REDiscovered: OutKast’s ‘ATLiens’ Rewrote the Rules and Shifted Their Image

OutKast’s seminal sophomore album arrived as one of the most pivotal summers in hip-hop history was unfolding. Rap music was suddenly enjoying unprecedented commercial success, to the tune of Top 40 hits and platinum album sales. But the boom times were darkened by an atmosphere of animosity, as the high-profile feud between Bad Boy Entertainment and Death Row Records was dominating headlines. 

But the summer of 1996 had also been a season of change in the city of Atlanta. The Summer Olympics immediately reshaped the landscape and, to a great extent, the culture of the city. Communities like Techwood and Clark Howell Homes were razed to build monuments to the centennial Olympics, displacing poor Black families and cutting a swath through communities still struggling under the scourge of the crack epidemic. So as the rap game wrestled with newfound mainstream visibility and a media-hyped bicoastal beef, the 2 Dope Boyz were watching as their hometown was changing before their very eyes. 

And it was in the wake of that transformative and controversial summer that Andre (not yet 3000) and Big Boi released their classic second album. ATLiens showcased a rapidly maturing duo, coming into their own both as lyricists and producers, squarely placing themselves at the forefront of a wave of Southern artists who were primed to change the course of music. 

Their debut album set the table. When it dropped back in 1994, southernplayalisticadillacmuzik had been a collaborative affair for the entire Dungeon Family, with the legendary Organized Noize handling the production and Dre and Big taking cues from their “big brothers” in Goodie Mob. Goodie would drop their own classic debut, Soul Food, in 1995, but by 1996, the two emcees known as OutKast had grown by leaps and bounds as artists. And on their sophomore outing, that evolution would be most evident. 

“We went on tour and Organized Noize rented out the top floor of the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta,” Big Boi shared with SPIN in 2016. “They were camped out in there with all kinds of beat machines, and by the time we came home, they had already started laying the foundations to the album. By that time, we also had already started producing songs like ‘Elevators.’”

“Elevators (Me & You)” would prove to be an important turning point. They’d produced it on their own—the beginning of what would be a remarkable production run. 

“By the first album, while we were on the road, we bought us some music equipment,” Mr. DJ shared while reflecting on the project back in 2014 with DJ Burn One. “And we would set up our little studio in the back of the tour bus while we go city to city and we would...make beats. And we would be imitating our big brothers, Organized Noize, because all we used to do is sit around and watch them make beats, until they made a beat for the album. So on the road, we started making our own beats.”

“True, I′ve got more fans than the average man/

But not enough loot to last me/

To the end of the week/

I live by the beat/

Like you live check-to-check/

If it don't move your feet, then, I don't eat/

So we like neck-to-neck…” - “Elevators (Me & You)”

The album’s first single was a murky, atmospheric track that signaled a departure from the earthy soul of southernplayalistic… Released that July, “Elevators (Me & You)” served as a semi-reintroduction to Big Boi and Andre, who were foregoing the teenage pimp fantasies of their debut for something more introspective – and interstellar. 

“[On] ‘Elevators,’ Dre’s like, ‘Hey man, check this beat out,’” recalled Mr. DJ. “I went back there and... Bpp bppp khhhh, bpp khhh. And it was the ‘Elevators’ beat.”

After studying at the feet of Organized Noize, Dre, Big and Mr. DJ were growing and becoming stellar producers themselves. The trio would officially form Earthtone III, their name as a production unit, and would helm a significant amount of ATLiens. 

“We learned from being under them for so long,” explained Big Boi. “What better way to paint a picture than being able to create the soundscape for your words? We were maturing and coming of age then. Just trying to figure out, ‘Where are we going?’" 

The album’s futuristic aesthetic belies a sound that’s almost melancholic, but just as richly soulful as their debut. Tracks like “Growing Old” showed that these guys weren’t teenagers anymore. 

“But man it seems I'm reachin' out and touchin' the wrong ni**a/

Don't expect it to be pimpin' get your index off the trigger/

As we bust, us, we leavin' 'em in the dust/

So keep that caine up out of your nose/

I said my piece and then I hush…” - “13th Floor/Growing Old”

“You know, I take a page out of KRS-One's book: You can entertain and educate at the same time,” Big Boi would explain. “Give them a little bit of soul food in there, you know? It's okay to party and make all the party records in the world, but once you start to make people think, then you really got their attention.” 

For his part, Andre was sharpening what would soon be a legendary reputation as a rhyme writer. His wordplay was even more intricate and nimble, his musings even more observant and brilliantly affecting; and Big’s new status as a father led to his subject matter moving past the ballerific musings he’d dropped just two years earlier — now he was interested in expanding minds. 

As should be expected, the Dungeon Family’s presence is still the lifeblood throughout ATLiens. Members of Goodie Mob show up on the “Mainstream,” a track that bemoans bending to trends and sounds like it could be the entire project’s thesis statement; and on the mournful “Decatur Psalm” with Cool Breeze, a song that evokes city streets and backwoods hustling in the same breath. Mr. DJ gets to showcase his considerable turntable skills on “Wheelz Of Steel” and Witchdoctor makes an appearance on album standout “E.T. (Extra Terrestrial).” 

Released on August 27, 1996, by LaFace Records. ATLiens entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 2 and sold nearly 350,000 copies within two weeks of release. The album has been certified double platinum by the RIAA.

“Softly as if I played piano in the dark/

Found a way to channel my anger not to embark/

The world's a stage and everybody gots to play their part/

God works in mysterious ways so when he starts/

The job of speakin' through us we be so sincere with this here/

No drugs or alcohol so I can get the signal clear as day/

Put my Glock away I got a stronger weapon/

That never runs out of ammunition so I'm ready for war, okay…” - “ATLiens”

ATLiens dropped at the tail end of what was an amazing summer for hip-hop albums. Classics like It Was Written, Reasonable Doubt, Ridin’ Dirty and Stakes Is High had all dropped over the previous two months. Albums like The Score and All Eyez On Me — releases from earlier in the year — were still reverberating widely. The album stands out even in a crowded field of classics, a remarkable masterwork from a duo barely in their 20s. Thirty years later, it sounds like Dre and Big Boi fully shucking the husk of adolescence and embracing their own quirks and creativity. It sounds like OutKast fully embracing their moniker. 

"Being an alien is just being yourself,” Andre would tell the Guardian in 1996. “When people don't understand you. We just trying to let everybody know there's a place for everybody in this world. You just gotta find yourself, and be true to yourself. That's how you get prosperous and happy."

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