How André 3000 survived a near-fatal car crash
So many of the rap songs and albums we love today and hold dearly may have never been made, as many MCs from Kanye West to 50 Cent have faced near-death experiences. However, few know that Outkast’s André 3000 nearly died in a car crash.
It’s hard for hip-hop fans to imagine a world without ATLiens, Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but that parallel musical universe was very nearly thrust upon us unknowingly when André 3000 was young.
This musical void was avoided. However, it was all thanks to a stranger. In several interviews, André 3000 (real name André Benjamin) revealed that the individual who saved him unbelievably had a mobile phone to call emergency services, despite the fact that the car crash occurred during the 1980s.
Benjamins’ car accident, unlike Kanye West’s, wasn’t his fault as he wasn’t at the wheel. Furthermore, he wasn’t the only individual in the car. During an interview with author Mike Ayers, who published One Last Song: Conversations on Life, Death, and Music in 2020, Benjamin detailed the collision.
The ‘Hey Ya’ rapper unveiled that he was riding in a car with his friend and his pal’s mother when the incident happened. However, to this day, he doesn’t recall the crash but just remembers a man with a now-ancient mobile phone and waking up in hospital.
The pileup occurred before he even met Big Boi as an adolescent in Lenox Mall and before he formed a duo with Big Boi (real name Antwan Patton). During his conversation with Ayers, he put a lot of emphasis on how young he was when he nearly died.
Recalling the accident, Benjamin told Ayers, “When I was younger, me and my friend were in a car accident. We were riding with my friend’s mom, but we were so young, we didn’t know what happened until we woke up in the hospital. I didn’t know. I was a kid.”
However, he remembered the unnamed hero who had saved him, recounting, “We were on this street in Atlanta, and it was a non-busy street. And fortunately, this guy who had money passed by — and he had one of the first working cell phones. It was like a suitcase. And he was able to call an ambulance.”
It’s safe to say André was unbelievably fortunate that a man with a mobile phone happened to be near the car when it collided, considering mobile phones hadn’t become widely available at that time. Elaborating on this, Benjamin stated, “If we didn’t have that cell phone, we would have been out there for a minute — and might have died. Who knows. I don’t know if that’s a near-death experience. But I was definitely lucky.”
André’s near-death experience is frightening, but I think it is safe to say hip-hop can be grateful for the unknown man who saved the life of André 3000.
You can hear the rapper reflecting on near death on the EP ‘Look Ma No Hands’.