The two have said that they'll record new material together once they've both put out solo albums. However, the two briefly reunited for a tour in 2014 to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Since then, however, funk, soul, electronic music, spoken word poetry, jazz, and blues elements have been added to the group's musical palette.Īfter starring in a 2006 musical film called Idlewild (the soundtrack of which is the group's most recent album), OutKast went on hiatus the following year, with both members pursuing solo careers. The group's original musical style was a mixture of Dirty South and G-Funk. Afterward they would continue to bang out hit album after hit album. "Player's Ball" hit number-one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart. The song's funky style, much of it accomplished with live instrumentation, was a hit with audiences. During the holiday season of 1993, they released their first single, "Player's Ball". OutKast signed to LaFace Records in 1992, becoming the label's first hip hop act and making their first appearance on the remix of labelmate TLC's "What About Your Friends".
OutKast, Organized Noize, and schoolmates Goodie Mob formed the nucleus of the Dungeon Family organization. The duo initially wanted to be called "2 Shades Deep" or "The Misfits", but because those names were already taken they later decided to use "OutKast" based on finding "outcast" as synonym for "misfit" in a dictionary. Benjamin and Patton eventually teamed up and were pursued by Organized Noize, a group of local producers who would later make hits for TLC. Meanwhile, Patton had to move with his four brothers and six sisters from Savannah to Atlanta. Benjamin's parents were divorced and he was living with his father.
All of their albums save for Idlewild have been critically lauded and seen as some of hip-hop's greatest records, or even the greatest records ever made in general.īenjamin and Patton met while attending Tri-Cities High School, a Visual and Performing Arts School. Getting their start in 1990, hip-hop duo OutKast ended up becoming one of the most vital and dynamic music groups of the late 1990s and 2000s, experimenting with a diverse variety of sounds from funk to psychedelia to techno, and helping to popularize Southern hip hop.