* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Big Grams, Antwan's collaboration group with indietronica band Phantogram, wasn't able to reach anything further than a niche audience. The combination of Southern Rap and shoegazey glitch-pop was too odd to fit on either the urban or alternative formats. The ones that did listen to it, generally liked it, however.
* AwardSnub: Why on Earth wasn't "PJ & Rooster" (from ''Idlewild'') nominated for Best Original Song?!
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** ''Aquemini'' was given the coveted 5 Mics from The Source's review, ''Stankonia'' was regarded as the best album of 2000, and ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2004.
** One acronym: "'''B.O.B.'''": with a drum 'n' bass beat that comes in lightning fast, bars that fly by even faster, a memorable chorus and a rousing mood, there's a reason why it's considered one of the duo's best songs.
** André 3000's single "Hey Ya!" got an insane amount of critical acclaim, frequently ranking amongst '''greatest songs of all time''' lists. It's an extremely catchy pop/electro song [[LyricalDissonance about breaking up and whether love lasts forever]] with an instantly recognizable chorus and just as iconic bridge.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLvkoYB_AVI fast-paced remix]] of "I Like the Way You Move" appeared in ''[[VideoGame/PGATour Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005]]''. To say it's catchier than the original is an understatement.
* BrokenBase: After ''Stankonia'' was released, the fans were split on its more experimental approach. Some insist ''Aquemini'' was their last good album. ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' took it to the next level, especially with which side was better and also regarding the stylistic differences in ''The Love Below''. And there are also arguments about who the better member is: André 3000 or Big Boi.
* EpicRiff: The trumpet in "Spottieottiedopaliscious". So epic that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM89Q5Eng_M Beyonce herself sampled it in "All Night".]]
* FandomRivalry: The band are friends and rivals with Goodie Mob, and both have collaborated on each others' work often. There's less friendly rivalry with other Hip-Hop duos, namely; Mobb Deep, Black Star, Music/{{UGK}} and 8Ball & MJG.
* FauxSymbolism: You'd think a song which heavily features the phrase "bombs over Baghdad" in its chorus to be some kind of commentary on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_no-fly_zones the enforcement of the no-fly zones over Iraq]], right? Nope; André has said in an interview it was just a phrase that happened to stick to his mind from a newscast.
* HarsherInHindsight: "B.O.B", a song released in 2000, stands for "[[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Bombs Over Baghdad]]".
* HypeBacklash: "Hey Ya!" got so much airplay when it was a new song in 2003, and has been so continually and profusely lauded since then, that it can also provoke this reaction in people just tired of hearing it.
* MemeticMutation:
** The whole bridge towards the end of "Hey Ya!". Two parts especially - André's "Alright alright alright" being extended [[OverlyLongGag to extreme proportions]], and the coinage of the popular phrase "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" during the breakdown.
--->''What's cooler than being cool?''\\
''Ice cold!''\\
''I can't hear ya! I say, what's cooler than being cool?''\\
''ICE COLD!''\\
''[[BrokenRecord Alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright alright]] okay now ladies! (Yeah?)''\\
''Lend me some sugar! I am your neighbor!''\\
''Shake it like a Polaroid picture!''
** The [[{{Mondegreen}} mishearing]] of "I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, I am for real" as [[https://i.redd.it/w4atrqg3v4n21.jpg "I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, I am four eels"]].
** "Forever...forever ever? FOREVER ever?" [[labelnote:Explanation]]One of the lyrics from "Ms. Jackson"; used to demonstrate that something lasts forever, or at least for a long time. It has also been referenced in several other hip-hop and rap songs.[[/labelnote]]
* MisattributedSong: The rock remix of "B.O.B." is not by Music/RageAgainstTheMachine but by lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha.
* OneSceneWonder
** This is André 3000's raison d'etre of recent years. He hasn't released any solo tracks and generally appears on around 3-5 tracks a year, and every appearance has been widely acclaimed. These appearances include being on tracks by T.I. ("Sorry"), B.o.B. ("Play the Guitar"), Young Jeezy ("I Do") and Music/{{Drake}} ("The Real Her"). His appearance on Music/LilWayne's ''Tha Carter IV'' track "Interlude" with Music/TechN9ne (another frequent OneSceneWonder) was widely praised as a highlight in both rappers' careers and as a key moment on an otherwise-boring album. Big Boi is this as well sometimes, but not to the same acclaim as André (partly because Big Boi has dropped 2 solo albums, for one thing).
** Kevin [=McDonald=] and Kat Williams' cameos in the video for "Roses" as the DeanBitterman and a guy who steals the girl of André's affections, respectively, are both utterly hilarious.
* PopCultureIsolation: A huge majority of people thought [=OutKast=] were new artists when ''Stankonia'' came out, despite being very popular in the urban community. A promo compilation called "If U Didn't Already Know, U Know Now" was released to lampshade this trope, and the retail compilation "Big Boi and Dre Present Outkast" was released the following year for the same reason.
* RetroactiveRecognition: As part of Goodie Mob, Music/CeeLoGreen guests on many of their songs. This was before he became known as part of Gnarls Barkley or for his own solo work. Music/JanelleMonae also appeared on a few songs on ''Idlewild'' (and prominently featured in the music video for "Morris Brown") several years before they released their debut album[[note]]''Idlewild'' released the same year Monae was signed to Bad Boy Records through their connection with Big Boi[[/note]].
* SampledUp: The Stankonia skit ''Cruisin in the ATL'' is the sampled chorus of a locally released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnPKCM9O7lc song]] by Southside Soul from 1999. This was not widely known outside of Atlanta until [=YouTube=], and in fact doesn't even have a Discogs page.
* SignatureSong: "Hey Ya!" is easily their most famous song with "The Way You Move" a close second, though "Ms. Jackson" or "B.O.B." would better represent their overall style.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Speedballin'" is this of "B.O.B."
* TearJerker:
** "Toilet Tisha", about a 14-year-old girl who commits suicide after getting pregnant.
** And, of course, "Ms. Jackson", an apology song that, while upbeat, still has a lingering sense of sadness. The first verse definitely hits the hardest.
** "Hey Ya!" can come across as this, mainly due to LyricalDissonance and nostalgia.
* ValuesDissonance: Some of the lyrics on "Jazzy Belle" were changed due to homophobia.
* VindicatedByHistory: "B.O.B" was not a hit when it came out, not charting at all on the Hot 100 and missing the Top 40 on the R&B chart. Some urban-formatted radio stations decided not to play it because they perceived it to be an anti-war song, while others skipped it because its mixture of multiple genres didn't gel well with the rest of their playlist. By the end of the 2000s, several publications hailed it as the best song released in the entire decade and it's now considered to be one of [=OutKast=]'s greatest achievements.
** When the duo won Best New Rap Group at the 1995 Source Awards, they were met with disdain and boos from the crowd, and even the announcement of the win itself came off as reluctant.[[note]]The votes were cast by only [=DJs=] and mom-and-pop retailers "in the trenches" of the community and intimately involved, so the win came as a genuine surprise to many.[[/note]] The crowd was deeply invested in the rivalry between the dominant east coast and the up-and-coming west coast, with southern hip-hop being seen as a nonstarter and the red-headed stepchild of the rap community; André famously declared while accepting the award that "the South got something to say." Not only would [=OutKast=] go on to become one of the most successful groups of all time (even more so than many of the acts booing them), southern hip-hop itself became so popular and acclaimed that it overtook the coasts as being the defining influence of the genre.
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