Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast, released on September 23, 2003 by Arista Records. Issued as a double album, its length of over two hours is spread across two solo albums from both of the group's members. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is a Southern hip hop album with progressive qualities and influence from the P-Funk sound; André 3000's The Love Below largely departs from hip hop in favor of pop, funk, electro, psychedelia, and jazz styles while drawing inspiration from artists such as Prince and D'Angelo.
André Lauren Benjamin, better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is best known for being one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Outkast, alongside fellow Atlanta-based rapper Big Boi. Benjamin is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for over 30 years, as producer, arranger, studio manager, and vice president, before moving to EMI and serving as vice president and general manager of Manhattan Records.
"Hey Ya!" is a song by American hip hop duo Outkast, performed by its member André 3000, who wrote and produced the song. Along with "The Way You Move", recorded by Outkast's other member Big Boi, "Hey Ya!" was released by Arista Records as one of the two lead singles from the duo's fifth album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, on August 25, 2003. The track became a commercial success, reaching number one in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Norway, and Sweden. "Hey Ya!" received critical acclaim upon release, and is consistently ranked as one of the greatest songs of the 2000s. The song was ranked number ten in Rolling Stone's revised 2021 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Idlewild is the sixth and final studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on August 22, 2006, by LaFace Records and served as the soundtrack album to the duo's musical film of the same name, which was released that same month. Containing themes relating to the music industry, the album also featured songs not included in the film while incorporating jazz, blues, swing, and soul styles in its music.
Elliot Ray Scheiner is a music producer, mixer and engineer. Scheiner has received 27 Grammy Award nominations, four Emmy nominations, three TEC Awards nominations, a TEC Hall of Fame inductee, and was a recipient of the Surround Pioneer Award.
Dave Way is a Grammy Award winning American producer, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. He has worked with Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Pink, Iron And Wine, Fall Out Boy, Al Green, 21 Pilots, Yebba, Victoria Monet, Ben Folds, Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, Rita Orta, Andra Day, Ringo Starr, Shakira, Phoebe Bridgers, John Doe, Savage Garden, Michael Jackson, Spice Girls, Norah Jones, Beck, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Babyface, Ziggy Marley, Weird Al Yankovic, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Gwen Stefani, Chris Botti, Jakob Dylan, Andrew WK, Foo Fighters, TLC, Guy, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Kool Moe Dee, Heavy D. & The Boyz, Ayumi Hamasaki, Ronan Keating and many more. He is a four-time Grammy Award-winner as well as a songwriter and is co-writer of the number one single "I Like the Way " by the group Hi-Five (1991). He has mixed the score for the films Echo In The Canyon, Flag Day, Reminiscence, Stand Up Guys, as well as music for Sons of Anarchy, The Bastard Executioner, The Bodyguard, School Of Rock, Deepwater Horizon, True Blood, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad, 50 First Dates, Teen Titans Go To The Movies, Spider-Man, White Men Can't Jump and others.
Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen Latifah. Since then he has worked on Grammy nominated projects with The Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé, Jason Mraz, Robin Thicke, and Usher. Maserati won a Latin Grammy in 2006 for his work on Sérgio Mendes’s Timeless. He has been nominated for a total of 10 Grammys, with four for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Charles Alexander, known professionally as Prince Charles Alexander, is an American record producer and audio engineer. He received a Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album in 2003.
Outkast was an American hip hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of rappers Big Boi and André 3000. The duo achieved both critical 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. Outkast are widely regarded as among the most influential hip hop artists of all time.
Lotusflow3r is a triple album set by American recording artist Prince and protégée Bria Valente. It contains the thirty-third and thirty-fourth studio albums by Prince, Lotusflow3r and MPLSound, as well as Elixer, the debut studio album by Bria Valente. It was released on March 24, 2009, by NPG Records. The three albums were sold exclusively in the United States at Target as a 3-disc set, and in Europe from more online music stores.
Matt Hyde is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. He has been credited as engineer, producer, mixer and/or mastering engineer on notable albums such as No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, Monster Magnet's Powertrip, Slayer's God Hates Us All, Hatebreed's Perseverance, Parkway Drive's Atlas, and Deftones' Koi No Yokan and Gore.
Andrew Dawson is an American music producer, engineer, mixer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Dawson is a three-time Grammy award winner and six-time Grammy nominee, having won for his work as engineer and mixer on Kanye West's Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) - each winning the Best Rap Album category. Dawson is also credited with additional production on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Although Dawson made his initial breakthrough with hip hop artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Common, Tyler The Creator, and P.O.S, Dawson has also moved on to produce and work on records for pop, indie and rock bands including fun., The Rolling Stones, Pet Shop Boys, Sleigh Bells, Baskery and Night Terrors of 1927.
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.
Hinge Studios was initially a premiere recording and mixing facility located in Chicago, Illinois and home to Grammy winning producer/mixer Craig Bauer. Opened by Bauer in 1993, the studio was a pioneer in ushering in the world of digital recording with one of the country's first Euphonix CSII digitally controlled recording consoles and the very first Otari RADAR 48 track hard disk recording system.
"Shame" is a song by American singer Tyrese. It features background vocals from fellow American singer Jennifer Hudson. It was released on April 28, 2015 as the second single off his sixth studio album Black Rose, on the record label Voltron Recordz. The song contains an interpolation of Atlantic Starr's 1980 hit "Send for Me". "Shame" was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song at the 58th Grammy Awards.
Paul Boutin is a French-born American music mixer, audio engineer and a long-time collaborator with producer/songwriter/artist Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.
Brian Vibberts is an American audio engineer, a native of Portland, Connecticut, who has been active since 1991. He is a 7-time Grammy Award winner and has participated in the making of numerous albums that have resulted in Grammy Award nominations and winners. Also known by the nickname, "Dr Vibb," he has creatively recorded or mixed many multi-platinum artists in many genres, including Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, The Pussycat Dolls, Bon Jovi, Natasha Bedingfield, Green Day, Trace Adkins, Faith Hill, Toby Keith, Ice Cube, Boyz II Men, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Chick Corea, Brad Paisley, Ringo Starr, Mariah Carey and Tony Bennett.
"Prototype" is a song recorded by American duo Outkast for their fifth studio album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003). It was written, produced and performed by André 3000, and was included on his disc The Love Below. A mid-tempo ballad, the track fuses funk and neo soul styles against a guitar-driven instrumentation. Lyrically a love song, it is an ode to its protagonist's love interest. The song was released as the fifth and final single from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below on September 27, 2004, by Arista Records and LaFace Records.
"GhettoMusick" is a song recorded by American duo Outkast for their fifth studio album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003). While it was included on Big Boi's disc Speakerboxxx, the song features vocals from André 3000, its sole producer, as well. It was written by the duo alongside Kenneth Gamble and Bunny Sigler, who are credited due to the song containing excerpts from their composition "Love, Need and Want You", performed by Patti LaBelle. The up-tempo track amasses an array of musical styles, including electroclash, electro-funk, hip hop, soul and techno. Lyrically, it confronts contemporary rappers for their lack of ambition and competence. The song was released as the lead single from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below on July 15, 2003, by Arista Records and LaFace Records.
