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Andre 3000 surprised fans a few weeks ago when he showed up on the remix to “Decemba” by Divine Council. Since Andre appearances are a rarity, the bubbling Virginia crew knew they received a blessing and it was something that brought them to tears. But how the the Outkast member came across the group is a story we’ve heard before.
His son, Seven, put him up on them.
The revelation comes from a recent interview the The Fader where group members and Andre detail how things went from him finding out about them to recording a new verse for them in eight hours flat. It was Seven Benjamin, Dre’s teenage son by Erykah Badu, who hipped his dad to Divine Council. “He told us that the way he heard us was through his son Seven and I thought that was even crazier,” $ilk Money says. It’s believable since Seven’s dad has credited his son previously with keeping him abreast of who’s pushing the envelope in rap and played armchair A&R for his parents.
As it turns out, they share a connection through Epic, their record label, too, but the connection was purely organic. “He came to the show that night and we went to dinner and all of that.” Later, 3000 checked out their performance and even took notes to share with the guys, which they obviously took heed to. “I love that sh*t because he’s like our mentor,” $ilk explained. “The fact that he sits there and watches our shows and makes a list of shit that we need to improve on is great.”
He continued, “It lets me know how involved he is and the greatness he truly sees in us. He always has all types of insight. He is probably the only nigga that could tell me shit in this music shit, anybody else I’d be like, “I don’t give a fuck.” But him? I’m taking heed to everything.”
As for that remix, it went down in record time with Dre taking the lead in helping his new mentees out. “I heard ‘Decemba’ one time on SoundCloud and I was immediately inspired,” he said, “just from the way $ilk Money was rapping. It was just good. I started writing and recorded the verse that day.”
“The whole thing was quick as hell,” group member ICYTWAT said. “We finished the song Friday, dropped the song Saturday, and then had a remix by Sunday.”
$ilk had the same reaction that many other artists would have if Andre called their music inspiring. “I cried. I dead ass cried. I cried tears of joy.”
