Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, Outkast, 2003.
In 2009, an article in the New York Times referred to Atlanta as “hip-hop’s center of gravity.” Although Atlanta’s music scene is diverse, it is perhaps the city’s hip-hop scene that has garnered the most national attention and commercial success. Local multi-platinum-selling artists include Ludacris, Ciara, TLC, B.o.B., Young Jeezy, T.I., and OutKast, who won the Album of the Year Grammy Award in 2004 for Speakerboxxx / The Love Below.
Outkast’s André 3000 at Wax ‘n’ Facts Records, Little Five Points, 2014.
The scene has been advanced by the development of local record labels, including LaFace Records founded by L.A. Reid and Babyface in 1989; So So Def Records founded by Jermaine Dupri in the mid-1990s; and Quality Control Music founded by Kevin “Coach” Lee and Pierre “Pee” Thomas in 2013.
"[OutKast] were pivotal in the recognition and growth of the Atlanta area."
—Omoleye Amuleru-Marshall, Community submission to Atlanta in 50 Objects
As the number of local artists continues to multiply, Atlanta remains a center for hip-hop innovation. In 2014, Billboard magazine called the Atlanta scene “a powder keg of talent waiting to blow.” The growth of the hip-hop music scene in Atlanta also led to the development of the VH-1 reality television show, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
