ATLANTA — What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold, obviously, but also owning the title of best-selling rap album of all-time.
It's a title Outkast now lay claim to, with the legendary Atlanta duo's 2003 album "Speakerboxxxx/The Love Below" reportedly surpassing 13x platinum with more than 13 million units sold.
That now puts the classic hip-hop album, featuring timeless hits like "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" on its own pedestal. According to reports, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" has now separated itself from second-place "The Eminem Show" which was released by Eminem in 2002.
That math doesn't require a golden calculator.
Big Boi celebrated the milestone on Instagram, writing: "Outchea like the air you breathe. @outkast is EVERLASTING. 🛸 Blessed and Highly Favored . Praise YahWeh"
The original release of "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was essentially a double album - a solo album each by Big Boi and Andre 3000, foretelling in some respects the winding down of their time as a hip hop duo.
The "Speakerboxxx" half, Big Boi's half, ran just about an hour, including 19 songs - among them "The Way You Move." Andre 3000's "The Love Below" ran almost 80 minutes, with 21 songs including "Roses" and the immortal "Hey Ya!" which just a couple years ago was named the 10th greatest song of all-time by Rolling Stone.
While Andre 3000's has generally kept a lower profile in the years since Outkast's peak, Big Boi continues to be a public face for Atlanta hip-hop as well as function as an arts and culture ambassador for the city.
He spoke to 11Alive's Neima Abdulahi for an episode of 11Alive Uninterrupted earlier this year about his legacy with Outkast and his current ventures as an entrepreneur.
You can watch that episode in the YouTube player below: