Arts & Entertainment
OutKast:
Grammy-nominated rap duo

OutKast attained success right out of the gate and has not let up. The duo of Big Boi and Dre signed a record deal while they were still teenagers, saw their first single go to No. 1 on the rap charts, and have gone on to release a string of highly successful and critically acclaimed albums melding rap, soul, and funk. Along the way, OutKast has been honored by the music industry and found themselves on the wrong end of a lawsuit from a civil rights pioneer.

FULL NAME
Antwan Andre Patton ("Big Boi") and Andre Lauren Benjamin ("Dre")

BORN
Patton: February 1, 1975, in Savannah, Georgia
Benjamin: May 27, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia

CAREER
Patton and Benjamin began rapping together in high school, initially calling themselves 2 Shades Deep. After changing the name to OutKast, they were signed in 1993 by LaFace Records, the label run by industry moguls L.A. Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. The duo recorded and released the single "Player's Ball," which became an immediate hit, shooting to No. 1 on the rap charts and staying there for six weeks. OutKast's 1994 debut album, "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik," went platinum and spawned two more hit singles. The duo's second album, 1996's "ATLiens," did even better, selling 1.5 million copies. OutKast followed in 1998 with "Aquemini," which debuted at No. 2, went double platinum, and garnered widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike. Spin magazine ranked it No. 35 on its list of the 90 greatest albums of the 1990s. But the album's first single, "Rosa Parks," garnered a lawsuit from the civil rights pioneer herself. Parks claimed OutKast had unlawfully appropriated her name and she objected to some of the song's lyrics. The suit went to court and the judge ruled in OutKast's favor. An appeal by Parks is still pending. OutKast's fourth album, "Stankonia," came out in 2000, and a greatest hits collection -- including three previously unreleased tracks -- followed in late 2001.

AWARDS
Best New Rap Group, Source Awards, 1995
Grammy nomination for "Rosa Parks," 1999
Grammy nominations, 2002: Best Rap Group Performance, Best Short Music Video, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Rap Album.

(http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/black.history/stories/19.outkast/index.html)