Andr 3000 first discoveredJimi Hendrix in the late Nineties, when he heard the guitarists cover of All Along the Watchtower in a movie. Those solos are excellent, man! says the rapper and singer, who was best known at the time as Outkasts trippier half. I didnt even knowBob Dylan wrote it at that point. Then I started digging into Jimis catalog. More than a decade later, Andr has given a powerful starring performance in the Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side, entering wide release this month. He called during a rare break from his 42-date reunion tour withOutkast the duos first tour since 2002. Im finally at home with a day to chill out, says Andr, 39. Time to wash clothes and Netflix.
Did your love of Hendrix influence the music you made with Outkast?
Definitely. When you hear the guitar solo break out on [2000s] Bombs Over Baghdad, Jimi influenced that. One of the guys from our backing band played it. At the time this is going to trip you out the record company was like, Weve got to take that out. We should get Kid Rock to play it. No joke. They thought it would be a great marketing move.
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Seriously? What happened?
I was like, What? I love Kid Rock, but I said, I dont want to go for the name thing.
In the movie, you play Jimi in his midtwenties, on his first trip to London. Where was your head at when you were that age?
It felt like we were riding a nice wave [in Outkast]. I was just wide-eyed, taking in the world, figuring out what life is about. In the studio all the time, producing all the time, writing all the time. It was fun. Then, of course, at 39 you figure out you really dont know anything.
Do you like being in your late thirties?
Its just a crossroads. I liken it to knowing that you have three months left in college, but you dont have any prospects. Up until recently, I was living out my high school dreams thats when we started Outkast. This is the second half: my true adult, grown man life. What are my new dreams? Whats Andr Benjamins dream right now? What do I want to do? What do I want to say? What do I feel passionate about? Its very exciting and scary.
Your son Seven is 16. Is he different from what you were like as a teenager?
All teenagers are pretty much the same, but I think this generation is a lot cooler. Hes not crazy about having to have the name-brand clothes or the new this or the new that. Race is not an issue with these kids. Sexuality is not an issue. Theyre hopeful. I think thats cool.
Youve been known at times as a ladies man. Have you ever been on Tinder?
Been on what?
Its a dating app for your phone.
I havent really gotten into the social-media thing at all. Ive never had a Twitter, Ive never had a Facebook, Ive never had Instagram or any of them. Its funny. People come up to me in the street, like, Yeah, man, Ive been following you. Weve been talking. Im like, Man, thats somebody posing as me! Ive actually reached out to Facebook and Twitter and said, Please take these people down who are imitating and posing as me, but they dont. Theyre shitty about it. I guess they just dont care.
What do you do for fun these days? Do you go out much?
I dont go to major concerts, but I like to go into small clubs and see what local people are doing. Ill go to the smallest, shittiest clubs, the dive bars, and see whats going on. Thats where its at.
Do people at the clubs recognize you?
Yeah. They come up and make pitches. Or they ask, What are you doing here? And I explain why Im there, and they get it, and we just sit there and listen to music.
Youve talked about feeling bored by hip-hop. Is that how you feel now?
Well, Im not really bored by rap, per se. Its more that Im bored with what I can do in rap. Im always a fan from the stupidest knucklehead rap to the quote-unquote lyrical gods, I listen to it all. I just dont know what else I can do with it.
Really? You must know how many people would love to hear a new rap album from you.
I understand it. People stick to ideas that theyre familiar with. I mean, I honestly wish that I could make a dope rap album, but I know it would be something else. Ive always known that there comes a time when youre just not as hip. It happens to everybody, and it has nothing to do with talent. It has to do with intensity and time and the world growing around you.
So what does excite you these days? Is it music, acting, something else?
Ah, man, I dont know. Im at a stuck place.
Are you suffering from writers block?
Nah, I write all the time. I jot down ideas and concepts Im into the pen to paper concept. I write on napkins, I write in my sketch pad. Maybe its three words, or one sentence. But Im not writing songs all the time.
You said recently that you dont get much out of performing live music anymore. So why did you agree to tour with Outkast this summer?
What I meant by that was, when you get out onstage and youre doing these songs that you wrote when you were 17, its not the same. When I wrote those songs, it was fresh. I meant it at the time. Now, its just words that youre spewing. But I do have fun onstage. I try to find new ways to perform those same verses. Im into newness. I hate repetition.
So is this it? Is Outkast done after 2014?
You can never say never, but we have no plans to tour again. The show looks much better at 39 than it will at 60.
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