OutKast: Hollywood, swing and bling
OutKast, hip-hop's oddest couple and hottest property, speak to Craig McLean
Published: 04 December 2006
Andre 3000 is hungry. The tall, lean hip-hop dandy has bowled
into a long and empty conference room in the Metropolitan Hotel in London's
Park Lane. He's a gentlemanly vision: Countryside Alliance-friendly checked
shirt, smart trousers, super-sleek Nikes, trimmed hair with tiny Hasidic
Jew-style side-curls, and - the best bit - a straw pith helmet.
He glides about, almost pirouettes into a chair. He's graceful and even
girlish, the charisma that has made this musician such a Hollywood catch
floods off him. He's that rare thing: a rap star in touch with his feminine
side.
"They have Nobu downstairs, right?" Mr 3000 asks
someone from his record label. They do, but the kitchen in the famous
Japanese restaurant is closed until seven o'clock. OK. Andre might wait to
eat.
No such holding back for Big Boi, the other half of OutKast,
who rolls into the suite a few minutes after his old school friend. He's
brought himself a takeaway. He's also brought a giant pendant encrusted with
giant diamonds. It hangs over his broad chest, nestling in his voluminous
and crisply white T-shirt. Camouflaged baggy shorts are matched by
camouflaged baseball cap. His canary yellow Adidas hi-tops are an event in
themselves.
They look every inch the platinum high rollers. As
well they should. OutKast sold 10 million copies of their last album, 2003's
sprawling double feature Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The latter half was
Andre's funk/R'n'B concept album about love, the former, Big Boi's more
hip-hop/beats-oriented set. It was effectively two solo projects, although
each helped out on the other's songs.
The singles "Hey Ya!"
and "The Way You Move" were worldwide smashes. They occupied the
number one and two slots in the American charts for two months. Only The
Beatles had previously exerted such a stranglehold on the top of the
Billboard Hot 100. The album won two Grammy Awards and two MTV Europe
Awards. As a double-act and as stand-alone artists, Speakerboxxx/The Love
Below was a mega-success for Andre 3000 and Big Boi. Two stars for the price
of one.
How to top that? With a film. Today the 31-year-olds known
to their parents as Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton are in the UK to talk
about Idlewild, the name of both their new album and a lavish, big-screen
musical in which they act, sing and dance. Our hotel rendezvous is their
first appointment of the day (at 3pm) and, contrary to hip-hop interview
cliché, they're animated and enthused. Instantly, they start rabbiting - to
each other - about old Atlanta friends of theirs and the party taking place
in their honour on a boat on the Thames tonight. With little prompting
Andre's smooth voice will explode into a delighted falsetto whinny.
The fictional Southern town of Idlewild is the setting for the tale of two
lifelong pals in the depressed Prohibition era. Percival Jenkins Jr (Andre
3000) is a mortician's son and budding pianist and songwriter. Rooster (Big
Boi) is a jack-the-lad. Their lives revolve around a local speakeasy called
Church. Rooster ends up nominally running the place, ducking and diving as
gangsters try to squeeze him out. Percival just wants to make his own music,
and falls in love with a beautiful singer who's come down from big-city
Chicago.
It's a familiar story. Plot-wise, it trundles along like
an old Model T. But the musical setpieces, featuring lavish dance numbers
and floor-shaking OutKast tunes such as "Church" and "Bowtie"
, are tremendous. Even if, confusingly, those are songs from Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below. And the acting from the pair is largely excellent - we're not in
50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' territory here. Equally good is Macy Gray,
the helium-voiced singer, playing a bitchy performer at the club.
Mind you, the choreography and performances should be great: Andre and Big
Boi admit their characters are exaggerations of themselves. Plus, the film
has been written (based on an original idea from OutKast) and directed by
Bryan Barber, responsible for the stunning, award-winning videos for "
Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move".
For the
soundtrack, OutKast set themselves the challenge of writing songs that
echoed the milieu in which Idlewild is set. At the same time they wanted to
give those retro songs the sonically inventive future-twist for which
OutKast, like Prince before them, are renowned. Andre insists that "
that wasn't hard at all. I didn't know how to make true straight music from
that period. So our interpretation comes out another way. I kinda know how
they used certain instruments or certain rhythm patterns, but that's about
it.
"When we were preparing [to play] the characters, we
watched old films and listened to old music. But it's not like we sat down
in the studio and said, 'OK, how'd they do this, how'd they do that?' We
knew we had to make it an OutKast album as well."
Unfortunately, the music wasn't ready when filming of the musical began. Or
when it was finished. Andre says that during the shoot he'd be writing
lyrics as the relevant scenes were being filmed, or rejigging production to
cope with songs that were still only "skeletons". "But it's
not right until it's right," shrugs Big Boi. "You can feel when
it's there. You can't try to force it just for the sake of a deadline."
It's been a long and bumpy road. OutKast began filming two years ago. And
they completed mastering the album in their Atlanta studio just a couple of
weeks before it was released in August. No wonder. Including interludes, the
Idlewild album features 25 tracks, many of which don't feature in the film.
OutKast like to do things their way.
The release of both movie and
album was almost a year behind schedule. Now, in a typical OutKast splurge,
perhaps making up for lost time, two singles have already been released with
a third on its way. The film was teed up by the download-only "Mighty O"
, a jolly update of Cab Calloway's "hi de hi de hi de ho" line from
jazz-era standard "Minnie the Moocher ". "Morris Brown",
a marching band propelled strut, part written by Andre but vocalised by Big
Boi, was the second release. " Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me)"
, a bluesy soul groove sung by Andre 3000, will most likely follow that. All
three were recorded after shooting was completed.
What have they
learnt from the three years it's taken them to get Idlewild made? "
Preparation is the key," Andre chuckles ruefully. "And scheduling
is the key. You can't do too many things at one time. It has to be done in
an orderly fashion.""Organisation!" barks Big Boi.
The OutKast pair have known each other since they were 16, introduced by a
mutual friend from school. To their obvious distress, they've heard this
morning that said friend is dying. "He got prostate cancer, in jail,"
says Andre. He's been imprisoned for around 10 years. "He got about two
more months to live." The room goes quiet as they mull over the news.
Andre says he broke down crying when his dad phoned from Atlanta to tell him.
They formed an instant bond, hanging out together at an Atlanta mall. "
There were always girls at the mall," chuckles Andre. They got jobs in
Foot Locker and Footaction: "We wanted something a little more
prestigious" says Andre, meaning that selling shoes was better than
burger-flipping for chatting up the ladies.
They began writing
rhymes together. They'd rehearse at Big Boi's auntie's house. They put on
impromptu gigs outside an under-18 club, and entered open-mic contests on
Fridays. Another kid from their school, Cee-Lo, now half of Gnarls Barkley,
was an occasional rap partner.
Big Boi considered studying child
psychology before OutKast were offered a record deal in their late teens. "
But everything took off that was supposed to take off. I guess that's why I
got so many kids of my own - I love kids," he beams. "I got three
and hopefully I'm gonna have three more, too."
Has he told
his wife? "Yeah, she said she good, but maybe [only] one or two. We
might have to adopt one like Brad, get us a little Chinese baby or
something! " he guffaws.
Andre, a talented artist who used to
sell his drawings and paintings via the OutKast website, was offered a place
at Savannah College of Art. "That was always an option. But that music
thing is what I really wanted to do."
The visually minded
pair had long had their eyes on Hollywood. They had an idea for a film based
on their 1998 album Aquemini. MTV were keen too, but suggested the (at the
time) more commercially viable Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliot could star.
OutKast walked. It was their baby, no one else's. Even The Love Below was
initially conceptualised as a filmed love story set in Paris.
Last
year, following roles in John Singleton's Four Brothers and the Get Shorty
sequel Be Cool, Andre 3000 starred in Guy Ritchie's universally panned
Revolver. "Oh yeah!" smiles Andre, "they booed on it!"
They shot on location on the Isle of Man."It's a strange place. You
gotta imagine: honestly, I think I was maybe one of two black people on the
island! I'm walking down the street and people are looking at me - not in a
racist way but, oh man, like a fucking unicorn or something!"
But he had a great time. "Guy Ritchie, he's a real cool person. He's
got strong ideas, he knows exactly what he wants to do. I like his style of
movies, straight up in your face, hardcore. And I think we may be doing
something in the future," he says with something like a wink. With
unfailing politeness Andre also declines to say whether his portrayal of
Jimi Hendrix in a long-discussed biopic directed by the Hughes brothers
(Menace II Society, Dead Presidents) is going to happen.
Then
there's his planned clothing line. No, he won't tell us the name. Will it
echo his strangely English style sensibilities? "It's not like one
style," he fudges. "It's more like a style brand. It's all about
something that's gonna make everybody feel good. That's what I get out of
clothes."
Big Boi is equally busy with extra-curricular
activity. He recently appeared in the Atlanta-based coming-of-age movie ATL,
at the request of co-producer Will Smith. "If Will Smith calls, do a
favour," says Big Boi. "Having Will Smith owe you a favour in
Hollywood is a big thing."
His ambition doesn't stop there.
He runs the Purple Ribbon label, producing and mentoring artists including
Sleepy Brown, who supplied vocals on " The Way You Move", and
Scar, who co-wrote "Morris Brown". And with his brothers, he runs
Pitfall Kennels - successful breeders of pedigree pitbulls, favoured dog of
many a tough-guy rapper. "Canine bling bling" as one observer put
it.
Andre's swing and Big Boi's bling. They're the two sides of
OutKast, the differing - and contradictory - facets that help make them the
greatest hip-hop outfit in the world. One is fairly teetotal; the other
isn't. Andre, veteran of many a fashion shoot, looked good in jodhpurs and
jockey hat in the "Hey Ya!" video. Big Boi has a pole-dancing room
in his house and sharks in a tank in his garage.
OutKast, then,
are gloriously, colourfully pop. And OutKast are imaginatively,
authentically urban. How could they fail? They haven't, not once: since they
formed at school in 1992 and cut their first rap while still in class (on a
remix of a TLC song), each of their first five albums has comfortably sold a
million-plus copies. Even the property company they own together in Atlanta
does good business.
With Speakerboxxx/The Love Below they blew the
roof off. But for the album's promotional campaign they did their interviews
separately. Big Boi wanted to tour. Andre didn't. Off-duty, Big Boi would
return to Atlanta and his wife, kids and dogs. Andre - separated from his
son and his former partner, the soul singer Erykah Badu - would go back to
LA, whence he had relocated to further his budding film career.
With the Idlewild project suffering repeated delays and going wildly
over-budget, little wonder their fans feared the worst... OutKast weren't
getting along. The duo who had met as teenagers had grown apart. Success had
pushed them in different directions. OutKast were splitting up.
Hell no, OutKast insist as one. If they had the talent to make two separate
records - and they have their own little studios, as well as OutKast's
Stankonia Studio - then why not? The OutKast identity was strong enough to
survive the split albums. Nonetheless, their manager has said the Idlewild
film and album is "an ending of sorts, but it's also a leading-off
point for both of them". What did he mean?
Laughing, they say
they don't know. "It is a milestone," concedes Andre, who has now
moved back to Atlanta. "After the last album sold 10-plus, where do you
go? Obviously you keep recording albums. We'll always make music. But the
movie was the next step. One of the biggest steps you can do. Unless you...
I don't know what you can do."
"Yeah," drawls Big
Boi, "after putting out a double-CD and selling so many copies of our
records..."
Does each need the other to give input on songs? "
That collaboration is still strong," Andre says slowly. "But I don't
think it's a mandatory thing or a needed thing 'cause we can't stand on our
own. But I think when we do come together we do get something special."
For an outfit who have supposedly been on the verge of splitting up for three
years, OutKast do a convincing impersonation of a pair with a remarkable and
easy intimacy between them. The album is another rich stew of soul, R'n'B,
pop, dance and hip-hop, bristling with potential hits. And the film, while
slight, is gorgeous to look at and good fun.
OutKast are barely
into their thirties. What else would they like to achieve? Andre 3000: "
Nobel Peace Prize." Big Boi: "Mmm, yeah, Nobel Peace Prize.
That's gangsta."
Then Big Boi thinks. "I might wanna be
mayor of Atlanta one day. Really. " He reckons the incumbent, Shirley
Franklin, with whom he has done benefit events, "is pretty good. I'm
cool with her."
Idlewild the film and album are out now
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