trying to make that new music. He has been spending his time tinkering and trying to
find the right sound, but he's been hitting a wall. This bout of writer's block has been
so severe that he's thought about throwing in the towel altogether. During a 2019 appearance
on the Broken Record Podcast, he told producer Rick Rubin that he's questioning whether he's
even supposed to make music at all. As he put it,
"I haven't been making much music, man. My focus is not there. My confidence is not there.
I tinker a lot. I'll just go to a piano and sit my iPhone down and just record what I'm
doing...But I haven't been motivated to do a serious project. I'd like to, but it's just
not coming."
He added,
"In my own self I'm trying to figure out where do I sit? I don't even know what I am and
maybe I'm nothing. Maybe I'm not supposed to be anything. Maybe my history is kind of
handicapping in a way."
This isn't to say, though, that André has totally disappeared from the music industry.
In 2019, for example, he threw down a verse on Anderson .Paak's single "Come Home," and
he also appeared on the James Blake track "Where's the Catch."
André's biggest hurdle lately seems to be his confidence. He's widely regarded as one
of the most innovative rappers of all time, but he doesn't actually think he's all that
talented. Instead, he's been spending his time searching to discover his true talents.
If anything, his story is proof that you can earn plenty of accolades and still suffer
from impostor syndrome.
In a 2017 interview with GQ, André claimed that he was a "jack-of-no-trades" who never
"totally dedicated" himself to a single craft. He learned piano just enough to make "Ms.
Jackson," and the first chords he learned on guitar were turned into "Hey Ya!" One could
argue that his talents have more than adequately served their purpose, but he doesn't seem
to share that sentiment. He's spending a good chunk of his time filling up hard drive after
hard drive of music just trying to find something he's good at. As he told GQ,
"I was trying to find out: What can I be excited about? Because I never was, to me, a great
producer or a great writer or a great rapper. I always felt that I was less than everybody
else, so I fought harder."
"You're only good as the music you grew up to, and your contemporaries. That's basically
what you are."
We would like to take a moment to remind André that he made an album that literally won the
Grammy for Album of the Year.
André isn't just an innovator when it comes to music, as he's also always had a sense
of style to match. So naturally enough, he jumped into the world of fashion in 2008 with
the launch of his menswear line, Benjamin Bixby.
Today, André's style is much more toned-down than it was in the early 2000s. He's ditched
his chaps and football shoulder pads for basics like long sleeve tees, jeans, and Adidas shoes.
He's also still in the business of fashion. In his 2017 GQ interview, he revealed that
he planned to design T-shirts for legendary R&B singer Anita Baker. He was inspired to
do so after accidentally buying some really awful-looking bootlegs. Following the interview,
Baker seemed into the idea, as she tweeted, "we'll talk."
Along with peaches and Ray Charles, OutKast is one of Georgia's most beloved exports.
The hip-hop duo is so widely adored that in 2019, André 3000 and Big Boi were commemorated
with a gigantic mural in the heart of Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood. André doesn't
even live there anymore, but that's not to say he doesn't have pride for the place where
he built his career. His music has been a tribute to the city and the Southern lifestyle,
but he's since had to physically move on. In 2017, he revealed that he needed a new
start when his parents died and his son went off to college. As he told GQ,
"I was like, I've kinda outlived Atlanta. It's not like I go to the studio, I'm just
sitting around wasting time and doing stuff I'm not supposed to be doing."
Andre hoped that moving to New York City would help him with his career, whether that meant
cultivating a new skill or renewing his deflating passion. Ever since, he's been slowly checking
off the boxes. He told GQ,
"I saw myself coming to study an instrument, coming to learn Spanish and probably try stage.
I've only done one."
In 2013, André's mother was found dead in her home. A little less than a year later,
his father passed away from a heart attack. The rapper is understandably still struggling
to deal with his grief. The struggle was especially tough while he was starring in the 2013 movie
Jimi: All is by My Side. In 2017, he told GQ,
"I was in a creative hole, a personal hole, and I was still not dealing with my mom's
and my father's deaths. And really, I don't know if I have still. You know: Just push
that away. The problem with being successful is you can do whatever you do times ten. And
no one to stop you. You can easily go down the wrong path and you get into that place.
And the thing that brings you out is other people."
André ended up experiencing two waves of grief for his dad. First, it was the loss,
and then it was realizing that his father had died alone in his home. He told GQ,
"I do miss not being able to talk to him about him living alone and not ever being married.
I think I would have gotten a lot of great insight. I think he would have told me something."
André has been in the game for quite a while now. He met Big Boi in high school, and the
two of them wanted to sign a record deal when they were 17, but it was a no-go for André's
parents, so they had to wait until they were legal adults. Big Boi ended up graduating
with honors, while André dropped out in the 11th grade.
Their rap career was a quick success, which led to André missing out on some important
life lessons. When he was 17, he wrote his first check, because his mom was teaching
him how to use a checkbook, but he never had to write one ever again because OutKast exploded.
This massive success was great for avoiding certain practical tasks, but when André retreated
from the spotlight, he had a lot of catching up to do. As he put it to GQ,
"There's so many social norms I just don't know...Since age 17 people have catered to
me and Big Boi. It's strange when, your whole life, everyone has treated you different from
everybody else. They say that if you're an entertainer, whatever time you took off, you
stay that age. I was 17."
"First you have to be hip, and the older you get, you get further away from the hipness."
André is best known for his rapping with OutKast, but he's also a Grammy-winning producer.
Back at the height of his fame, he actually produced a number of Outkast's albums, including
The Love Below, as well as Kelis' 2003 album, Tasty. In 2017, he told GQ that he's been
focusing his efforts on producing in recent years, though he's struggled a bit because
of his age. As he revealed,
"I hate going to the studio. So what's got me going once again is me being excited about
other artists. I've been working on producing a few artists. A couple projects. But here's
the crazy thing: I don't have the pulse anymore."
He added,
"Rhythms change every generation. The intensity and the drums change. And I'm not on the pulse.
I can't pretend. It's kinda like watching your uncle dance. So the only thing I can
do is this kind of novelty, off thing for them."
In 2014, André was tapped to produce Aretha Franklin's take on "Nothing Compares 2 U"
for her covers album. This was his first production project since OutKast. He told NPR at the
time,
"It's not like I'm a hot producer or anything right now...so when I got the call I was honestly
surprised."
"It's always about the actual song or the project. You know, I never just say I'm gonna
do something just to do it."
André 3000 was once voted PETA's "World's Sexiest Vegetarian," but those days are long
behind him. His attractiveness certainly hasn't faded, though his devotion to a plant-based
diet has. He originally adopted the lifestyle after a stretch of hard partying on the road.
In 2017, he told GQ,
"[I was] doing drugs, partaking in every woman, and I started to see myself deteriorate. I
would look in the mirror and be like, 'You look like s---.' So I got to a point where
I said, I gotta stop. So I went that way and tried [veganism]."
But it seems that he eventually grew a little resentful, and a little hangry. In 2014, he
told Esquire,
"I was a hardcore vegan for fifteen years. I've even done raw. But socially it became
horrible. I was kind of just sitting at home eating a salad. You become mean. That's not
good for you."
Part of André 3000's retreat from the spotlight might have something to do with his social
anxiety. In his 2017 interview with GQ, he opened up about his mental health. He revealed,
"I was diagnosed with this social thing. I didn't notice it until I became an entertainer.
I don't know if it's the shock of all kind of people coming up to you, or the expectations,
but I got to this place where it was hard for me to be in public without feeling watched
or really nervous."
André moved to California soon after this issue arose. He thought he was possibly just
in need of a break, but the problem got worse and worse until it started to bleed into his
personal life. As he put it,
"I'd just meet new people and I would freak out or have to leave."
He added,
"The more you run from it, the worse it gets. You don't want to explain it, because you
don't want to be a weak link around your friends. I never told my crew for a long time, so I
just started getting to myself. Spending more time with myself and stopped touring. And
it felt great for me to do that, because it's like, 'Phew, I don't like that life, I don't
like that confrontation.'"
Ultimately, André hoped that moving to New York would help him confront his anxiety,
as a city that's so densely populated and relies so heavily on public transportation
doesn't allow much space to hide. Here's hoping that he finds the peace he's looking for!
"You just never know. One little thing leads to another."
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