*sings in head* shake it like a polaroid picture shake it shake shake it shake it shake shake it ;)

Ugh

They were never really hardcore hip-hop to begin with. It wasn't the beginning of the end for them at all. Yes, it did turn them into 'MTV darlings' as you call them but only because Stankonia appealed to so many people. It still retained that funky, original style Outkast have always had but this time it was twisted into a way that would be accepted by MTV and would eventually lead to Outkast being labelled as sell-outs. This wasn't Outkast's doing at all. People criticise Speakerboxxx/Love Below for 'trying to appeal to the masses'. This is true for a few of the songs on there (Roses and The Way you Move) but if you listen to the album(s) as a whole then you will see that Outkast is still a cool, original duo that has been made into MTV-ites through no fault of their own.

And these are the type of people who give them that image.

I don't mean hardcore in the "gangsta-thug" sense but in that they were the embodiment of hip hop in its truest form. While I don't think that they made a conscious decision to become "MTV darlings" so to speak, the fact remains that they did change their style to become more accessible to fans outside their core audience. It's not like I want to hate on them. Actually it's quite the opposite. I really wanted to like their newer work but at the end of the day it just didn't measure up. Even you admit as much in previous posts. Creative... funky... original? Yes. Hip-hop? Not so much.

Why is it depressing hobo? Is it because its popular? Or played on the radio? No one on the planet that liked that kind of music thought it was bad enough to be "disappointing"...it wreaks of desperation for acceptance around here.

Thats because 99 percent of the people that did like it were new fans. Just about any long time Outcast fan will tell you that it was in fact a disapointing album.

They were hip-hop on the Stankonia album but they did change their style on the Speakerboxxx/Love Below album. They didn't do it to appeal to the masses though-that album was anything but a crowd pleaser. It was a unique double album that was accepted for the masses because of it's unique-ness. Yes they DID change their style to appeal to people outside of their core audience, but hip-hop is in desperate need of originality and Outkast are the most original Hip Hop group out there. And yes, they are hip-hop. They just had some time off:)

I never said it was depressing. I just dislike the fact that Speakerboxxx/Love Below is leading ahead of 4 far superior albums.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik........dre singing an all that is ****