André 3000 thinks Erykah Badu cursed his career
As the frontman of Atlanta duo Outkast, André 3000 had an illustrious career full of success and accolades. However, when that journey came to a rather abrupt end, fans were confused and somewhat upset. That said, during a 2014 interview with GQ, André 3000 claimed that his career ended and many suspect he was hinting it was due to a curse cast by his close friend Erykah Badu.
André and Badu are not strangers to each other. In fact, their relationship was so good that in 1997, they had a child together. During an interview with Red Bull Music Academy in 2011, Badu disclosed how she and the Atlnata emcee first met.
Revealing at the very start of her career, the neo-soul legend began, “It was 1997. My single came out February 7th—‘On and On.’ I heard it in New York in a club and met André that night. No, that’s a year before. Let me back up. Two years earlier, I met André at the club, and they played the song ‘On and On.’ Two years later, on February 7th, ‘On and On’ came out on the radio. February 11th, I got pregnant.”
Later that year, on November 18th, Badu and André welcomed their son, Seven Sirius Benjamin. Although initially, their relationship was close, warm and loving, the honey period didn’t last long, and at the turn of the millennium, they split.
André even told the story through his music on Outkast’s fourth album, Stankonia. More specifically, the track ‘Ms Jackson’ was addressed to the neo-soul singer’s mother. With lines such as, “I’m sorry, Ms Jackson, I am for real / Never meant to make your daughter cry / I apologize a trillion times” and “Yes I will be present on the first day of school—and graduation”, it was a heartfelt apology.
However, only three years after the release of Stankonia, Outkast would see a sudden end, and 3000 is sure that Badu is responsible for it. Badu has said before, “The men that I fall in love with, and fall in love with me change [their] jobs and lives!”
Following his and Erykah’s breakup, André 3000’s life did a complete 180, and he found himself uninspired and unable to make music the way he could before he met Badu. Expressing this, the ‘Hey Ya’ singer unveiled, “Before that album [Speakerboxxx/The Love Below], I moved to California. It started a little bit before then, and I just chucked it off as, ‘Yeah man, I just need to take a break!’”
However, this wasn’t the case. He added, “[But] I started to notice it getting worse and worse because the more you run from it, the worse it gets. You don’t want to explain it because you don’t want to be a weak link around your friends!”
Unfortunately for the emcee and singer, after the 2003 project, he never recovered, and he slowly but surely removed himself from the limelight due to his lack of inspiration and depleted creativity. Chicago lyricist Common (who also dated Erykah Badu) has spoken about his experiences after his relationship with the neo-soul vocalist.
Although it is unconfirmed, it is thought that both André 3000 and Common are firm believers that Badu had a negative impact on their career progress.