“ATL HOE” OutKast Is First-Ballot Hall of Famers

Outkast has played a major role in hip-hop from its inception to the 2000s. Coming straight out of East Point, Georgia Andre “Andre 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton took their unique sound and intricate lyrics surprised the hip-hop industry and made them one of the best hip-hop groups ever. And now they are the newest member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The whole world and A-town was watching

On Saturday, as a room full of music’s most influential acts and industry folk gathered in Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater for the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

30 years after entering the game Big and André have been trailblazers since jump, both in the way they took Southern hip-hop from the margins to the mainstream and in the way everything they did built on the oeuvre of their predecessors the Princes, the Parliaments while maintaining a singular, inimitable sense of self.

Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, Janelle Monáe, and Killer Mike teamed up for a tribute to the the legendary duo. Big Boi and J.I.D. kicked off the Outkast medley with “ATLiens.” Doja Cat performed “Ms. Jackson,” Tyler, the Creator did “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad),” and Janelle Monáe—a protégé of Big Boi—busted out an acoustic guitar for “Hey Ya.” Big Boi then returned to the stage, this time accompanied by Sleepy Brown, for their 2003 collaboration “The Way You Move,” and brought out Killer Mike, as well as the rest of the performers, to close things out with “The Whole World,” from Outkast’s 2001 compilation Big Boi and Dre Present… Outkast.

OutKast joins the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2025 alongside Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Soundgarden, and the White Stripes.