Andre 3000 has been the mythical creature in Hip-Hop.
Outside of doing the 20th anniversary of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik tour, lending a verse to baby mama/ultimate muse Erykah Badu, and having a role on ABC’s drama American Crime, you couldn’t find 3k with Google Maps or a GPS. The only people that would be able to find him are Seal Team 6, that’s it. However, the good people at Billboard managed to track down the enigmatic musician for a sitdown.
What got you interested in the American Crime role?
The relationship I had with John Ridley. When he called, I knew it would be something good. I hadn’t seen season one at the time, but I trust John’s taste in that way.
You play a married architect, which is a new kind of role for you.
It was fun because it was like an exercise in being able to be outside of myself. I’ve never been married. Of course, I have an 18-year-old kid now, so there were parallels, like the issues of being in a black family or a black person having a black kid in a private school. In real life, I always feel like an oddball going to my kid’s school because I’m a musician; I’m not the normal dad. So to be able to play one is fun to me.
Have you had time to work on music lately?
I still get time to think about music. [Shooting TV and film projects] is not so bad — it kind of puts you in the place where you’re fiending to do music. I’ve been holding [back] for a long time, so now I’m really interested in figuring out some type of music to do. I’m always recording.
How did your “Hello” duet with Erykah Badu, from her recent mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone, come together?
Our son Seven and I were trying to figure out songs that could help her — songs that were related to the subject of the mixtape: phones. We came across [The Isley Brothers’ 1974 cover of Todd Rundgren’s] “Hello, It’s Me.” Ron Isley repeats the phrase “hello, hello” as if he was answering the phone. I told Erykah, “You should make this into a new song and get somebody to rap on it.” She was like, “Well, you should rap on it!” I’m happy it happened. It was a great reunion, because I don’t think people have heard a song from us in ages.
