Outkast has been around for a long time. Since the 1990s, the collective has continuously released compelling alternative hip-hop music that has remained unmatched. With origins in Atlanta, the duo comprised of André 3000 and Big Boi have always been ahead of their time concerning music.
André 3000’s unique style makes it impossible to pigeonhole him, which has been crucial to his legacy as a hip-hop act. The rapper, singer and producer had a strange yet exciting rise to fame. With his origins firmly rooted in the early 1990s,
Comprised of André 3000 and Big Boi, the duo met as teenagers in East Atlanta and through a mutual friend the two had, they were granted access to an underground hip-hop studio known as ‘The Dungeon’. They worked as producers and songwriters for an established Atlanta collective, Organised Noize, but would also work on music as a duo on the side.
Releasing music locally, they slowly but surely rose to become prominent figureheads with their Southern soul-infused music, and by the duo released Stankonia 2000, they were charting on the Billboard 200, managing to debut at number two and their 2003 project, Speakerboxx/The Love Below has become the highest-selling rap album ever.
André 3000 grew up in Atlanta around an array of music and has proven over the years that he has an eclectic taste. That said, despite his absence from hip-hop since 2006’s Idlewild album, the emcee (real name André Benjamin) still keeps a keen eye on the culture.
That said, in an interview with online music publication HipHopDX, South Carolina emcee Nick Grant unveiled that when he first met Benjamin, the Outkast icon told him he was his favourite artist.
Speaking about the experience of meeting Benjamin, Grant detailed, “When I pull up to the studio, André is in there, and when I walk in, he’s like, ‘You my favourite rapper if we do a song together, I’ll have to be on my sh*t'”
He continued, “I was like ‘This is [An]dré’. Without him, there’s no me. Rapping, there’s no me without André 3000. I don’t have my confidence, I don’t have the way I approach verses. None of that! He’s one of the coolest people not just in the business but in life.”
You can watch Nick Grant’s interview about André 3000 in the video below.
