The mighty OutKast

Outkast ... The boys are back

IT’S been three years since OutKast gave us their 11-times platinum selling album Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

The duo — André 3000 and Big Boi — have notched up an awesome six multi-platinum albums in their career so far.

Now they’re back with an album AND their first Hollywood film.

Idlewild — no, nothing to do with the dreary Scots band — tells the story of lifelong friends, mortician’s son Percival (André) and bootlegger Rooster (Big Boi). The album shares the name.

SFTW met up with the Atlanta duo at The Metropole on Park Lane, where they’re recovering from too much absinthe and vowing “never again”.

That is until Axl Rose invites them to join him at his party.

Read on about Idlewild, those rumours that they don’t get on — and what the future holds for OutKast ...

You launched the album at a party on the London Eye. How was it?

André: Oh man that was good! It was the first time we’d been on The Eye.

We had a boat party and the music playing. A lot of people got to hear the new album while we mingled, drank absinthe and met some good people.

Big Boi: We’ve been partying since.

You’re back after three years with a new album and a film. What gave you the idea to do both?

André: Since our album Aquemini we’ve been trying to make a film. I guess we weren’t popular enough at the time to do one. We had to wait.

Making music or a film together, how do they compare?

A: It’s about the same. We didn’t have a lot of scenes together so we weren’t on the set a lot at the same time but our trailers were right next to each other.

Tell us about the film?

THE LOWDOWN BAND: Andre “Andre 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton HITS: Singles – Ms Jackson, Hey Ya. Albums - Stankonia, Speakerboxx/The Love Below WEBSITE:outkast.com MYSPACE:myspace.com/outkast

Boi: It’s got everything — comedy, drama, action, a love story and it takes place in the 1930s.

It’s also a musical and features performances.

It has two stories running at the same time. It takes you on a whole load of twists and turns.

It’s not autobiographical though people expect it to be as that’s what the typical hip-hop artist has been doing.
How much of a film and how much of a musical is it?

A: We do perform but it’s not a traditional musical. It’s more Purple Rain than Singing In The Rain.

The music came after the film. Why was that?

A: We needed time to cook it. Some things take longer than others. The film bosses were sure they wanted to promote the album and movie at the same time so they held off till the album was done.

According to rumour you don’t get on and prefer to record separately?

B: We’ve been hearing it since Stankonia. A lot of people just get the outside appearance mixed up. Some might take André not going on the road as a sign but those are our preferences. No friction, no beef.

We just go through the same things any regular relationship goes through.

We’ve known each other a long time so friendship-wise it’s all a bunch of nonsense — people sensationalising a story. It doesn’t really upset me but you do feel like slapping the s*** out of these people who say it. It’s just not true.

Odd couple ... duo work apart

So did you write this album together or separately?

B: Well, we’ve been working together but in our own studios.

We work on pre-production but then bring what we have to the table and make comments and notes on it. Then we take the songs back and finish working on them. We only work separately so you can incubate your ideas until they’re ready to be hatched. It’s nothing like we can’t work together. Mighty O is a co-written track.

Mighty O – tell us about that track?

A: It stands for “Mighty OutKast”. The chorus is like a playback to the Cab Calloway song Minnie The Moocher. It just puts everything back into the pot of the 1930s fire with Cab being an artist from that time.

And Morris Brown is a Big Boi track – tell us about that?

B: That’s my song with Sleepy Brown. It’s a call-and-response type of song about making the world go round. Life’s what you make it.

You paint your own picture and walk your own path but music is definitely the soundtrack to life and people need that to survive.

We were paying homage to Morris Brown, a university in Atlanta that lost their accreditation recently, but it basically means music makes the world go round.




And Idlewild Blue (Don’t Chu Worry ’Bout Me) is an André 3000 track?

A: Yes it’s talking from Percival’s point of view, about getting out of town. He’s a mortician but he’s talented musically — he doesn’t know whether to stay or leave town.
The album covers a wide range of genres. Does that match your diverse fan base?

B: Yes, there’s definitely something for everyone on there. It covers all genres of music: gospel, funk, rock, blues, jazz.

It’s a smorgasbord of music.

Fans shouldn’t worry. There’s an album and a movie to digest.

We have plans but we’re going to keep them to ourselves, we don’t want them misconstrued.

What happened to the record The Hard Ten?

B: It flipped, it turned, it bounced so many times we had to scrap it.

Do you think you’ll ever top the success of Hey Ya?

A: Who knows? It’s not just about sales. You just want people to like every album.

Each song doesn’t have to be as big as Hey Ya. I just hope people dig the songs.

Boi, André isn’t joining you on the OutKast World Tour. How will it be?

B: I’m going to be going out right after the record drops. I’m then working on Sleepy Brown and Bubba Sparxxx’s records so we’ll probably take them out. We’ll be back to the UK soon.