Big Boi is about to release his second solo album, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, which means now’s as good a time as any to see what his Outkast partner, Andre 3000, is up to. Since 2006’s Idlewild, the former André Lauren Benjamin has remained musically reclusive, save for the occasional remix and Gillette collaboration with James Murphy and Gorillaz. (He also starred in Semi-Pro and will play Jimi Hendrix in the biopic All is By My Side.) In regards to releasing a solo album or reforming Outkast, Andre told Rolling Stone:
“Things are kind of up in the air with me, and some days, I feel like yeah, I’ll do it. Some days, I feel like, I don’t. I don’t know the future of music right now. I have no idea what I do. I honestly don’t,” he says. “I record and I write ideas. I think I’ll always do that, for some reason. But I don’t know if it will go to another artist or will it be my stuff or will it go to some movie? I don’t know. I just kind of keep creating and hopefully, it’ll fall into a slot.” (Via)
Or maybe he’s playing the long con, and he and Big Boi will surprise fans by announcing a tenth-anniversary tour for Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which will reignite the national debate about which half of the album is better. (Speakerboxxx > The Love Below, barely.) Either that, or we’ll just have to accept that Outkast released five superb albums and that they’re never going to reunite and we should stop living in the past. I DON’T WANT TO.
When asked by the Village Voice about Andre’s lack of presence on Vicious Lies, Big Boi responded:
No, that’s all cleared up now. He could’ve been on any song he wanted to. I gave the motherf*cker about five songs, but I guess he was just too busy. He said he had to do some Gillette sh*t [room erupts in laughter]. No for real. He said he had some contractual obligations. (Via)
Also:
Do you regret turning any of the acting jobs down?
Oh, man. Yeah. I had never heard of Sons Of Anarchy before, and they wanted me to play a recurring role for six months or so. I was supposed to be some big-time dude, I think his name is Pope or whatever. But I was in the middle of this album, and I was like, “I can’t really do this right now.” My brother was looking at me like, “You’re crazy right now,” but that’s how strong my love is for the music. (Via)
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