

outkast
Inducted:
2025
Category:
Performer
In bringing their vision of the “Dirty South” to hip-hop, OutKast significantly broadened the genre’s palette. Relentlessly innovative, ATL’s own André 3000 and Big Boi concocted a unique blend of funk, soul, jazz, rock and Afrofuturism, weaving in compelling storytelling, delivered with astonishing vocal skill. Embraced critically, and wildly successful commercially, they are one of the few hip-hop acts to win the Album of the Year Grammy. Their cultural influence is incalculable.
Impact
Inductee Insights: Outkast
Signature Sound
OutKast hit in ’92 with raw Southern hip-hop storytelling, morphing mid-decade into ambitious Afrofuturistic visions and cosmic soundscapes. They hit their stride in ‘00, breaking through to the mainstream with the techno psychedelic funk of Stankonia, eventually breaking all the rules in ’03 with multiplatinum magnum opus Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Vibe said this debut single “swaggers like a lethal mixture of Stagolee and Superfly dancing to a wah-wah beat.” Southern hip- hop culture had arrived.

They’re legendary. Artistically, when you look at OutKast, they always pushed something new. You got the roots of funk, but the way they did it was super innovative.
Janelle Monae
Influence

Outkast
Influenced
Janelle Monae
Kendrick Lamar
Tyler, the Creator
Ludacris
T.I.
Future
Que
Dutch Rebelle
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