In many of our ExtraTime posts over the years, we've featured the times where MTV Reality and music have collided -- most recently when a former teen pop star who once hung out with a New Orleans Queen of The Challenge finally won a Grammy this winter. A few years ago, we told two stories of how two musical groups from different genres used guest cameos to boost their profiles before eventually taking over the charts.
In 2004, Florida punk-pop band Yellowcard played in the background of old-school challengers smashing hotel rooms on The Inferno and contributed music to that season's opening titles before the biggest year of their career. Five years later, the cast of Real World Cancun helped coordinate Spring Break appearances in Mexico by emerging dance music duo LMFAO before "Get Crazy" became synonymous with Jersey Shore and "Party Rock Anthem" took over 2011's playlists.
This latest tale of a music act appearing on an MTV Reality series doesn't involve an emerging artist getting their big break towards getting global recognition, but is a story that was lost in time and took until a return of two of its members to The Challenge a few years ago for us to dust off this story. As this flashback is being posted, it has been a decade & a half since one of the most-notable albums of the 21st century, which was released by one of the co-subjects of this post.
Here - and unlike Yellowcard, LMFAO and a then-unknown Lady Gaga who had Lauren and Whiten work on her stage outfit on a 2008 episode of The Hills, the artists featured here were more well known at the time than their later counterparts in the pop, rock and dance genres. This was before they released two albums in one that propelled them into the mainstream and brought the South to the forefront of hip-hop. And the cast who share top-billing on the marquee would ultimately produce four Challenge champions, including the only Challenger ever to win four straight titles.
When you have a renowned cast of a past and pioneering MTV Reality series get to perform in front of a group that was ready to become the biggest stars in the world, then you have the story of when OutKast Invaded Road Rules.
