OUTKAST

Andre Benjamin (Dre/Andre 3000) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi) attended the same high school in the Atlanta borough of East Point, and after several lyrical battles, gained respect for the other's skills. They soon formed OutKast, and were pursued by Organized Noize Productions, the hitmakers for TLC.

Signed to the local LaFace label just after high school, OutKast recorded and released "Player's Ball", then watched the single rise to number one on the US rap charts. It stayed at the top for six weeks, and was certified gold. Their debut album, "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik", hit the US Top 20 in 1994 and was certified platinum by the end of the year, gaining Dre and Big Boi the Best New Rap Group of the Year accolade at the 1995 Source Awards.

OutKast returned with a new album in 1996, releasing "ATLiens". It hit number two in the US charts and went platinum with help from the gold-selling single "Elevators (Me & You)", as well as the Top 40 title track.

"Aquemini" followed in 1998, also hitting number two in the US and going double-platinum. There were no huge hit singles this time around, but critics lavishly praised the album's progressive vision. Unfortunately, in a somewhat bizarre turn of events, OutKast was sued over the album's lead single "Rosa Parks" by none other than the civil rights pioneer herself, but the initial court decision dismissed the suit in late 1999.

Dre modified his name to Andre 3000 before the group issued its hotly anticipated fourth album, "Stankonia", in late 2000. A engaging blend of psychedelic hip-hop funk, "Stankonia" gained uniformly excellent reviews and the stellar singles "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson," helped the album debut at number two, going triple platinum in just a few months. Meanwhile, "Ms. Jackson" became their first number one US pop single the following February.

For their fifth effort the two decided to take a break and release a greatest hits album, "Big Boi and Dre Present". A retrospective of all their best work, the album also included three new tracks, one of which, "The Whole World", earned them a coveted Grammy Award for Best Rap Song by a duo or group.

Now on their sixth release "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below", Andre 3000 and Big Boi have once again taken a fresh and individual approach. They took the bold step of releasing an unprecedented duel CD containing their own separate, musical statements, thus giving fans a glimpse at the creative minds of each member, and demonstrating exactly how Andre's yin works to augment Big Boi's yang.

And their new single, "Prototype", a lush Earth, Wind & Fire kind of ballad, taken from Andre's "The Love Below" album, is due to hit shops on October 25th. So join us at MTV as we crown the mighty Outkast as our Artists Of The Week.

To quote Andre himself; "what's cooler than being cool?", the answer is simple - nobody is cooler than OutKast right now.

HH