Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik by OutKast

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the 1994 debut album of American hip hop duo OutKast. After befriending each other in 1992, rappers André 3000 and Big Boi pursued recording music as a duo and worked with production team Organized Noize, which led to their signing to LaFace Records. The album was produced by the team and recorded at the Dungeon, D.A.R.P. Studios, Purple Dragon, Bosstown, and Doppler Studios in Atlanta. A Southern hip hop record, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik features live instrumentation in its hip hop production and musical elements from funk and soul genres. Wanting to make a statement about urban life as an African American in the South, OutKast wrote and recorded the album as teenagers and addressed coming of age topics with the album's songs. They also incorporated repetitive hooks and Southern slang in their lyrics. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik was released by LaFace on April 26, 1994, and peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200, eventually being certified platinum in the United States. The record received positive reviews from critics and helped distinguish Southern hip hop as a credible hip hop scene, amid East Coast and West Coast hip hop's market dominance at the time. The album has since been viewed by music journalists as an important release in both hip hop and Atlanta's music scene.