You may have noticed that #ATLiens was trending on the social networking site twitter all weekend, well it’s because this week marked the 15th anniversary of that historic release!

On August 27, 1996, my future online nickname (and every Atlantans favorite moniker) was born with the release of OutKast’s ATLien album on LaFace Records, the 2nd album from Big Boi and Andre 3000. After we’d gotten a taste of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, us ATLiens craved more from the 18 year old duo and “ATLiens” was their gift to us and to the world.

ATLien (pronounced Ay-Tee-Alien), is a combination of “ATL” (the airport code for Atlanta, Georgia) and “aliens” (creatures from another world). [Sidebar: Who can possibly forget Dre’s naked lady ATLien rendition.]

Atlanta has always been “another world” to those on the outside looking in and the title perfectly fit the hometown flavor of Outkast’s album and the group’s overall flavor.