The 1970s funk album that blew André 3000’s mind
André 3000 is one of the most innovative men in hip hop, and since the 1990s, André has been bringing us groundbreaking, out-of-the-box music. From Stankonia to SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below, the Atlanta rapper has been around since the days of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. As one of the first experimental rap artists from Atlanta to break into the mainstream, André 3000 is considered one of the most forward-thinking rappers of all time.
Born and raised by his mother in the Atlanta neighbourhood of East Point, André was raised by his mother. Atlanta was an upcoming musical hotspot during the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially for hip-hop. As an adolescent, André attended Northside High School and Tri-Cities High School for the Performing Arts but had an overwhelming desire to make music instead of studying.
André grew up on various genres of music. From blues to jazz, funk and soul, he was spoilt for choice. However, despite all of these options, André 3000’s first love was hip-hop. In an interview about some of his early influences, the Outkast member spoke about the first rap project he fell in love with.
Recalling his childhood loves, André revealed Eric B and Rakim’s 1987 debut, Paid In Full was the album that made him fall in love with hip-hop. Expressing this, he told The Guardian, “I started rapping and rhyming in school talent shows in Atlanta when I was 12 or 13, and although I always liked rap’s energy it wasn’t until I heard Rakim that I realised what you could actually do it with it.”
He continued, “He was the coolest, the calmest, and he showed that rap could be fluid, rather than just be a rhythmic attack. But I thought I would be drawing and painting for a living at that time. It wasn’t until about four years later, when I met Antwan [‘Big Boi’ Patton, other half of Outkast] in high school, that I took the whole thing seriously.”
However, it was an African-American musical icon that made him appreciate the value of thinking outside the box and taking risks. Speaking about the P-funk pioneer and Funkadelic frontman George Clinton, André asserted that Parliament & Funkadelic completely changed his perspective.
Recalling how his exposure to Clinton came around, André explained, “I lived with my mum when I was a kid and she was a Top 40 girl – it would be Natalie Cole or the Emotions coming out of the radio all day long. Then I went to my dad’s house, and he would be smoking a joint, listening to Earth, Wind and Fire, Parliament and, most of all, Maggot Brain by Funkadelic.”
He added, “That album blew my mind. It made me want to learn to play guitar, and its huge range of styles – funk, bluegrass, country, opera – helped build our sound. Everyone was doing funk back then, but nobody has ever sounded like Funkadelic.” The 1971 release was Funkadelic’s third studio album and is considered one of the best LPs of the 1970s.