Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Studio album by OutKast
Released	September 23, 2003 (2003-09-23)
Recorded	2002–03
Genre	Hip hop funk psychedelic soul electronic pop jazz
Length	135:00
Label	LaFace Arista
Producer	André 3000 Big Boi Carl Mo Mr. DJ Cutmaster Swiff Dojo5
OutKast chronology
Stankonia (2000) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) Idlewild (2006)
Singles from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
"Hey Ya!" Released: September 9, 2003 "The Way You Move" Released: October 2, 2003 "Roses" Released: May 25, 2004 "GhettoMusick / Prototype" Released: November 23, 2004

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.^[1]

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 Recording Industry Association of America for shipping more than 11 million units (in this case, 5.5 million double album sets, which are double-counted by the RIAA).^[2]

Background

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.^[3] When writing songs he used a micro cassette recorder in order to "record melodic ideas and lyrics, then build the melody around the lyrics".^[4]

The CD artwork is designed so that the Speakerboxxx artwork is on the front of the case, whereas the Love Below artwork is on the back of the case. These images are merged on the artwork displayed on online stores (Front cover on left, back cover on right).

Recording

The recording of The Love Below began at André 3000's Los Angeles home, which was unconventional for the time, but he was enabled to do so by the recent release of Pro Tools software.^[4] As a frequent collector of music equipment, André 3000 had a lot of equipment at his disposal, including a drum machine, keyboards and various synthesizers.^[5] He also enjoyed the atmosphere of recording at home instead of a studio, saying to XXL, "it didn't start in the studio because if you have a bunch of people around, they’re coming from the party and I'm in there singing falsetto ... those vibes didn't match." His initial sessions were hampered by his inexperience with Pro Tools and, unaware how to edit his recordings, he opted to record songs such as "Pink & Blue" in their entirety.^[4] Other gear used included an Avalon VT737 SP and AD2055 EQ and AD2044 compressors for his vocals.^[5] After creating five songs, he informed Big Boi of the solo project he had been working on.^[3]

Big Boi had already recorded some songs when André 3000 had contacted him, but after their conversation he decided his next project would be Speakerboxxx.^[3] Describing his approach in the studio, Big Boi later commented to XXL, "the idea was just to keep it funky, keep it jamming, it’s always bass-heavy. And lyricism, it's all about lyrics, taking pride in your pen and your pad." His favorite song to record was "Unhappy". He spent several days working on "Unhappy"'s hook before driving to his mother's home and playing the song in her driveway, to which she responded enthusiastically.^[4] At some point in the recording, the project moved to OutKast's Stankonia Studios in downtown Atlanta, which had been used to record OutKast's previous release and namesake. John Frye, the studio manager and an engineer, would later recognise that much of the media attention surrounding the album's recording was concerned with André 3000 and Big Boi's working relationship and why they had chosen to record separately. He concedes that both enjoyed working solo and were doing so more frequently, but they continued to share and critique each other's music.^[5]

John Frye also describes how the format of the projects changed rapidly. Initially intended as two separate solo releases, they decided to merge their work and create a soundtrack album as André 3000 had initially intended. The duo then began preparing to work on a motion picture, but reconsidered and compromised by interpolating background noise into songs, such as the slamming of car doors and footsteps.^[4][5] They eventually settled on releasing a double album. Frye noted the end of the recording sessions as particularly stressful for André 3000, who he described as drained from working at four studios simultaneously. In total, an estimated 120 songs were recorded for Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.^[5]

Composition

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' is a two-disc set that features thirty-nine tracks, including several interludes and a postlude.^[6] It is a concept album with the intention of each disc delivering each member's individual perspective and sound.^[4] The Love Below is substantially longer than Big Boi's Speakerboxxx, clocking in at almost 78 minutes, compared to 56 minutes for Speakerboxxx. Featured guests on Speakerboxxx include Sleepy Brown, Jazze Pha, Jay Z, CeeLo Green, Killer Mike, Goodie Mob, Lil Jon and Ludacris. Guests on The Love Below include Rosario Dawson, Norah Jones, Kelis, and Fonzworth Bentley.^[6]

Speakerboxxx is built on Southern hip hop^[3] Speakerboxxx demonstrated more social awareness than its counterpart, with themes of family, philosophy, religion, politics and "a wider emotional terrain ... from melancholy to outrage to expression."^[3]

In contrast, The Love Below was identified as far more musically experimental. Its sound was described as jazz and funk with comparisons to the work of Prince.^[3] The disc's abounding theme is love, examining the emotions one experiences when falling in love and loving oneself.^[3] Roni Sarig suggests that André 3000's split with neo soul singer Erykah Badu had influenced much of the lyrical content on the album, which he sees as concerned with the search for true love.^[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	91/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Blender	[9]
Entertainment Weekly	A[10]
The Guardian	[11]
The Independent	[12]
Los Angeles Times	[13]
NME	8/10[14]
Pitchfork	8/10[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
The Village Voice	A−[17]

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 91, based on 26 reviews.^[7] In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called both discs "visionary, imaginative listens, providing some of the best music of 2003, regardless of genre".^[8] Will Hermes wrote in Entertainment Weekly that the album's "ambition flies so far beyond that of anyone doing rap right now (or pop, or rock, or R&B)".^[10] Blender magazine's Kris Ex felt that it "holds an explosion of creativity that couldn’t have been contained in just one LP".^[9] The Guardian's Dorian Lynskey described both discs as "sublime ... hip-hop's Sign o' the Times or The White Album: a career-defining masterpiece of breathtaking ambition".^[11] According to Andy Gill of The Independent, the album set "a new benchmark not just for hip hop, but for pop in general".^[12] Stylus Magazine's Nick Southall called it "a series of spectacular moments and memorable events".^[1] NME magazine's John Mulvey described its two discs as "two Technicolor explosions of creativity that people will be exploring, analysing and partying to for years".^[14] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote that it is "greater than the sum of its parts, and this kind of expertly crafted pop and deftly executed funk rarely happen at the same time—not since Stankonia, at least."^[18]

In a mixed review, Rolling Stone writer Jon Caramanica was ambivalent towards André 3000 expressing his "right to be peculiar in a hip-hop context".^[16] Pitchfork's Brent DiCrescenzo felt that Speakerboxxx "manages to maintain consistent brilliance and emotional complexity throughout", unlike The Love Below.^[15] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said the double album could have been "the classic P-Funk rip it ain't quite" had Speakerboxxx alone been issued with "Roses", "Spread", "Hey Ya!", and "an oddity of [André 3000's] choosing". He nonetheless commended what he described as "commercial ebullience, creative confidence, and wretched excess, blessed excess, impressive excess".^[17] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Roni Sarig wrote that, "for sheer breadth, ambition, and musical vision, there's little doubt Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is a classic."^[19]

Accolades

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. In Australia, "Hey Ya!" was voted No. 2 on the 2003 Triple J Hottest 100, the country's biggest alternative music poll of its type. The album was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning three (Album of the Year, Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Hey Ya!" and Best Rap Album). OutKast's other nominations were for Producer of the Year, Best Short-Form Music Video, and Record of the Year, the latter two both for "Hey Ya!". Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was the second hip hop album to receive the Grammy for Album of the Year (following The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999).

In 2009, NME ranked Speakerboxxx/The Love Below number 44 on its list of the top 100 greatest albums of the decade,^[20] while Newsweek ranked the album number one on its list of the ten best albums of the decade.^[21]

The jazz periodical Down Beat chose it as the best "beyond" album. In 2012 Complex named the album one of the classic albums of the last decade.^[22] In 2013, NME ranked Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as #183 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[23] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[24]

Commercial performance

After having had three number two-albums on the U.S. Billboard 200, OutKast enjoyed their first chart-topping album with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The album debuted at number one during the week of October 11, 2003, selling more than 510,000 copies in its first week. It became the second-biggest debut for a double album during the SoundScan-era (beginning in 1991). The album sold 235,000 copies in its second week, holding its position atop the Billboard chart. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below spent the next three weeks in the top 5 before returning to the top spot for one more week. Sales remained strong, and the album would spend another four weeks at #1 between January and February 2004. In all, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below amassed a total of seven weeks at #1, 24 weeks in the Top 10, and 56 weeks on the Billboard 200. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below has been certified diamond and 11 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping more than 11 million units (in this case, 5.5 million double album sets, which are double-counted by the RIAA).^[2]

The single "Hey Ya!" went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, topping the charts there for nine weeks. It was the act's second #1 single, following 2000s "Ms. Jackson". "Hey Ya!" also topped the singles charts in Canada and Australia and charted in 28 countries around the world. "Hey Ya!" was also the first platinum download on iTunes. Follow-up single "The Way You Move" knocked "Hey Ya!" off the top of the charts in the US in February 2004, just the seventh time a recording act replaced itself at No. 1. "The Way You Move" topped the singles chart for one week. The third single released from the album was "Roses" from The Love Below, which reached #5. The fourth and fifth singles released, "Prototype" (The Love Below) and "GhettoMusick" (Speakerboxxx), did not chart.

Track listing

All tracks on The Love Below were produced solely by André 3000 except "Roses", which was co-produced by Dojo5.

Note

• In 2003, the album was reissued with "The Love Below" having a revised track listing. A 21-second skit was placed before "My Favorite Things", entitled "The Letter". To make room, the radio excerpt from "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André" was excised, shortening the track to 4:50. This revised album now serves as the version for sale on MP3.

Sample credits

• "Ghetto Musick", from Speakerboxxx, contains samples of "Love, Need and Want You" by Patti LaBelle.
• The first few seconds of "Intro" from Speakerboxxx is a sample of the beginning of the song "Europop" from the Eiffel 65 album of the same name.
• "She Lives in My Lap", from The Love Below, contains samples of "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" by Geto Boys and "Pistolgrip-Pump" by Volume 10.
• "Pink & Blue", from The Love Below, contains samples of "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" by Aaliyah and "Why Can't We Live Together" by Timmy Thomas.
• "My Favorite Things" from The Love Below contains samples from John Coltrane's 1960 recording by the same name.
• "Roses", from The Love Below, contains an Interpolation of "Purple Rain" by Prince.

Personnel

Chart positions