With their tour run of festival dates heading into Georgia this weekend for ATLast, 3 Stacks spoke to Billboard Magazine for a rather revealing interview where – among revealing that his upcoming performance as Jimi Hendrix in the upcoming biopic All Is By My Side was a dream come true – he basically pulls a “Kano From Mortal Kombat” and says that there’s no musical plans on the horizon. Like, none at all. Some choice quotes:
A few short weeks from now, when the tour ends and the movie’s opening recedes into memory, will Benjamin himself simply fade from view again? He’s got no plans for another movie or a solo album — never mind new Outkast music. And just to be clear, here’s how he explains that last one: “There are no plans to do [an Outkast album]. It’s not like some people think: ‘They’re about to drop this album!’ We don’t have, like, one song. There’s no trickery or nothing like that.”
And
“I don’t know when we’ll get a new Outkast album,” says Reid, “but I do believe that we will get individual solo albums from André and from Big Boi, and my guess is that it will be before the year ends.”
Don’t be so sure. “I know Big Boi’s [working on his]; I haven’t even started on [mine],” says Benjamin, then adds, sounding his common refrain: “I’ve got to find something I’m excited about.”
Sucky as that may sound, he did have this to say however:
For the record, he’s not done with rapping: “To be clear, there’s no retirement.” And he’s not in conflict with Big Boi: “It’s kind of like growing up in a house with your brother, people expecting y’all to live in the same room and have bunk beds forever,” says Benjamin. “And people try to read into it and say people are beefing. But it’s nothing like that, man. Big Boi will always be my brother and a really important part of my life.”
I mean, at this point we should all be used to Andre saying that there’s no music on the horizon; at this point, it’s expected for him to say that each time he sits down for an interview. But let’s be honest: that will always make some die-hard fan cringe each time he does say it, and it’s completely understandable.
This issue of Billboard Magazine is out now.
As a bonus, Andre sat down with (fellow legend) Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley NPR Radio to talk shop about music (he’s currently working with Aretha Franklin for her new album), Atlanta’s place in hip hop, and more. Listen to the 30-minute piece below.
PREVIOUS: Andre 3000 On ‘Ellen’
