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 7. Stankonia
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You can't really look at Speakerboxx/Love Below as one album. Kast is cheating on that effort. It is most definitely two albums packaged as one. It seems like they did that, because it was impossible to pull off another Stankonia, an album that pushes creativity to dumb levels and toggles seamlessly between the distinct personalities and tastes of Big Boi and Andre.
When you listen to Stank, it’s amazing that they were able to pull it off. You could already tell that Dre and Boi were now, fully distinct individuals that somehow managed to coexist as a duo that lives off each other in a generous, self-sacrificing, symbiotic relationship. They also challenged each other. I could sense a one-gunmanship on Stank.
Not only is Stank a better album than Speaker/Love because it was more ambitious and determined in its mission to meld the creativity of Dre and Boi, but the music is better and that’s saying a ridiculous amount.
Boi turns in one of the most underrated emcee performances in history and Dre is at his apex, both as an emcee and a grounded experimenter.
Think about all the tracks on this album. “So Fresh and So Clean“? How nasty was that? “B.O.B”...what a revelation, especially the final two minutes with screaming guitar solo, and then they take it to the church chant. Thatsrealmusic.
When have you ever heard a song like “Humble Mumble” with Badu? You better not say "Liberation" off Aquemeni. When the beat drops for Dre's verse (where he rips) and then they bring the melody back for Badu's chorus, seamlessly -- sonically and creatively, that’s incredible ish. “Gangsta Sh*t” is just hard. “Toilet Tisha” is one of Dre's first dives into his Prince-fixation, fit with that dramatic snare and that even more dramatic syntesizer; all of which 3000 uses to detail a
young mother's suicide. Then Boi comes on later, after Dre spaces you out, and kicks some real talk.
Almost every song on this album is not just great in terms of great emceeing and hot beats; it’s the creation of two uniquely creative artists that performed one of the greatest dance-routines on one album. And it sets the scene for the New Dangers, Electric Circuses, Love Belows, Phrenologies and St. Elsewheres.
It cannot be stressed enough how monumental this album is. Few efforts were as sonically good, progressive, ambitious or creative. It was a hop album with the perfect amount of soul, funk, electronica, world music and rock. It was a dang masterpiece.
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 4. Mama's Gun
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 2. Voodoo
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 1. Madvillainy
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