Outkast is officially headed to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and honestly, it feels overdue.
Announced as part of the Hall’s 2025 class, the legendary Atlanta duo joins a powerful lineup that also honors Chubby Checker and Salt-N-Pepa with Salt-N-Pepa receiving the Musical Influence Award as the first commercially successful female rap group. But let’s not bury the lede: André 3000 and Big Boi making it in? That’s a whole celebration.
For those of us who grew up in the South or simply grew up on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, ATLiens, Aquemini, and the game-shifting Stankonia this moment hits deep. Outkast didn’t just represent Atlanta. They redefined what Southern hip-hop could sound like, feel like, and stand for. Funk, jazz, psychedelia, lyricism, fashion, vulnerability they gave us all of it, without apology or compromise.
And beyond the music? Their influence is everywhere. From Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, The Creator, to Janelle Monáe and even how Atlanta is seen globally as a cultural hub that’s Outkast DNA.
The Hall of Fame likes to talk about artists who “change the course of rock & roll.” Outkast did that with hip-hop, and hip-hop is rock & roll. So salute to them for finally opening the doors for the South to walk through, dressed in velvet, rhyming in outer space, and forever two steps ahead.
Now we wait and if you’re anything like me, you’re quietly praying that this Hall of Fame induction might bless us with something we haven’t had since 2014: a live Outkast performance. Just one more. Please.
Watch the ceremony this November. But more importantly, revisit the catalog. The South been had something to say and now the world’s listening.
Take a ride through one of the most visionary catalogs in hip-hop history. Whether you’re revisiting or just discovering, these tracks remind us why Outkast’s music still moves culture and the soul.
