Outkast – Aquemini

I was only familiar with OutKast from their super popular songs (shake it like a polaroid piiiiiicture) so I was pretty unaware of this albums existence.  Filled with 16 lyrically dense songs this was an album I had to listen to a few times to really get a bead on what it was all about.

It harkens back to the origins of hip-hop  – where they rap about societal issues to bring awareness to the situations they came from. (in this case, Atlanta).  Each song is packed with bars the beats are all different and drive the songs appropriately and the guest rappers all bring some fire to the tracks.

What this album reminds me of: Old school Hip-Hop – listening to K-Tel records with my brother on my plastic record player in my room in the house in Jackson – an adolescent kid who loved hip-hop surrounded by people who really didn’t ‘get’ it. 

3/5 – There’s a few tracks that drag down the album (and the fact there’s 16 songs really dilutes the overall product). Still a solid album and I’m glad I got to experience it.