The star is the soul singer Erykah Badu, who has collaborated with Outkast in the past: the fruits of their labor include a couple great songs and a baby. Or does it? A week before Outkast, a different Southern-bred, hip-hop-influenced star released an equally daring new album. Having released the riskiest album of their decade-long career, the members of Outkast are more visible than ever.

Entertainment Weekly graded the album an ''A,'' and the double-album's twin videos - ''Hey Ya!,'' by André 3000, and ''The Way You Move,'' by Big Boi - have been playing on MTV and BET. This could have been a recipe for disaster, but ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' (Arista/BMG) has earned an enthusiastic reception so far.

Listeners have to make sense of almost two and a half hours of music, figuring out for themselves how it all fits together.

''Speakerboxxx'' is propelled by Big Boi's precise, sticky rhymes, and ''The Love Below'' floats along on André 3000's not-quite-angelic falsetto singing. 23, the duo released ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' - two solo albums, side by side. A FEW weeks ago, the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo Outkast did something that seemed suicidal.

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