Outkast Stankonia 2LP

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 64/500!

Want to feel the rush of yet another direction in hip-hop where rappers can harmonize, music is actually played, not sampled, musical boundaries are non-existent and the lyrics are otherworldly in their delivery, though every line hits home?

That's Stankonia.

A place where "there's a certain type of freedom going on in the music, used in a liberating way," the group explains.

Stankonia is an album that will only add to the accolades for hip-hop's beloved Outkasts. With the Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik album, then 18-year-old Andre "Dre" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton introduced themselves to those unaware of the ways of the S.W.A.T.S. (Southwest Atlanta Too Strong). Outkast always has to come with something different including the platinum blonde wig Dre was known to don during their sold-out tour with Lauryn Hill. And granted, "different" done well often gets critical nods.

"We're doing new things like taking different rhythms, different tempos, to reflect what is going on in the world," Dre adds. "I feel like people are kind of like lingering around trying to see what's going to happen next. This music has a kind of urgency to it, making you do, feel something!"

Like stand back as the kinetic first single from Stankonia "Bombs Over Baghdad" drops onto hip-hop and completely obliterates any notion that this music stuck is in "What I haves" and "What I can dos."

"We were overseas when we came up with that and a war was about to jump off," Big Boi says of its origin. "And it turns out we were bombing milk factories and everything but a real target. And we just thought, you know, don't come with the big guns unless you're really going to do something.

"Musically it reflects the chaos that was going on in me and Big Boi's life," adds Dre. "Everything was going really fast. We were coming off Aquemini. We had new children. People were saying things like, 'Andre, why is he looking like this?' 'Dressing like this?' 'Talking like this?' 'Are they going pop?' 'Going to break up?' And with everything coming at us we just had to charge right back!"

Listen closely underneath that battle cry and you'll hear the guitar part Dre came up with. "We're trying to get better as musicians and songwriters," explains Big Boi, who's focused on being a classical pianist.