Outkast
Outkast performing in 2001
Background information
Also known as	Two Shades Deep
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop R&B funk Southern hip hop soul
Years active	1992–2007 2014
Labels	Purple Ribbon LaFace Arista RCA Epic
Spinoffs	Earthtone III Purple Ribbon All-Stars
Spinoff of	Dungeon Family
Past member(s)	André 3000 Big Boi
Website	outkast.com

Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip hop duo. It members were musicians, André "André 3000" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. At first they were known as Two Shades Deep. Their early music was a mixture of Southern hip hop and G-funk. Their later music includes rock, electronic, soul, jazz, funk, and blues sounds. In 2003 Outkast's singles "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below reached both number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Outkast has won six Grammy Awards.

Outkast started in 1992 when Benjamin and Patton were students at Tri-Cities High School in Atlanta. They were signed to LaFace Records that year. Their first album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, was released on April 26, 1994. The album was produced by Organized Noize. The album was important in the making of Southern hip hop.

In 1996, Outkast released their second album, ATLiens. It entered the US Billboard 200 at number two.^[1] Three singles were released from the album.

Outkast's third album Aquemini was released on September 29, 1998. It got good reviews from music critics.

On October 31, 2000, Stankonia was released. It entered the Billboard 200 at number two after selling over 530,000 copies in its first week. Outkast's first greatest hits album Big Boi and Dre Present... Outkast was released on December 4, 2001.

They did have tours for these four albums. The Southernplaylisticadillacmuzic Tour (1994-1995)
The ATLiens Tour (1996-1997)
The Aquemini Tour (1998-1999)
The Stankonia Tour (2000-2001)

In September 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The album was different to Outkast's previous albums because it was a double album. The double album is actually two albums. Speakerboxxx, the first disc, is an album by Big Boi. The Love Below, the second disc, is an album by André 3000. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is Outkast's best selling album so far. It won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2004. It was the first hip hop album to win the award. The album's first single "Hey Ya!" was number one in the United States for nine weeks. It sold over one million copies there. It also reached number one in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Sweden. The second single "The Way You Move" spent eight weeks at number two in the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, the album's third single "Roses" was released. It reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.

They had a tour for this album from 2003-2004.

On August 22, 2006 Outkast's sixth album Idlewild was released. The album was the soundtrack for the movie Idlewild. Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars.

They had a mini-tour in 2006.

• Official website Archived 2010-08-06 at the Wayback Machine