Aquemini is OutKast's third studio album, released on September 29, 1998. The album title represents Big Boi and André 3000's personalities by combining their Zodiac signs: Aquarius and Gemini.
Expanding on the outer space-inspired sounds of the duo’s previous record (ATLiens), Aquemini incorporates influences of 1970s funk, southern soul, gospel, country, psychedelic rock, and more. It explores various themes lyrically — including individuality, human nature, addiction, self-inflicted struggles, technology, and relationships — while blending together science fiction concepts and urban narratives.
This website was illustrated, designed, and coded by Marissa Hart for the BFA Communication Design Capstone in Illustration in Spring 2025, at WashU’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Fonts used: Space Grotesk, Gil Modern & Tuppence.
Special thanks to my professor Shreyas R. Krishnan, TA Maddie Baker, and the illustration cohort for their support and advice throughout the semester!
There's a— there's a— there's a— there's a fine line
Too late, but baby, I'm on it, yeah, yeah, yeah (Yo, yo, uh-huh)
There's a fine line between love and hate, you see
Came way too late but, baby, I'm on it
There's a fine line between love and hate, you see
Came way too late but, baby, I'm on it
Can't worry 'bout what a n*gga think
Now see, that's liberation and, baby, I want it
Can't worry 'bout what another n*gga think
Now that's liberation and, baby, I want it
(Lemme hear it, lemme hear it, lemme though, lemme hear it)
How many times I sit back and contemplate?
I'm fresh off the dank but I'm tellin' my story
My relationship with my folks is give-and-take
And I done took so much, now give me my glory
To have a choice to be who you wants to be
It's left up-a to me and my mama n'em told me (Yes, she did)
I say, to have a choice to be who you wants to be
It's left up-a to me and my mama n'em told me
No, no, no (Ah)
I'm so tired, it's been so long struggling
Hopelessly settling for the day (Hey)
Oh, I sacrifice every breath I breathe
To make you believe I'd give my life away
Oh, Lord, I'm so tired, I'm so tired (Tired)
My feet feel like I walked most of the road on my own (Own)
All on my own (Yeah)
We alive but we ain't livin', that's why I'm givin' until it's gone
'Cause I don't wanna be alone (I don't wanna be alone)
I don't wanna be alone (Yeah) (No, no, no)
If anything I can say to help you find your way
Touch your soul, make it whole, the same for you and I
There's not a minute that goes by that I don't believe we could fly
But I can feel it in the wind, beginning or the end
But people, keep your head to the sky
Shake that load off (repeat)
Folk in your face, you're a superstar
N*ggas hang around 'cause of who you are
You get a lot of love 'cause of what you got
Say they happy for you but they really not
Sell a lot of records and you roll a Benz
Swoll up in the spot, now you losing friends
All you wanna do is give the world your heart
Record label tried to make you compromise your art
You make a million dollars, make a million mo'
First class broad treat you like a n*gga po'
You wanna say "Wait!" but you're scared to ask
As your world starts spinning and it's moving fast
Tryna stay sane is the price of fame
Spending your life tryna numb the pain
You shake that load off and sing your song
Liberate the minds, then you go on home
I must admit, they planted a lot of things
In the brains and the veins of my strain
Makes it hard to refrain, from the host of cocaine
From them whores, from the flame
From a post in the game
Makes it hard to maintain focus
They're from the Glock rounds, and lockdowns, and burials
The seeds that sow, get devoured by the same locusts
'Cause it's a hard row to hoe
If your ass don't move, and the rain don't fall
And the ground just dry
But the roots are strong, so some survive
To your surprise, now I voice their cries
You got more juice than Zeus
Slangin' lightnin' tryin' to frighten
Plains dwellers of the Serengeti
But get beheaded when you falsely dreaded
Melanin, silicone and collagen injected
Dissectin' my pride — who the one gon' get it started?
We be the lionhearted, without infanticide
It's like that red sprite, you can't imagine it
Unless you lookin' at the canvas of life
Not through the peephole of mortality
Single-minded mentality
Gettin' over on loopholes
Gettin' paid two-fold on technicalities
Clickin' your heels but scared to voice how you feel
Packing steel
Pickin' cotton from the killing fields with no toe, though
I don't think we in Kansas no mo' though
Midwest or Dirty South
Clean dressed or dirty mouth
Whether robbin' preachers or killin' Poor Righteous Teachers
You a scared demon
Shouldn't be allowed to spread semen
And you cowardly lions never defyin' the jackals of Babel
Runnin' with they pack, tail between your legs
Though the mane on your head say the story
As you downplay your glory
Cacklin', helpin' the shacklin' of your brethren happening
Just by rappin'
Libertad