Project 1001: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast
I just want you to know, how I feel (feeling good, feeling great) / How I feel (feeling great, feeling good, how are you?)
The single “Hey Ya!” immediately caught my attention back in late summer of 2023. I liked it immensely right off the bat. It seemed like something different to me and off the back of that song I purchased this double album. I played it a lot for a few weeks and enjoyed it. I haven’t revisited it much since then. I’m glad it came up in today’s rotation because it holds up well for me and I am reminded of just how good this record is.
It seemed like Outkast was everywhere back then. “Hey Ya!” had so much crossover appeal that people who were not hip-hop fans were talking about it and buying it. One way to measure a song’s lasting impact is the number of and the variety of artists who cover that song. This song has been covered by quite a few artists representing a widely diverse set of styles. See below for some examples (including a couple of instrumental versions that are really cool!). There are dozens of cover versions, and you can explore all of them by clicking here: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast at SecondHandSongs.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is a double album and each part is different. Speakerboxxx is more hip-hop while The Love Below is more funk and pop. The contrasting styles make for an interesting mix and I’m guessing probably accounts, in part, for the record’s massive sales. It all adds up to a great album.
My Rating:
Rolling Stone ranks this album #290 on its The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time praising it thusly: “It was a gamble to break up their twin alchemy this way, but in dividing themselves, OutKast conquered: America fell as deeply in love with the borderless pop bliss of ‘Hey Ya!’ as it did with the slick talk and soulful horns on ‘The Way You Move.’”1
The original review in Rolling Stone was mixed concluding, “Each of these albums is as noteworthy for what’s missing as for what’s there. Big Boi is trying to shoulder the burden of OutKast on Speakerboxxx — to essentially re-create the group on his own. With The Love Below, Andre 3000 has packed up what he wanted to keep from the group (the right to be peculiar in a hip-hop context), slung it over his shoulder and headed out toward parts unknown. “Today I might snow/Tomorrow I’ll rain,” Andre croons on “Behold a Lady.” “3000 is always changing/But you stay the same.””2
Ethan Brown in New York Magazine: “It strikes at the essence of what has made OutKast so important to pop: the accessible, democratic nature of its strangeness.”3
Wil Hermes effusively praised the album in Entertainment Weekly: “…if released separately, would each be a candidate for Hip-Hop Record of the Year. Packaged together, they make a twofer whose ambition flies so far beyond that of anyone doing rap right now (or pop, or rock, or R&B), awards shows may need to create a special category for it.”4
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Gerard Sampaio wrote:
“Speakerboxxx/The Love Below ultimately succeeds by virtue of both halves being united by a common, insatiable appetite for originality.”5
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #16
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart:7
‣ “Hey Ya!”, #1
‣ “Roses”, #9
• RIAA certification:8
‣ 13x Platinum | September 29, 2023
‣ 11x Platinum | May 30, 2006
‣ Diamond | December 3, 2004
‣ 9x Platinum | February 26, 2004
‣ 8x Platinum | January 29, 2004
‣ 7x Platinum | January 6, 2004
‣ 6x Platinum | December 10, 2003
‣ 4x Platinum | November 12, 2003
‣ 3x Platinum | October 23, 2003
‣ Platinum | October 23, 2003
‣ Gold | October 23, 2003
Released on September 23, 2003. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Shake Ya Tailfeather” by Nelly, P. Diddy & Murphy Lee9
• Number one album: Metamorphosis by Hilary Duff10
• Number one movie: Underworld by Len Wiseman11
• Most watched TV programs: American Idol, The Apprentice, Friends, ER, CSI12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Lies (And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them) by Al Franken14
Other albums released that month
• Dance of Death by Iron Maiden
• Heavier Things by John Mayer
• It Still Moves by My Morning Jacket
• Seal IV by Seal
• Wildwood Flower by June Carter Cash
• The Wolf by Andrew W.K.
• Reality by David Bowie
• Go Tell It on the Mountain by The Blind Boys of Alabama
• Grand Champ by DMX
• The Soul Sessions by Joss Stone
• Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle
• Worldwide Underground by Erykah Badu
• The Long Road by Nickelback
• North by Elvis Costello
• Results May Vary by Limp Bizkit
• Some Devil by Dave Matthews
• Lead Us Not into Temptation by David Byrne
• Life For Rent by Dido
• Martina by Martina McBride
• Sacred Love by Sting15
Sport
• Sep 6 US Open Women's Tennis: In an all-Belgian final Justine Henin-Hardenne wins her first US title; beats Kim Clijsters 7-5, 6-1.
• Sep 7 US Open Men's Tennis: American Andy Roddick wins his only career Grand Slam title; beats Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
• Sep 14 Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis sets the NFL single-game rushing record when he runs for 295 yards in the Ravens 33-13 victory over Cleveland.
• Sep 28 Final MLB game played at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, Atlanta Braves defeat Phillies, 5-2.16
Notable Births
• Sep 3 Eileen Gu, Chinese freestyle skier (Olympic gold halfpipe, big air 2022; World C'ship gold halfpipe, slopestyle 2021), born in San Francisco, California.
• Sep 17 Ai Mori, Japanese rock climber, born in Ibaraki, Japan.
• Sep 30 Bella Ramsey, English actress (Games of Thrones, The Last of Us), born in Nottingham, England.17
Historical Events
• Sep 12 United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after it agrees to accept responsibility and compensate the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
• Sep 14 Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• Sep 20 A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union.
• Sep 21 55th Emmy Awards: The West Wing, Everybody Loves Raymond, James Gandolfini & Edie Falco wins.
• Sep 22 David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.18
Notable Deaths
• Sep 8 Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (Triumph of the Will), Nazi propagandist, and actress, dies in her sleep at 101
• Sep 9 Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist, father of the Hydrogen bomb (Manhattan Project), dies at 95.
• Sep 9 Thomas Allibone, English physicist (Manhattan Project, high-voltage particle acceleration), dies at 99.
• Sep 9 Larry Hovis, American actor (Hogan's Heroes), dies at 67.
• Sep 11 John Ritter, American actor and comedian (Three's Company, It, 8 Simple Rules), dies of an aortic dissection at 54.
• Sep 12 Johnny Cash, American treasure and country singer ("I Walk the Line"; "Ring of Fire"; "A Boy Named Sue"), dies at 71.
• Sep 13 Frank O'Bannon, American politician (Governor of Indiana, 1997-2003), dies in office of a stroke at 73.
• Sep 14 Yetunde Price, half-sister of Venus and Serena Williams murdered in drive-by shooting (b. 1972).
• Sep 16 Sheb Wooley, American vocalist (Purple People Eater, Hee Haw), dies at 82.
• Sep 18 Emil Fackenheim, German Holocaust survivor and philosopher (b. 1916).
• Sep 22 Gordon Jump, American actor (WKRP in Cincinnati - "Arthur Carlson"; Growing Pains - "Ed"; Maytag Repairman), dies of pulmonary fibrosis at 71.
• Sep 25 George Plimpton, American sports writer (Paper Lion), and participatory journalist, dies of a heart attack at 76.
• Sep 26 Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter ("Addicted To Love"; The Power Station), dies of a heart attack at 54.
• Sep 27 Donald O'Connor, American dancer and actor (Singin' in the Rain), dies at 78.
• Sep 28 American tennis player (7 Grand Slam singles titles), dies of respiratory and bladder infections at 76.
• Sep 28 Elia Kazan, Greek-American Tony and Academy Award-winning stage and screen director (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront; East of Eden), dies at 94.
• Sep 30 Robert Kardashian, Armenian-American lawyer, dies of cancer at 59.
• Sep 30 Yusuf Bey, American Black Muslim leader (Nation of Islam), dies of cancer at 67.19
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime playlist: 135. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast
Enjoy these cover versions:
Sampaio, Gerard, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, ed. by Robert Dimery, p. 898.
Ibid.
Ibid.