre's -- the self-described "player and poet," respectively -- contradictory personalities, Stankonia addresses the contradictory impulses of hip-hop itself.
85
Nude As The News
OutKast are hip hop’s version of Radiohead: the only consistently platinum act concerned with not only pushing the limits of their genre to another level, but moving music as a whole.
80
Select
The best tracks here are quite unlike anything else in hip hop. [Jan 2001, p.107]
80
Rolling Stone
One of the best albums of the year.
80
Q Magazine
Dre and Big Boi (alias Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton) fill their technicolour vision with the ghosts of Sly Stone, James Brown and, most notably, Funkadelic-era George Clinton. Factor in some distinctly unorthodox production and you've rap at its risk-taking best...
80
Ink Blot Magazine
Scattered among the jewels are shiny bits of glass that aren't as valuable as they might be.
70
Sonicnet
Their songs still bulge at the seams with clever ideas, but they're veiled in deep grooves and hooks.... Outkast have developed a major sweet tooth for P-Funk, but what they've picked up from their former collaborator George Clinton isn't his low-end bounce. It's rather his hovering, serpentine vocal arrangements and his acidic political fantasies.... [but] Stankonia's conceptual sprawl isn't all good for the album -- the collection is hampered by more than a little filler.
70
HOB.com
As the tracks shift from smooth R&B to frantic, drum machine driven beats, Outkast prove able to pull from a big enough bag of tricks as rappers to remain unpredictable. The problem is that they come out of it all without having left any defining mark on the songs. It's almost as if Stankonia would be more memorable if the duo stuck to one sound, one rhythm, and one train of lyrical thought.
The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 93 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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