Before To Pimp A Butterfly, there was Aquemini. On their third album, Outkast steer the soulful boom-bap of their first two records further south, helping to usher the nascent country-fried trap sound of the dirty south into the mainstream. With production duties split between Organized Noise & ‘Kast themselves, elements of soul, jazz, gospel and electro are chucked in to a funky stew of 808s and live instrumentation, laying the foundation for some of Big Boi & Andre’s best songs ever. The player and the poet are on ten, trading bars about spirituality, race, drugs, poverty, ‘Lac grills and trapping. Featuring a now legendary collab with Raekwon (check them all crammed in the booth together trading darts at the end of “Rosa Parks,” pre high-speed internet collabs just hit different), plus guest turns from George Clinton, Erykah Badu & most of the Dungeon Family, not to mention some of the most hilarious and bizarre rap skits of all time. Spread across 3 LPs and clocking in at nearly 75 minutes without a single bad song (no, not even “Mamacita”). Recommended.

• black triple vinyl pressing
• music label: La Face 1998

reviewed by peanut dust 03/2017