While I agree that Stankonia, Speakerboxx/LoveBelow and Idlewild have been the three weakest Outkast albums, I don’t think their creativity is tapped out.

To me, it is all a question of motivation. You sell soo many records and everyone is on your jock – NO WAY are you then going to release your best work.

I hope that people do start writing similar things to what appears above – motivate these cats to go back to the lab and release a true hip hop record. Tell the ATLiens its over, and give them the fuel they need to make a focused and collaborative record.

Don’t believe me? Look at the Roots. The critical love affair with them fell off significantly with The Tipping Point. How did they respond? By dropping Game Theory – which is straight fire – a reemergence of what I loved most about the Roots.

i definitely think Kast can do the same. I struggle to think of any band or artist that realeases good material when they are swept up in critical hand jobs and swimming in cash. You need to fall off – have that VH1 behind the music “downward spiral.”

Now, I’m not saying all artists bounce back from that – but that is what you need to really test if the magic is gone.

And for the record – I consider ATLiens the best hip hop album of all time.