Stankonia

The outstanding record of 2000, this Atlanta hip-hop pairing's fourth album spent 74 manic minutes bobbing between speed-rap and funked-up pleasures, addressing much of what is rotten in the genre and in America along the way.

Walls of trombones, gospel choirs, stuttering rhythms and two-step breakbeats back up Andre 3000 and Big Boi's rapid-fire, introspective rhymes. It's all eerily familiar but also sounds like it's from Mars, and hiphop is better for it.

Stankonia reeks of artful ambition rendered with impeccable skill — or as one song title so concisely has it, ”So Fresh, So Clean.” Take a deep breath and jump into this music.