Stankonia is the fourth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released October 31, 2000 on La Face Records. The album debuted at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling over 530,000 copies the first week.

The album received general acclaim from music critics; it holds an aggregate score of 95/100 at Metacritic. It received rave reviews from publications such as USA Today and the Los Angeles Times.Stankonia was also voted the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll. In 2003, the album was ranked number 359 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Outkast's 1998 album Aquemini received extremely positive reviews from music critics, and expanded the group's musical diversity and experimentation. In March 1998, André 3000 and Big Boi purchased a studio off Northside Drive in Atlanta which had formerly belonged to R&B singer Bobby Brown. The two called the studio "Stankonia", a word created by André 3000 as a combination of the words "stank", a slang synonym for "funky", and "Plutonia", the title of a poster in his bedroom depicting a futuristic city. He explained, "Stankonia is this place I imagined where you can open yourself up and be free to express anything".

Patrick "Sleepy" Brown (born January 24, 1970 in Savannah, Georgia) is an R&B singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is one-third of the successful Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for acts such as OutKast, Goodie Mob, and TLC. TLC's "Waterfalls", penned by Brown and Organized Noize's Rico Wade and Ray Murray, was a #1 hit single on Billboard's Hot 100 in the summer of 1995.

Patrick Brown was born on January 24, 1970. In his early days, Brown was fascinated with music and often used to carry around an old four-track machine and small keyboard everywhere he went. That earnestness appealed to Wade and Murray when they first met Brown around 1990. A talented keyboardist and advocate for live instrumentation, Brown developed into a multi-instrumentalist, mastering various types of synthesizers and electric pianos; however, his inclination for using samplers and drum machines always kept him rooted in hip hop. A personal milestone for Brown, however, was the opportunity to work with funk legend Curtis Mayfield in 1996, on his final album New World Order. In the early 2000s, Brown gradually ascended from behind the studio boards into the artist spotlight.

Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor and arranger, whose “retro” style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion himself when recording. He is known for his elaborate stage performances and music videos.

He won the Grammy Award for "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category and most consecutive wins in one category for a male. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, BRIT Awards and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. On December 1, 2011, Kravitz was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He played the role of Cinna in the film The Hunger Games.