I first got into Outkast somewhere around the turn of the millennium. I was visiting a friend who played me 'Stankonia', which at the time, was their latest album. I immediately got the impression this was not your usual hip hop album, and Outkast your usual hip-hop group. What struck me was the sheer variety of sounds on display, the way everything was so effortlessly woven together from funk, electronica, rock and soul, the way they unapologetically embraced avant garde sensibilities, the sheer sense of fun the record exuded and of course, the wordplay. I went out and bought the album the very next day.
Some years later, I discovered 'Aquemini'. I can't actually remember why I decided to pick it up, but I did, and I was completely blown away. As with 'Stankonia', I was floored by Outkast's knack for crafting such an immaculately realised world within their music, comprised as it was of a richly eclectic sonic DNA so far ahead of many of the group's peers and contemporaries.
A defining characteristic of Outkast's music is its fresheness, and for me, 'Aquemini' epitmoises that principle almost perfectly (arguably more so than Speakerboxxx/Love Below, which says a lot). With each new track comes a raft of new ideas, and the feeling of not knowing just where the album is going from song to song is one of the things that made it such a joy to listen to the first time around. When I first got this album, I was also doing a stint of DJ-ing at a pub I frequented and 'Synthesizer' regularly featured in my sets, but the standout song for me definitely has to be 'Liberation' which has since become one of my favourite songs of all time. The song possesses a tremendous emotional range and depth that is even more pronounced by the proliferation of guest vocalists that appear on it (Erykah Badu and Cee-Lo being two notables). It instantly struck a chord with me the very first time I heard it and is a big part of the reason why I am so fond of this album.
So yes, 'Aquemini' is a very special hip-hop album, and one that has remained with me ever since I first heard it.
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