By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | November 4, 2025

If you’ve ever ridden MARTA with Outkast playing through your headphones, this one’s for you. The city’s favorite duo — André 3000 and Big Boi — just got a moving tribute in their honor, and it’s riding through the same neighborhoods that raised them. This is a moment of pride for all of us, a testament to our shared love for our city and its music.

MARTA has wrapped one of its buses in full Stankonia glory — a rolling celebration of 25 years since the album that not only changed hip-hop but also changed Atlanta’s cultural landscape. It reminded the world that the South had something to say, and we’re proud to be a part of that cultural revolution.

The bus made its first appearance at Skatetonia25, a fan party thrown by Sony Music at Cascade Skating Rink — the kind of place where Atlanta’s stories always seem to begin. There was music, skating, and even Big Boi himself, posing for photos beside the bus that now carries his name through the streets he grew up on.

“MARTA is part of the fabric of Atlanta, just like Outkast,” said MARTA Interim CEO Jonathan Hunt. “We’re proud to celebrate artists who carried this city’s voice to the world — and who gave MARTA a shoutout along the way.”

That shoutout — the one every true fan knows — came on “Elevators (Me & You)” back in 1996:

“A couple of years ago on Headland and Delowe / Was the start of something good / Where me and my [partner] rode the MARTA through the hood…”

That spot, Headland and Delowe in East Point, still sits along MARTA bus routes 93 and 81. And thanks to Outkast, it’s part of Atlanta’s living soundtrack.

The new MARTA tribute bus will stay in service for a year, cruising through Southwest Atlanta, the birthplace of Outkast and a hotbed of creativity and community. This route is a reminder that these two elements always find a way to ride together, just like Outkast’s music and the city that inspired it.

And with Outkast set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on November 8, this moment feels like more than nostalgia. It’s a full-circle ride — from ATLiens to Stankonia, from College Park to the cosmos. The bus, a moving tribute to their legacy, is a symbol of their journey from local heroes to global icons.

So, if you see that bus roll past, know: the South’s still got something to say.

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