Aquemini is the third studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on September 29, 1998, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The title is a portmanteau of the two performers' Zodiac signs: Aquarius and Gemini, which is indicative of the album's recurring theme of the differing personalities of the two members. The group recorded the majority of the album in Bobby Brown's Bosstown Recording Studios and Doppler Studios, both in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Player's Ball" is the debut single from hip hop duo Outkast. Originally released two weeks prior on the compilation A LaFace Family Christmas, the single was released on November 19, 1993, to promote the forthcoming debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. The song itself discusses the nature of living in the South of the United States, and growing up within a hip hop culture. The accompanying music video was directed by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.
André Lauren Benjamin, better known by his stage name André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and flutist. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is best known for being one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Outkast, which he formed in 1992 alongside fellow Atlanta-based rapper Big Boi. Benjamin is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Big Boi and Dre Present… Outkast is the only compilation album by the American Southern hip hop duo Outkast. It was released December 4, 2001 through LaFace/Arista Records. The compilation is composed of four new tracks, including three new songs—"Funkin' Around", "The Whole World" and "Movin' Cool ", as well as five songs from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, one from ATLiens, and three each from Aquemini and Stankonia.
ATLiens is the second studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on August 27, 1996, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. From 1995 to 1996, Outkast recorded ATLiens in sessions at several Atlanta studios—Bosstown Recording Studios, Doppler Recording Studios, PatchWerk Recording Studio, Purple Dragon Studios, and Studio LaCoCo—as well as Chung King Recording Studio and Sound On Sound Recording in New York City.
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the debut studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast, released on April 26, 1994, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. Having befriended each other two years prior, rappers André 3000 and Big Boi pursued recording music as a duo and worked with production team Organized Noize, leading to a record contract with LaFace. With the team producing, Outkast recorded the album at the Dungeon, D.A.R.P. Studios, Purple Dragon, Bosstown, and Doppler Studios, all in their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
"Let's Go Crazy" is a 1984 song by Prince and The Revolution, from the album Purple Rain. It is the opening track on both the album and the film Purple Rain. "Let's Go Crazy" was one of Prince's most popular songs, and was a staple for concert performances, often segueing into other hits. When released as a single, the song became Prince's second number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the two component charts, the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Dance Club Play charts, as well as becoming a UK Top 10 hit. The B-side was the lyrically controversial "Erotic City". In the UK, the song was released as a double A-side with "Take Me with U".
"The Way You Move" is a hip-hop and soul song by the American hip hop duo OutKast, performed by its member Big Boi. The song features OutKast mentor Sleepy Brown on guest vocals. Along with "Hey Ya!", recorded by OutKast's other member André 3000, "The Way You Move" is one of the two lead singles from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast's double album project that includes a solo album from each member.
"That's That" is the second single by Snoop Dogg from the album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. The song was the first single taken from the album in the UK; however the single only achieved notable success in the U.S., where it reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song samples the melody played in the 1988 film Coming to America during the bathroom scene in which Eddie Murphy gets washed by female servants.
The discography of Outkast, an American hip hop duo, consists of six studio albums, one compilation album, one soundtrack album, one video album, 32 singles, three promotional singles, and 21 music videos. In 1992, Outkast became the first hip hop act to be signed to the label LaFace Records; with their first studio album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) that debuted at number 20 on the US Billboard 200. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik spawned the commercially successful single "Player's Ball", which reached number 37 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Their following two albums, ATLiens (1996) and Aquemini (1998), were commercially successful in the United States; both albums peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, and were certified double-platinum by the RIAA. Three singles were released from each album; all three from ATLiens charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Elevators " peaking at number 12, making it the most successful. The lead single from Aquemini, "Rosa Parks", peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100: two more singles, "Skew It on the Bar-B" and "Da Art of Storytellin' ", were released from the album. In 1998, Outkast collaborated with hip hop group Goodie Mob on the single "Black Ice " and with rapper Cool Breeze on the single "Watch for the Hook"; the singles peaked at numbers 50 and 73 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
"Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" is a song by American hip hop duo Outkast, released on June 20, 1994 as the second single from their debut studio album of the same name. The title track managed to chart at #74 on the Billboard Hot 100, however failed to live up to the success of their previous single, "Player's Ball", which charted at #37 on that same chart.
"ATLiens" and "Wheelz of Steel" are two songs by American hip-hop duo OutKast, released as the second single from their second studio album, ATLiens (1996). Both songs were written and produced by OutKast. The double A-side single peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Jazzy Belle" is the third and last single from hip hop duo Outkast's second studio album, ATLiens. It was released as a remix single and it peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is the only single from the album ATLiens to be produced by Organized Noize, the other two singles being produced by OutKast themselves.
"Da Art of Storytellin' " is the third and final single from hip-hop duo Outkast's third studio album Aquemini. The song was released as a single on May 25, 1999, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Only the single version of the song features Slick Rick, with his verse completely absent from the album version. This song is not to be confused with Slick Rick's album The Art of Storytelling, released on the same day. This song was sampled in J. Cole's song "Land of the Snakes" from his studio album Born Sinner.
"You Bring Me Joy" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige. It was written by Blige, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Joel "Jo-Jo" Hailey, and Chucky Thompson for her second studio album, My Life (1994), while overall music production was helmed by Combs and Thompson with the vocal tracks being produced by Jo-Jo. The song is built around a sample of "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" (1977) by singer Barry White. Due to the inclusion of the sample, Ekundayo Paris and Nelson Pigford are also credited as songwriters. "You Bring Me Joy" served as the third single from My Life and peaked at number 29 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, also topping the Hot Dance Club Songs.
"Love Me" is the lead single from American R&B group 112 from their second studio album, Room 112 and features vocals from rapper Mase. Q and Mike share lead vocals on the song, with Slim providing adlibs. It peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and reached number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. A music video directed by Frosty for the song was made, featuring the group and Mase performing in a white background. The song contains a sample of the 1981 record, "Don't You Know That?" by recording artist Luther Vandross from his debut album, Never Too Much. In the song, Mase takes a supposed shot at rapper Jay-Z on this song with the line "What we hear is platinum that, platinum this/Platinum whips, nobody got no platinum hits".
Outkast was an American hip hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of rappers Big Boi and André 3000. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip hop acts of all time, the duo achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, helping to popularize Southern hip hop with their intricate lyricism, memorable melodies, and positive themes, while experimenting with a diverse range of genres such as funk, psychedelia, jazz, and techno.
"Before I Lay (You Drive Me Crazy)" is a 1996 song by American musician CeCe Peniston, released as a duet with JoJo Hailey of Jodeci. The single was released as the second single from the singer's third and final studio album, I'm Movin' On (1996). It peaked at number fifty-two on the US Billboard R&B chart, while reaching number twenty-one on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart (a virtual equivalent to number 121 on the Billboard Hot 100).
Neal H Pogue is an American producer, audio engineer and mixer originally from Roselle, New Jersey, and based in Los Angeles. Pogue is a multi-time Grammy Award winner, having first won for his engineering and mixing work on Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2004) – which won the Album of the Year category, and his audio mixing work on Tyler, the Creator's Igor & Call Me If You Get Lost – which both records won the Best Rap Album category respectively in 2020 & 2022. Pogue has also produced for artists such as M.I.A, Nelly Furtado, Earth, Wind & Fire and has mixed for artists such as TLC, Pink, Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monáe, Tyler, the Creator, and Steve Lacy. Having engineered and mixed TLC's Grammy nominated 11-time platinum single "Waterfalls", Pogue also arranged the horns on "Waterfalls" under the pseudonym "Shock". Pogue has gone on to work with many prominent names in music.
"Black Ice (Sky High)" is a song by American hip hop group Goodie Mob from their second studio album Still Standing (1998), released as its second single on June 7, 1998. The song features American hip hop duo Outkast and was produced by Mr. DJ.
