Aquemini

Released on September 29, 1998 through LaFace Records, Aquemini was OutKast's third studio album and the project that cemented the Atlanta duo as a creative force beyond regional hip hop. Its title fuses Big Boi's zodiac sign (Aquarius) with Andre 3000's (Gemini), a nod to the album's running theme of reconciling two increasingly divergent artistic personalities within one group.

Recording took place mostly at Bobby Brown's Bosstown Recording Studios and Doppler Studios in Atlanta between 1996 and 1998. With a bigger budget and more creative latitude after the success of ATLiens, the duo brought in live musicians for horns, guitar, piano, and harmonica, blending 1970s funk, soul, gospel, and psychedelia with hip hop production from Organized Noize, Mr. DJ, and the group itself.

Critics received it as a landmark. AllMusic called it a stroke of brilliance and a defining hip hop album of the late 1990s^[2], and Rolling Stone later ranked it among the greatest albums of all time, describing it as the greatest record ever to come out of the Dirty South^[2]. It went platinum within two months of release and double platinum the following year.