The album features outer space-inspired production sounds, with Outkast and producers Organized Noize incorporating elements of dub and gospel into the compositions.

The album's title is a portmanteau of "ATL" (an abbreviation of Atlanta, Georgia, the duo's hometown) and "aliens", which has been interpreted by critics as a commentary about the feeling of being isolated from American culture.

Bolstered by the success of the single "Player's Ball", the record established Outkast as prominent figures in the Southern hip hop scene.

On a trip to Jamaica with producer Mr. DJ, the two decided to abandon their cornrow hairstyles in favor of a more natural aesthetic, vowing to stop combing their hair.

[3] Dungeon Family member Big Rube observed an increase in the duo's confidence after returning from their first tour, remarking, "They started understanding the power they had in their music.

"[4] The members also underwent changes in their personal lives; in 1995, Big Boi's girlfriend gave birth to their first child and André 3000 and Total's Keisha Spivey ended their two-year relationship.

[10] The two also became more accustomed to playing live, particularly Big Boi, and André 3000 significantly changed his lifestyle; he adopted a more eccentric fashion sense, became a vegetarian (he has since resumed eating meat), and stopped smoking marijuana.

[12] Before beginning work on ATLiens, André 3000 purchased an SP1200 drum machine, an MPC3000 sampler, a TASCAM mixing board, and turntables with stacks of classic records.

[18] MTV wrote that the album's production "built giddy, chaotic hooks around throbbing bass grooves, neck-snapping drums and bits of backwoods country and psychedelic rock for good measure.

[21] "13th Floor/Growing Old" contains a spoken word introduction from Big Rube, somber soul vocals from Debra Killings, and a "Prince-ish" piano riff,[15][22] while "Wheelz of Steel" features "furious" turntable scratching by Mr.

[23] Lyrically, André 3000 and Big Boi abandon the "hard-partying playa characters" of their debut album in favor of more spacey, funky, and futuristic personas on ATLiens.

[23] The title track's chorus expresses Southern pride, while its verses feature André 3000 explaining his newly adopted drug-free lifestyle.

In his book Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, author T. Hasan Johnson interprets the album's title as "partly a statement about being from Atlanta, while also signifying on the theme of the group's name (by using the term aliens) framing themselves as societal outcasts.

"[28] Mark Bould, author of The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, observes that the title symbolizes Outkast's "estrangement from American society", suggesting that "the inner city of their formative years is out of this world and its hostile conditions.

Andrea Comer of the Hartford Courant felt that Outkast's "lyrical acumen shines through" despite "Heltah-Skeltah mumbling and Southern slang", and stated, "after a few rotations, the alien feeling wears away, and [the album is] just out of this world.

"[37] The Source's Allen S. Gordon observed "growth" from Outkast and Organized Noize, and stated, "Big Boi and Dre have gone out of this world into a new dimension of sight, sound and mind".

Powell asserted that unlike East Coast hip hop's "hedonistic materialism" or "the gunplay and pimpism" of West Coast hip hop, "Andre and Big Boi display a unique ability to describe ghetto life while offering up life-affirming possibilities, something all too rare in today's hip-hop nation.

"[42] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post enjoyed the record's "more serious and focused lyrical sensibility", explaining, "The raps are generally inventive, clever without being cloying, more proof (if any were needed) that hip-hop innovation isn't just an East-West thang.

"[20] In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Steve Huey viewed the album as Outkast's "most focused work" and commented that "In addition to the striking musical leap forward, Dre and Big Boi continue to grow as rappers; their flows are getting more tongue-twistingly complex, and their lyrics more free-associative".

So deep that listening to ATLiens you might feel like drowning, but the smooth vo-cals of Big Boi and the earthy flows of Andre always push you back up to the surface.

[46]In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Roni Sarig felt that, strong rapping notwithstanding, the album's music "suffers as the duo make their first attempt at self-producing" and stated, "Although ATLiens promised expanded vistas with its interstellar motif, the record delivered something of a sophomore slump ... At best, ATLiens is the sound of an ambitious group searching for its voice.

[52] Rappers Isaiah Rashad,[53] Wiz Khalifa and Dom Kennedy,[54][55] and DJ Jesse Marco have named ATLiens as one of their favorite albums.