(“I actually did not expect to win,” Andre said in 2014. Do the history.” Yet the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, a T-Bone Burnett-led, carefully researched retread of what the American South had done before, would win the coveted trophy instead.īy the time Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was nominated for that same category, OutKast already had the name recognition that made a big win seem overdue. The overall reception struck Andre 3000 so much that when Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won for Album of the Year, he said, “ Stankonia is not our first album. Jackson,” and “So Fresh So Clean” made a post-Civil Rights Era American South global takeover seem not only impending, but welcome. It was an artistic leap forward for the already-ambitious pair, and the blockbuster singles “B.O.B.,” “Ms. Two years prior, of all the records nominated for Album of the Year, the four-times platinum Stankonia was both the critical and fan favorite. Yet, because of the nature of OutKast’s win, nothing is for certain, nothing is for sure.

Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino are all nominated for the trophy, which makes a win for hip-hop seem actually plausible. If a rap artist wins Album of the Year in 2018, it will be for the first time since OutKast won the trophy in 2004. Only Arrested Development, Lauryn Hill and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have won Best New Artist, while in other big categories like Song and Record of the Year, hip-hop gets overlooked altogether. In regards to hip-hop and its merits, despite the genre’s enormous impact on our music and our vernacular, the industry hasn’t quite been in agreement since. By then, the double OutKast album had already sold 3.1 million copies.

Before Carlos Santana and Faith Hill read the list of nominees, someone in Staples Center in Los Angeles yelled “ANDRE,” as in Andre 3000, who had just performed “Hey Ya!” When Santana got to Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, he pumped his fist in the air like he was cheering on his favorite team. When OutKast won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2004, nearly the whole world seemed to think that the dynamic Atlanta duo was the most deserving.

Andre 3000 the love below full album