Outkast: Dre, Big Boi (vocals, programming).
Additional personnel includes: EJ Tha Witch Doctor, Joi, Whild Peach, Trina, Andrea Martin, Goodie Mob, Cool Breeze, ShaJuanna Edghill (vocals); Tomi Martin, Carlos Glover (acoustic guitar); Craig Love, Martin Terry, Ed Stroud (guitar); Kerren Berz (violin); Skinny Miracles (piano); Chanz (keyboards, organ, piano); Kenny Wright (keyboards); Moog, Preston Crump, James "Jay" Nicholas, Marq Jefferson (bass); Dee Simmons (drums); Organized Noize Productions (programming); Mr. DJ (scratches); Debra Killings, Dawn, Tracy, Arlynn, Sleepy Brown, Tamara, Peaches (background vocals).
Producers: Organized Noize Productions, Outkast.
Engineers: Jarvis Blackshear, Derrick Williams, John Frye.
OutKast has almost singlehandedly defined the sound of Atlanta rap. Tongue-flippin', rhyme-spittin' and Cadillac-ridin', all with a Southern accent, Big Boi and Dre have proved to be the South's ideal MCs. ATLIENS continues in the same vein as Outkast's 1994 debut, SOUTHERNPLAYALISTICADILLACMUZIK, with producers Organized Noize back to accompany the duo's laid-back flow.
Big Boi and Dre proclaim to prove a point with every rhyme, never wasting a line. They like to think of themselves as outcasts from the hip-hop community--aliens, so to speak. Their tracks have an outer-space feeling to them--a feeling that, ironically, has warmed the community right up to them. They're so out, they're in.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (10/31/96, pp.66-68) - 3-1/2 Stars - Good/Excellent - "...Andre and Big Boi display a unique ability to describe ghetto life while offering up life-affirming possibilities, something all too rare in today's hip-hop nation."
The Source (10/96, p.118) - 4 Mics - Slammin' - "...OutKast and their producers Organized Noize understand that without growth, audiences do mature beyond the artists....Big Boi and Dre have gone out of this world into a new dimension of sight, sound and mind..."
Rap Pages (11/96, p.31) - "...Flashes of brilliance dominate the duration of ATLIENS....a rare and pleasing discovery. If Mars needs Hip-Hop, this should be the first launching."
