OutKast: they've gone from hip-hop fringe dwellers to mavens of the mainstream. But how far can OutKast's journey to the center of pop music go?

Their Grammy-winning, multiplatinum, double-concept album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Arista), did for hip-hop what the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) did for rock 'n' roll, opening up the limping genre of bling to a new world of possibilities, and paving the way for artists like Kanye West and Lil' John to hit the charts with their own idiosyncratic visions.

But what does the future hold for OutKast? With a new album tentatively set for release later this year. along with a rock-themed solo effort by Andre 3000 called Johnny and the Vultures and an HBO film based on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in the pipe for 2005, the Atlanta duo are loath to rest on their laurels. "Hip-hop is dead right now--honestly, that's my opinion of it." declares Dre. "Hip-hop is at the same point right now where the blues was when it changed into rock 'n' roll, or where jazz was when it changed into bebop so we need to push it into new areas." Says his partner in crime, Big Boi, "When we make music, we don't settle for the basics, which is what most people settle for. More than anything, what we bring to the game is freedom."

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