On September 9, 2003, OutKast released “Hey Ya!” the first single off their highly anticipated double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below which would later become one of the most beloved songs of the millennium. Since its release, “Hey Ya!” has stayed a ubiquitous force in pop-culture, staying on the radio, soundtracking weddings and bar mitzvahs alike, and had children and grandparents “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Though the sugary pop of “Hey Ya!” was hardly representative of the progressive Atlanta hip-hop of OutKast as a group, the song was the duo’s most lasting impact on popular culture and is even considered one of the best pop songs ever. Due to “Hey Ya!’s” clear-cut success, OutKast’s ambitious double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below remains the highest-selling hip-hop release of all-time, going Platinum over 11 times and edging out influential releases like Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death.
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Purple Mountunes Majesty: The Most Patriotic Playlist
A while ago, Paul Lamere of The Echo Nest, a music-analysis company, took to finding each state’s most distinctive, yet popular, artist in a viral article. Spotify took note, purchasing Echo Nest for their analytical talent. Together, they’ve released a blog post documenting each state’s most distinctively American song creating a patriotic playlist for the […]
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