Trivia / OutKast

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• Acclaimed Flop: While it wasn't commercially successful as its predecessor Speakerboxxx/The Love Below along with none of the singles being huge hits, Idlewild was well-received by critics. Earlier, "B.O.B." was a huge critical darling, with some calling it one of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time, failed to chart due to many stations blacklisting the song for its politically charged lyrics.
• Black Sheep Hit:
  • Most people who heard "Hey Ya!" don't even know OutKast are a rap group.
  • "B.O.B." got the group popularity amongst fans of Drum 'n' Bass music, at the time quite a niche movement.
• Breakout Pop Hit: The group often recorded tracks exclusively for soundtracks that ended up more popular than the movie themselves:
  • "Phobia" on the Higher Learning soundtrack (1994)
  • "Benz Or Beamer" on the New Jersey Drive soundtrack (1995)
  • "Everlasting" on the Nothing to Lose soundtrack (1997)
  • "In Due Time" on the Soul Food soundtrack (1997)
  • "High Schoolin'" on the Light It Up soundtrack (1999)
  • "Sole Sunday" on the Any Given Sunday soundtrack (1999)
  • "Tough Guy" on the Shaft soundtrack (2000)
  • "Speedballin" on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider soundtrack (2001)
  • "Land of a Million Drums" on the Scooby-Doo soundtrack (2002)
  • Album-wise, the Idlewild album is more remembered than its namesake film.
• Creator Backlash: André 3000 has stated that he regrets doing the 2014 reunion tour, feeling that he wasn't into it and that he felt like a Sell-Out.
• Executive Meddling: After their previous label, LaFace was bought by Jive Records, OutKast had numerous clashes and creative differences, that ultimately led to Big Boi releasing his solo album with Def Jam.
• Reclusive Artist: André 3000 can be this from time to time. Until 2014 when he and Big Boi had their 20th Anniversary tour, he was barely granting interviews, only sporadically acts (his last two films being a biopic on Jimi Hendrix where he played Hendrix, and High Life, made in 2013 and 2018 respectively), and hasn't made any music videos since "Green Light" with John Legend.
• Referenced by...:
  • ANNO: Mutationem: One of the achievements earned for using the shower several times is titled "So Fresh and So clean clean".
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run has a few notable references to OutKast.
    • The name of both Pocoloco's race horse and his Stand is Hey Ya!
    • The Boom Boom Family have names that reference members of OutKast. Andre Boom Boom and Benjamin Boom Boom are a reference to André's full name of André Lauren Benjamin, while L.A. Boom Boom is in reference to former Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid, who was known for being a producer for OutKast albums. On top of that, the Stands belonging to the Boom Boom family are named Tomb of the Boom.
  • In Paper Mario: The Origami King, Mario's partner Olivia says "Shake it like a piece of outdated photographic paper!" at one point in the story.
• Schedule Slip: The wait for André's long-anticipated solo album (and thus as a reunion for the duo proper) has been compared to the wait for Half-Life 3. He finally announced it on November 14th, 2023—just three days before its scheduled release date.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to an interview with Big Boi, Outkast were asked to perform a Super Bowl halftime show, but turned it down: They wouldn't be given enough time to perform both "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" in their entirety, and André 3000 refused to entertain the idea of shortening the songs or performing them as a medley. It was never specified which Super Bowl this was, but given the time frame when those songs were at their peak, Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 seems plausible. This would be significant because the halftime show that did occur that year is mainly remembered for being the Trope Namer for Wardrobe Malfunction.
    • Ironically in 2019, Big Boi would perform "The Way You Move" for that year's Super Bowl halftime as a guest of headliners Maroon 5. The Super Bowl was held in Atlanta that year and it was decided that featuring a hometown hero would be fitting.
  • Unusually for a hip hop single of its era, "B.O.B." includes a guitar solo - the label at one point wanted Kid Rock, then still considered a Rap Rock artist, to play the solo for the sake of publicity and possible crossover with rock audiences. Outkast felt that the guest performer would overshadow the rest of the song, so one of their usual guitarists played it instead ^note David Whild and Donnie Mathis are both credited with guitar on the Stankonia liner notes, but it's not mentioned which guitarists played on which songs.

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