Stankonia is a hip-hop album by OutKast, released by La Face Records (a subcorporation of Arista Records, BMG) on October 31, 2000. The album sold well, reaching the number 1 position on America's national Billboard 200 chart selling over 530,000 copies the first week of its release. It received wide critical acclaim as well, from publications such as Rolling Stone and The Onion. It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll and it was ranked 23 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". Template:RS500

In 2006, the album was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. [1]

"Stank", a commonly used word on the album, is derived from a southern U.S. pronunciation of "stink", the original meaning of the word "funk". George Clinton applied the term "stank" to the more carnal, hedonistic things in life, including funk music. "Stankonia" is the name of a fictional land at "the centre of the earth, seven light years below sea level", which is "the place from which all funky thangs come" according to the album's opening lyrics.

The album was arranged and produced in collaboration with members of OutKast's "Dungeon Family" crew who previously based in Rico Wade's "Dungeon Studio": Organized Noize and the Goodie Mob.

"Ms. Jackson", "B.O.B." and "So Fresh, So Clean" were later included on the Big Boi and Dre Present...OutKast compilation.

Stankonia's style

Part of the reason for Stankonia's acclaim and popularity was the diversity of its musical influences, which led to comparisons to Prince. It incorporates many musical genres to create a unique-sounding whole. For example, the album opens with Indian tablas and harmonium, then launching into a heavy metal-style electric guitar riff on "Gasoline Dreams" before turning to slick P-funk on the second song (fourth track overall) "So Fresh, So Clean". The album also incorporates influences from gospel, ("Toilet Tisha"), samba ("Humble Mumble") and drum and bass ("B.O.B."). This stylistic diversity was tied together by the pseudo-psychedelic samples, emphasizing trippy synthesizers, spacey sound effects, techno-tinged percussion, and weird 70s-style psychedelic funk, updated in a more contemporary hip-hop context, such as influences by Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On - most evident on the title track, and from which the album cover was borrowed.

The lyrical content is divided between Big Boi's verses and André 3000's. The artists describe themselves as a "player and a poet" respectively, and this is reflected in the lyrics; Big Boi tending to deal with more standard gangsta fare (guns, hoes, pimping etc. on songs such as "Snappin & Trappin" and "We Luv Deez Hoez") while André 3000 prefers to talk about other elements of "Stanking" using metaphors about elephants, ski slopes and the four humours.

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Earthtone III, a production team consisting of OutKast and David "Mr. DJ" Sheats, except for "So Fresh, So Clean", "Spaghetti Junction", and "We Luv Deez Hoez", which are produced by Organized Noize.

1. "Intro"
2. "Gasoline Dreams" (featuring Khujo Goodie from Goodie Mob)
3. "I'm Cool" (Interlude)
4. "So Fresh, So Clean"
   • Samples "Before the Night is Over" by Joe Simon
5. "Ms. Jackson"
   • Samples "Strawberry Letter #23" by The Brothers Johnson
6. "Snappin' & Trappin'" (featuring Killer Mike & J-Sweet)
7. "D.F." (Interlude)
8. "Spaghetti Junction"
9. "Kim & Cookie" (Interlude)
10. "I'll Call Before I Come" (featuring Gangsta Boo & Eco)
11. "B.O.B."
12. "Xplosion" (featuring B-Real)
13. "Good Hair" (Interlude)
14. "We Luv Deez Hoez" (featuring BackBone & Big Gipp of Goodie Mob)
    • Samples "Worldwide" by Allen Toussaint
15. "Humble Mumble" (featuring Erykah Badu)
16. "Drinkin' Again (Interlude)"
17. "?"
18. "Red Velvet"
19. "Cruisin' in the ATL" (Interlude)
20. "Gangsta Shit" (featuring Slimm Calhoun, C-Bone & T-Mo from Goodie Mob) (Produced by Carl Mo for Earthtone III)
21. "Toilet Tisha"
22. "Slum Beautiful" (featuring Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob)
23. "Pre-Nump (Interlude)"
24. "Stankonia (Stanklove)" (featuring Big Rube & Sleepy Brown)

Album singles

Single cover	Single information
	"B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)" Released: September 19, 2000 B-side: Unknown
	"Ms. Jackson" Released: January 2, 2001 B-side: "Sole Sunday"
	"So Fresh, So Clean" Released: March 13, 2001 B-side: "Gangsta Shit"

Album chart positions

Singles chart positions

Personnel

OutKast:

• Big Boi (Antwan Patton) - vocals, production
• André 3000 (Andre Benjamin) - vocals, synthesisers, production
• Mr. DJ (David Sheats) - production

Guest performers

• Sleepy Brown
• Khujo Goodie
• Killer Mike
• J-Sweet
• Gangsta Boo
• Eco
• B-Real (of Cypress Hill)
• Erykah Badu
• Backbone
• Big Gipp
• Slimm Calhoun
• C-Bone
• T-Mo Goodie
• Cee-Lo Goodie
• Big Rube
• Joi

Instrumentalists:

• Donnie Mathis - guitar
• David "Whild" Brown - guitar
• Jason Freeman - horns
• Jerry Freeman - horns
• Sleepy Brown - piano, synthesised bass
• Marvin "Chanz" Parkman - piano, keyboards
• Earthtone III & Organized Noize - keyboards
• Preston Crump - bass guitar, synthesized bass
• Aaron Mills - bass guitar
• Robert Grister - bass guitar
• Dookie Blossumgame - bass guitar
• Victor Alexander - drums

Other people:

• Rosalin Heard - backing vocals
• Myrna "Screechy Peach" Crenshaw - backing vocals
• Cutmaster Swift - cuts

Miscellanea

• The limited edition alternate album cover contains a computer-generated image of a subset of the Mandelbrot set, a fractal.

External links

• Everything-Outkast