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- Summary: 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.
- Record Label: Arista/La Face
- Genre(s): Rap
- More Details and Credits »
Top Track
Ms. Jackson | |
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Yeah this one right here goes out to all the baby's mamas, mamas Mamas, mamas, baby mamas, mamas Yeah, go like this I'm sorry Ms. Jackson (oh), I am... | See the rest of the song lyrics |
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 20 out of 20
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Mixed: 0 out of 20
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Negative: 0 out of 20
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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.
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There's more bounce-to-the-ounce and less molasses in the jams, more delight and less braggadocio in the raps.
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Stankonia reeks of artful ambition rendered with impeccable skill -- or as one song title so concisely has it, ''So Fresh, So Clean.''
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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.
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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.
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Scattered among the jewels are shiny bits of glass that aren't as valuable as they might be.
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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.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 84 out of 95
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Mixed: 3 out of 95
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Negative: 8 out of 95
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hiphopAug 25, 2009Outkast , still very original and funky.
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Jan 4, 2013
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DanCFeb 1, 2004One of the greatest hip hop albums ever!
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Mar 8, 2020Everything about this album is good. The lyrics, the beat, the rapping and vocals 10 out of 10
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AndrewRNov 21, 2003
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May 9, 2022
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MusicLoverNov 18, 2002How can such awful music get 96, that's a mistery to me
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