Posted by | Ray Cornelius
VIBE magazine recently caught up with Outkast member and fellow ATLien Andre 3000. The new brand ambassador and “Master of Style” for Gillette talked about his unique fashion sense, where he is musically (it’s been a minute since Outkast has released a new album) and how he prepared for his role as rock legend Jimi Hendrix in the highly anticipated biopic “All Is By My Side.”
Check out a few excerpts from the interview.
When OutKast first came onto the scene you were rocking pretty traditional “hip-hop clothes” of the time period. Do you remember when you really made the decision to go left from what rappers were wearing?
“Yeah, the year after our first album (Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik) came out, and I started to produce once I got money to buy my own beat machines and equipment. Our first album was completely produced by Organized Noize. On our second album I started to put in production and I started to look at album covers in a different way. I was a fan of bands like Parliament Funkadelic, Prince, Hendrix, and other older groups. They became my style icons at that age. So I just started trying to incorporate different things into my wardrobe. I felt comfortable doing it. I actually made a huge turnaround after our first album, and I became a vegan/vegetarian at 22-23. I’d gone so hard the years before that I had to do something.”
How was that whole experience of just getting into the Jimi Hendrix character?
I camped down in California. I didn’t speak to my friends really cause I had to change my voice and my accent. I have a thick Southern drawl, so I had to listen hours of Hendrix interviews and had to lose a lot of weight. But it was a great experience, and I cannot wait until everybody sees it. I haven’t seen even seen a bit of it yet.
Andre 3000 on the set of “All Is By My Side” with actress Hayley Atwell
You haven’t seen the movie you starred in?
No, I didn’t see the dailys either when we did the scenes. I never looked behind the camera to see what it looked like. I just kind of just did it.
Was that a conscious decision?
Yeah, because I’m just self-conscious and if I would have saw something that I hated it would messed my performance up for the rest of the day. Or if I saw something I loved I wouldn’t want to try and redo it. Hendrix was a style-man, like just researching him and you see how style was a big part of him. Like that’s all he was about he would say ‘I’m not really a guitar player, honestly. I’m just a style-man.’
That’s crazy and so many people have taken from that. Before we wrap up, I know everyone and their mother is hounding you about the next Kast album and your solo LP, but just let me know where you are musically.
Big Boi and Andre 3000
“The only thing I can really say is I write lyrics every day. I wouldn’t say that I write raps everyday but I’ll… at the end of the day they’re all just thoughts. You know and sometimes they turn into raps, they turn into melodic songs, or they just turn into song titles. But I haven’t said ‘Okay I’m putting this album out right now.’ I’m not at that place. I just have to find something that I’m super excited about and right now I’m just chasing that feeling, man. I got a figure out why I’m doing this.”
Click here for the full interview.
