The Outkast song about André 3000’s reluctance for fame: “He understood everything about it”
Outkast remains a massive part of hip-hop, and throughout their illustrious career, the Atlanta duo of André 3000 and Big Boi have placed a great emphasis on the art of storytelling. From ‘Ms Jackson’ to ‘Roses,’ their lyrics take listeners on an exhilarating journey with emotion and passion.
Whether it was love, hate, happiness, or grief, Outkast knew how to evoke emotion and connect with listeners through music. As such, it is unsurprising that some of their songs remain relevant today. Although the duo has always been experimental in terms of sonics and aesthetics, many of us forget that their musical roots are in the projects of East Atlanta. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise listeners when they begin telling tales of everyday life in the hood.
In fact, to hear some of their most detailed stories, fans have to go right back to their career beginnings. The duo’s 1993 debut single ‘Player’s Ball’ is an extraordinary example of the skill with which André 3000 and Big Boi can make the mundane experience of hood life sound compelling. The single, which appeared on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, hears the duo recalling their daily activities in the ’hood on Christmas Day. However, one of the more detailed stories about their life before fame is told by André 3000 on the ATLiens track, ‘Elevators (Me and You)’.
On the 1996 song, Three Stacks recounts a word-for-word conversation with a fan who asked him about his newfound fame. With a sturdy backbeat and a moody bass riff, the emcee begins to recall the conversation at the beginning of his fourth verse. Setting the scene, André 3000 begins, “Got stopped at the mall the other day / Heard a call from the other way that I just came from / Some nigga was saying something / Talking ’bout smoke something.”
André then proceeds to explain how the misguided fan began asking questions after assuming he had become rich and famous, rhyming, “And he kept asking me, ‘What kinda car do you drive?’ / I know you paid, I know y’all got beaucoup hoes / From all them songs that y’all done made.”
However, unlike other rappers who bleat relentlessly about money and materialistic falsehoods, on ‘Elevators (Me and You)’ André recalls telling the fan that he is only one step away from being broke again, stating, “And I replied that I’d been going through the same things that he has / True, I’ve got more fans than the average man / But not enough loot to last me to the end of the week.”
He continued, “I live by the beat like you live check-to-check / If it don’t move your feet, then, I don’t eat, so we like neck-to-neck / Yes, we done come a long way like them slim-ass cigarettes from Virginia / This ain’t gon’ stop, so we just gon’ continue.”
Ultimately, the story is one of André 3000’s discontent with being seen as someone who is famous and can therefore afford to be lazy. On the 2019 AMC docuseries Hip-Hop: Songs That Shook America, former LaFace Records founder LA Reid, who signed OutKast, explained how André was always reluctant to being a superstar.
Explaining this, he told viewers, “He understood everything about it. He understood what it meant musically, what it meant aesthetically, what it meant as a responsible role model. I think he completely understood stardom, but I think he was still a little reluctant to really go. But even with his reluctance, he became one of the most important artists ever, and that’s what really moves me.”