Outkast inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Outkast were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over the weekend. André 3000 delivered an emotional speech at the ceremony, which took place on November 8th.
The Atlanta duo were inducted alongside Salt-N-Pepa, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, and Soundgarden in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tyler, The Creator, Killer Mike, Doja Cat, JID and Janelle Monáe came together for a tribute medley, performing classic songs such as ‘B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)‘, ‘Ms Jackson’ and ‘The Whole World’. Big Boi also hit the stage for ‘ATLiens’.
During his speech, André 300 reacted to the honour of being named among some of the greatest artists of all time.
“When I heard that we were being inducted, I was like, ‘Man, this is great, because we’ll be able to be in the same company with a lot of people we grew up with, a lot of bands that influenced us, whole lineage of people,’” he said.
Three Stacks also referenced a comment from The White Stripes’ Jack White while surrounded by the Dungeon Family.
“Jack said something about little rooms – we started in a little room,” he said on stage. “Great things start in little rooms. We’re just so happy that Rico Wade saw something in us, he gave us an opportunity to come [and record], and all the sacrifices that were made around us to help us get to this place.”
Donald Glover (also known as Childish Gambino) helped induct Outkast, paying homage to their classic 2003 album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
“Outkast was able to distil the polarising nature of being not just from the south, not just being Black, but being a human in a very polarising and contradicting world,” he said. “If I had to describe what I thought a 13-times-platinum, highest-selling rap album in the world would be in 2003, it probably wouldn’t’ve been that, because that sounds insane until it isn’t, until you see it, and feel it, and know it.”
He continued, “A lot of Black music deals with what was and what is, making sense of a reality we were placed in. Outkast seems to endlessly explore what could be. They made every experiment sound like a destiny.”