André 3000 is a member of the group OutKast, the experimental hip hop duo that has sold over twenty million copies out of their six albums, making them one of the most successful hip hop groups in history.
André Benjamin is one half of the Outkast equation, while Antwan “Big Boi” Patton is the other half. The two met in high school in East Point, Georgia and were originally adversaries in rapping contests, but soon enough they became best friends and joined up to form the group OutKast. Their first album, released in 1994 and titled Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik allowed them to receive the honor of Best New Rap Group at the Source Awards in 1995.
Initially, the OutKast sound was a mixture of ghetto-funk and southern rap, but their music has steadily progressed into more experimental areas with the addition of rock, electronic, jazz and soul elements. In fact, the group now experiments so much that some critics have referred to them as an “avant-garde” hip hop group; and that label is largely the result of André 3000’s numerous influences. He has cited 2 Live Crew, George Clinton, A Tribe Called Quest, even punk artists The Ramones, plus new wave artists The Smiths among his many influences.
And OutKast’s experimental approach seems to be working. Their 2003 release, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below has went diamond, meaning that over ten million copies have now sold in the United States.
André 3000 grew up in Atlanta and was raised by a single mother. The family didn’t have much money and he became interested in music in his teens. After he and Big Boi signed with LaFace Records in 1992, their musical career erupted after their first single “Player’s Ball,” hit #1 on the Billboard Rap Chart. But André has stated that he does not see himself making music past the age of 40 – he was born in 1975 – saying that hip hop and rock is best performed by younger people. (He even dreaded turning 30 and stayed home instead of celebrating).
Currently, André has been turning more of his attention to acting. He began doing voice over work for the martial arts movie Whasango in 2001. Since then, he has appeared in the film Hollywood Homicide, had a small appearance in the series The Shield, and in 2005 he had much larger roles in the movies Revolver, Be Cool, another voice role in Charlotte’s Web, and of course Four Brothers. Idlewild is an HBO film released in 2006 that he and Big Boi both star in, but it didn’t do exceptionally well with critics. It’s a musical set in the 1930s and contains animation (Terrence Howard of Hustle & Flow also has a role in the film). In 2007 Andre had a role in a basketball movie titled Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell, and in 2008 he landed a role in Battle in Seattle.
André has used many different aliases over the years, such as, “Possum Allawishes Jenkins”, “Benjamin André”, “Johnny Vulture”, “Dookie”, and simply “Dre.” He frequently wears sun glasses because he suffers from stage fright.
André used to be in a relationship with soul musician Erykah Badu, and together they have one son, Seven.
Rumors of OutKast breaking up were stifled when they released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The album was basically two solo records combined – yet another example of their experimental aesthetic – even though they insist the album should be thought of as a unified whole. It showcases each of the member’s talents, with André doing more singing and Big Boi handling most of the rapping duties. The group is rumored to be working on another album titled “10 The Hard Way.”
Sources:
Andre ‘Andre 3000’ Benjamin, Yahoo Movies, http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808600750/bio
Outkast, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outkast
Andre 3000, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_3000
