ATLiens

I passed this off as I thought that Outkast peaked in their lyrics and raps in Aquemini and Stankonia. Coupled that with a stripped down, laid back instrumental compared to the lavish sounds of Aquemini and the batshit insane sounds of Stankonia. ATLiens just seemed like a stepping stone to greatness and not really worth checking out. I was dead wrong, their rapping were just as on point here compared to the other 2 albums.

What really surprised me was how Big Boi held his own and even dominated Andre on this record, and Andre was still being the rhyming genius and powerhouse that he is, albeit a bit unrefined.

Not only that, I think I prefer it over Aquemini (I haven't listened to Stankonia in a long time). It's highs is just a short distance away from Aquemini's highs. It's lows are leagues above Aquemini's lows.

This album is consistent from start to finish, I never once got bored, like I did with Aquemini and Stankonia. The instrumentals made the raps more prominent, but that doesn't make the sound of the album bland and sparse.

Unlike with Aquemini and Stankonia or Outkast as a whole, I really liked ATLiens on the first listen, and I feel that this album will continue to surprise and delight me on repeated listens.