Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | ||||
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Studio album by OutKast | ||||
Released | September 23, 2003 | |||
Recorded | 2002–03 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 135:00 | |||
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Producer |
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OutKast chronology | ||||
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Singles from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 91/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Blender | |
Entertainment Weekly | A |
The Guardian | |
The Independent | |
Los Angeles Times | |
NME | 8/10 |
Pitchfork | 8/10 |
Rolling Stone | |
The Village Voice | A− |
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast. It was released on September 23, 2003, by LaFace Records. Issued as a double album, its playtime of more than two hours is distributed over solo albums from each of the group's members. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is a Southern hip hop album with a P-Funk influence, while André 3000's The Love Below features psychedelic, pop, funk, electro, and jazz styles.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised the consistency of Big Boi's Speakerboxxx and the eclectic musical style of André 3000's The Love Below. The album was supported with the hit singles "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move", which both reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the top five hit "Roses". Speakerboxxx/The Love Below has been certified diamond and 11 times platinum by the RIAA (each disc in the double album counted as a separate unit for certification). As of March 2012, it has shipped 5,702,000 units in the United States.
Following the release of OutKast's fourth studio album Stankonia (2000), André 3000 felt urged to do something different from his previous projects and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He was relatively unsuccessful, obtaining a minor role in Hollywood Homicide (2003) and a one-episode appearance in the drama series The Shield. He quickly returned to music and began recording a solo album that was very different from the material he had recorded as part of OutKast. The output was a blend of pop, jazz and funk with live instruments and singing instead of rapping. When writing songs he used a micro cassette recorder in order to "record melodic ideas and lyrics, then build the melody around the lyrics".