By now, there should be no doubt about who the greatest duo in Hip-Hop is. The answer is obvious: Outkast is the greatest Hip-Hop group in the history of Rap music, hands down.
If anyone still has the nerve to cast doubt on this, they need only look at the duo’s long and successful track record. With 12 years in the game and 6 multi-platinum albums, the proof of Andre and Big Boi’s greatness is definitely in the proverbial pudding.
The duo began their foray into Hip-Hop in 1994, with the release of their seminal record, Players Ball. The song became a hit single on La Face Record’s Christmas album. The reaction to the record prompted the label to add the young duo as the label’s first Hip-Hop act.
Their debut LP, Southernplaylisticcadallacmusik, sold a million copies and helped lay a solid foundation for the current explosion of Southern Hip-Hop.
ATLiens—their critically acclaimed sophomore effort—sold a million-and-a-half units. The record cemented the duo’s position as one of the groups on the cutting edge of Hip-Hop.
Their third LP, Aquemini, reached a major plateau in their career. Not only was the LP declared a certified classic by Hip-Hop publications, like The Source and Rap Pages, the LP moved three million people up to join the swelling ranks of Outkast fans. To this day, Aquemini remains one of the quintessential records in Hip-Hop.
On Stankonia, Outkast pushed the envelope even further by revisiting the spirit of George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Hazel and dropped five million listeners into some good old fashion psychedelic Hip-Hop Funk.
Their fifth platinum LP, entitled Big Boi & Dre Present… Outkast presented fans with a retrospective of classic hits, plus three new songs—one of which, The Whole World, earned them a coveted Grammy Award for best Rap song by a duo or group.
The Love Below/Speakerboxx: Andre 3000 and Big Boi have taken a bold step forward by releasing an unprecedented dual-CD containing their own individual musical statements, thus giving fans a glimpse into the creative minds of each member. The record sold a whopping ten million copies and remained at the top of the pop charts for weeks and weeks.
Now, with their seventh LP, Idlewild, the musical companion to their upcoming major motion picture with the same name and the follow-up to their diamond-selling LP, The Love Below/Speakerboxx, Hip-Hop’s dynamic duo are poised to open a new chapter in audio-visual expression.
Breakin’ Records dispatched veteran journalist Charlie Braxton to interview Andre 3000 about their career, the new album and movie. Here’s what he came back with.
Q: Andre, what’s going on? It’s been a long time.
Andre: Yeah, it’s been about two years since we last talked.
Q: Has it been that long?
Andre: Yeah.
Q: Wow, it doesn’t seem that long.
Andre: That’s because we always tend to pick up right where we left off in our conversations.
Q: Yeah, that’s true. In fact, in our last conversation, we were talking about films. And, this time, we’re here to talk about you all’s debut film and your new album Idlewild. I’m happy to say that I’ve seen every film that you’ve starred in, and you know what my favorite movie that you starred in is?
Andre: Which one?
Q: The one where you played a chess player… you wore a white suit….
Andre: You’re talking about Revolver.
Q: Yeah, that’s it. I love that movie.
Andre: I’m glad you like it. It never did catch on here in the States. It was kinda like a real underground London movie that was released in Europe. Guy Ritchie is cool to work with. I was really excited to work with him.
Q: I watch a lot of foreign movies. I tend to like them better because they tend to be a bit more cerebral. The thing I like about Revolver was that it kept you on your toes. Just when you thought you had figured everything out, here’s another plot twist. Plus, the characters were real complex.
Andre: Yeah. See, that’s what it was like for the general audiences. A lot of the feedback we got from it here in the US was it was too confusing, and you had to think too hard. I liked it, though.
Q: I understand that feedback because I write plays, and nowadays the theater—especially African-American popular theater—has gone the way of McDonald’s. Nobody wants to see the complex plots of August Wilson on stage; they want Tyler Perry. Everybody wants you to dumb everything down.
Andre: Actually, I never thought of it like that. I’m taking a screenwriting course, myself.
Q: Trust me: Getting your script made into a movie is a harrowing experience. I tried to shop a screenplay I wrote, about two years ago, and everybody told me to tone down the social commentary; make it more of an urban crime drama and make it simple.
Max Julian once told me that in order to get an urban screenplay done, nowadays, you have to have some violence and sex on every other page, or else Hollywood ain’t interested.
Andre: Yeah, that’s Hollywood… they want the quick sale, a lot of the times. Now that I’m in it, I kinda see how a lot of movies are made and how a lot of movies are not made.
I enjoy the acting aspect of it, but I’m trying to get more into the writing of screenplays. I kinda like getting behind the scenes, because I’m kinda like the one who always be coming up with concepts and stuff like that.
Q: Well, if you listen to your lyrics, you’ve always been more of a storyteller. So, it only seems natural that you would gravitate to screenwriting.
Andre: Yeah, but screenwriting is a whole other ballgame. And, now that I read a lot of scripts, man, I read so many bad scripts. There’s only like a handful of good scripts.
Q: Well, I hear you. I don’t read a whole lot of bad scripts, but I can tell you that I get a whole lot of bad records.
Andre: (Laughs) Yeah, man. It’s a new ballgame. It’s a lot of new blood out here, and actually, I welcome it all.
I had actually gotten to a point that I didn’t listen to radio that much. My son’s eight years old now, and when we ride in the car, we listen to radio, and you know them kids: They’re into what’s hip and what’s going on now. So, when I’m in the car with him, and he’s listening to the radio and I see that this is the music that they like. So, I started getting into it, and I started to understand it.
Q: Yep, I understand, totally, because my kids help me to understand Snap music. You can’t help but understand it when they’re in your house playing it, dancing to it and reciting the lyrics, everyday. It’s the music of their generation. As much as I love him, it’s kind of difficult for an eight year old to get into Rakim, at this point in their life.
But, with the Laffy Taffy, they understand it because it’s aimed at them. The metaphors are all references to candy. So, on a surface level, they can relate to it, even though, what’s being said with those references isn’t for kids.
Andre: Yeah, but it’s really like High School chant music. It’s hard for adults to understand it, but I can tell you right now that no matter how simple and stupid people think it is, I’m loving it. I really do, because it’s full of youth energy.
And, you know, I have learned that I can never sit back and say, “Aw, man, that music is whack; that’s terrible.”
I can’t really do that, because it’s really a reflection of where we are. It’s a reflection where people are at, right now. And, if n----s in the hood are really just doing it like that, then that’s just where they head at. We at a period right now where kids… girls and dudes in high school do everything for the club.
We’re in a club culture where n----s wanna ride to the club looking good in their nice car. They want they rims looking good, and when they get to the club, they wanna look fresh with their clothes, and when they leave the club, they wanna leave with a nice girl, and they wanna drink Patron and smoke and do all kinds of other stuff in the club.
I tripped out, because when I look at all the top songs in the last two or three years, they all had the word ‘Club’ in it.
Q: You know, one thing that always tends to happen is that when times get hard, the music tends to get more intense and danceable. Look at Jazz in the 1920s, during the Great Depression or Disco during the 70s recession, etc.
Andre: Right.
Q: There’s a book called Blues People, by LeRoi Jones, that talks about how socioeconomic conditions affect Black music.
Andre: I gotta read that book, because I’ve been real heavy into the Blues, right now.
Q: But, getting back to what you said about Snap music being the music of the youth: I think that it’s a good thing that the music is so youth oriented, because that means as this generation matures, the music will change into something else.
You hear the beginning of the change in the music now. You hear it in Crunk music. You hear it in the Hyphy, and you hear it in Snap music. I think that we—meaning Black people—are at a point in history where we have to invent something new out of sheer need for cultural survival.
Andre: Yeah, what I love about what going on now is, even though it’s simple and some people down it, you’re going to get this reaction to it. You gonna get a reaction from people who are tired of it, because it’s such an overload of it right now.
It’s fifty groups out right now that sound like D4L. It’s fifty rappers in Atlanta that rap like TI. It’s gonna be so much of it that, somebody in their house or in their basement is naturally gonna kinda rebel against that. I just think that it’s gonna be rawer and harder.
Q: Well, if you ask me, I think that Snap is a reaction to the over-saturation of Crunk in the market. Because, when I listen to Crunk music—especially Lil Jon’s stuff—, it’s real slick, compared to the Snap music.
When you hear Dem Franchise Boys’ White T or D4L’s Laffy Taffy, those two records sound like they made them in their basement on a Casio keyboard. And, when the kids hear those songs, they sound like something organic, something that comes from them and not some big major record company or radio station trying to shove something down their throats.
Andre: Exactly. It’s talking about the state of where they are, right now. Really, “White T” meant I may not be able to afford all of them throwback jerseys and that type of stuff, but I’m still right here on the street, and that’s what we wear.
Q: And, it’s cool to wear them, because that’s what we wear.
Andre: Yeah, and now people go out and buy packs of white Ts. They’re inexpensive, and there are three of them in a pack and you can look clean.
Q: Let’s talk a little bit about the album and the movie.
Andre: Go for it.
Q: Well, let’s begin with the title. Most of the time, I can pretty much figure out the concept of each of your titles, but with Idlewild, I have to admit that you brothers got me.
Andre: I gotta admit this time I got me, too (Laughs).
‘Cause, this time, it was really titled by default. We were looking for a title, but nobody really like the title we had come up with. It was hard to say and people don’t know what it means. They get it mixed up.
They would call it “Idlewood” and stuff like that. But, really, it was a city in Michigan. When Brian /[Barber] wrote the script, his wife is from Michigan and there was a town in Michigan in the 30s and 40s called ‘Idlewild’. And, it was a place where prominent Black people that had money would go vacation. It was kinda like the Hamptons but for Black people. It’s called ‘Idlewild’.
So, we just took that name and took that sensibility and placed it in Georgia and called it ‘Idlewild, Georgia’. Actually, JFK Airport used to be called Idlewild Airport too. It’s a place. It’s actually a real place.
Q: That’s interesting that you should say that about Idlewild, because in listening to the music, I get this sense of elegance—almost like Swing Jazz in the 40s and 50s. Songs like Morris Brown have a very Bluesy horn arrangement.
Andre: Right. I’m gonna tell you the history of that song. I did this beat one day, and at first, it was just the beat and synthesizers. I was listening to it while riding around in Cali, and I felt like it needed to have a marching band on it.
And, so I went to Morris Brown and talked to the band director and gave him a copy of the track and told him that I wanted the band to play this. And, he took it and arranged for all of the instruments to play different parts.
I did the song for TLC, and something worked out to where they didn’t wanna pay for it because I had brought the whole band into the studio. They liked the song, but they didn’t wanna pay for it.
So, it just sat around in the studio for a long time, until last year when one of Big Boi’s artists named Scar heard the track and started writing to it. After he wrote the singing part, then Big Boi came on in and did his thing.
In that time, Morris Brown went down. So, it’s not around anymore. So, we felt, hey, why not call it ‘Morris Brown’, just to keep it on the up and up and to keep people remembering it.
Q: One of my favorite songs on the album is Don’t Worry Bout Me: Idlewild Blues.
Tell me about that record, man?
Andre: I wrote that record while I was shooting ‘Four Brothers’. I was sitting in my trailer, and I was messing around with guitar and just came up with this song. It was just me and guitar, at first. But, I knew that I wanted it to live in the space that people were living in. I wanted it to live in the club, and I wanted it to live in a modern environment.
I don’t know if people dig the Blues. I love the Blues. These kids, nowadays, don’t know nothing about the Blues.
Howling Wolf is my favorite Blues artist. He’s the man to me. I love it man; I love it.
And, it’s crazy, but how s—t work in a certain way. I don’t know if you know, but back in the day, my Rap name used to be Black Wolf and Big Boi’s name was Black Dog.
While I was in Toronto, there is a huge Native American community, and I would just go to the Native American community center and listen to them drumming. And, they told me about this reservation where I can just go out there and learn more about Native American culture.
So, I went out there and went to this little store and I bought this wolf tail—you’ll see it in the video or whatever. This was before I even did the record, and now, when I look back in retrospect, I think that all of that s—t kinda mean something.
But, getting back to the song: It was actually something just started on the guitar—just me messing around, until I found something that I liked and then like the lyrics. What I had to do for this record was because my character in the movie is called ‘Perchival’.
I had to kinda write from Perchival’s eyes but put myself in it, so it could kinda come off true in the music and not pretentious. So, when I’m speaking, saying, “People, don’t worry about me,” or “Mama, don’t worry about me,” that’s me talking, but I’m talking through Perchival.
So, when I say, “people”, that’s kinda like everybody out there who have been paying attention to Outkast for a minute and feel like me and Big Boi, we tripping. Well, Andre don’t wanna tour and all this type of stuff. That’s like, “Don’t worry ‘bout me; I’m gonna be straight. Me and Big Boi. we straight.”
Q: You don’t have to tell me, bro. I’ve seen you all enough to know that you all are and will remain the best of friends. You guys have the type of relationship that only people who have really taken the time to really observe it can truly understand.
Andre: Yeah, exactly. You know, it’s funny because it’s funny I got a record that I just recorded. Well, the deadline for the album was yesterday. So, for the last three days, I’ve been up straight.
I haven’t been to sleep in three days, because I’ve been trying to make up stuff at the last minute. I’ve got some songs that you haven’t heard yet that’s gonna make the album. The song’s called ‘Life is a Musical’.
And, since we’re talking about the whole Outkast situation, I gotta tell you these lyrics. I wish you could hear it. I says, “Not so far or long ago, when life was straight up and cars would move slow, and you were cool if you were pigeon toed, but now things have changed. Now, life is a musical.”
I called Big Boi on the telephone. I said, “Hold up, before we write another song. No matter what goes down, we stand strong, because ain’t nothing changed. Let’s make a musical based on fiction and faction or verse visa; throw in some action, and you’ve got us well to a fraction. ‘Cause, things have changed. It’s all good. Outkast goes Hollywood.”
That’s just the verse. The hook is, “Don’t let ‘em, don’t let ‘em change us.”
Basically, it’s just a song to put people back straight. I’m gonna tell ya man. It’s been writers that’s just done… man, they been taking stabs at us. We read these stories, and man, they make it seem like I said something ‘bout Big Boi or I’m trippin’ because he’s married, and me and Big Boi sit back and be like, “Man, what the f**k is this?”
It’s at the point where we’re being attacked. You know we’ve never really been attacked.
Q: That might be because a lot of these cats writing about you don’t really understand music. So, they look for other things to make their story hot.
Andre: Yeah, I understand it. It has to come. I know that it’s that time where we need some kind of opposition, ya know, and that’s cool.
Q: You all have elevated Southern Hip-Hop to whole new level. If you look at the history of Southern Hip-Hop, the three most important artists are Luke and the 2 Live Crew, the Geto Boys and you guys. Luke and the 2 Live borrowed much of their sound from the Electro-Funk, which was pioneered by Afrika Bambaataa, Newcleus and Michael Jonzon.
The Geto Boys were heavily influenced by West Coast acts, like NWA. You guys were the first to marry Southern Soul with Hip-Hop and open the door for groups like the Goodie Mob and the Field Mob.
Andre: Yeah, it’s funny, now, after twelve years, you don’t really be thinking about it.
Q: You don’t think about it, Andre. You just do it. That’s the nature of being an artist.
Andre: Ah, man. It’s funny how we just be talking about one thing that lead me into another song. We got a song on there called Hollywood Divorce, and it talks about exactly what you’re saying.
I mean, you gotta think back twelve years ago: The South was laughed at. Now, if you go to New York or you go to LA, that’s all you hear on the radio. That’s all you hear. I mean, it’s either snapping or clapping or trapping. It’s one of them.
Q: But, it’s not just the music. Look at the culture. You see kids from New York dressing like us, dancin’ like us. H**l, they’re even using our slang; they’re “ridin’ on 22s”.
Andre: Yeah, it’s crazy. What I’m saying is, usually whenever a Black thing started in the hood and it gets so big where Hollywood makes movies about it, usually the Black people who made it, they flip it and do something else, because then it’s not theirs, no more.
On Hollywood Divorce, the chorus says, “It starts off like a small town marriage, lovely wife, a life and a baby carriage. Now all the stars have care, success, of course, but it ends up in Hollywood divorce.”
And, that what this is. It all started off as some s—t we used to do in high school–this Southern s—t. We didn’t know that it was gonna take off like it did. I mean, TI he used to come by the studio. He used to come by Stankonia. He used to be rappin’. This was before he was even on, ya know. And, it was all just some neighborhood s—t.
But, now, they’re making movies about our city, man. Even though it missed the mark a lot, it really didn’t say what Atlanta was. But, just for somebody to dish out money to make a movie about our city is good, in and of itself. They made movies about New York—Beat Street and Wild Style and all of that. Now, they making movies about this small place called Atlanta, where the highest building was the Peachtree Plaza, at one point. But now, the city is huge.