"Other than a few genius-level guest appearances and an OutKast reunion tour in 2014, rap iconoclast André Benjamin has been off in his own distant orbit for the past decade or so. Here, we make contact with 3 Stacks to talk about what he’s been doing since “Hey Ya!” first hit."

Full Article HERE

*crickets*

3 Stacks has been done for years now...to be honest he was always overrated IMO as far as his technical MC skills...no where near "genius level" emceeing like NaS, JayZ, Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, etc....his fame was more due to him being a pioneer for southern rappers who really didnt have a voice in HipHop at that time...Outkast was the first group from the south to sustain a mainstream rap career

RJOrion said:

*crickets*

3 Stacks has been done for years now...to be honest he was always overrated IMO as far as his technical MC skills...no where near "genius level" emceeing like NaS, JayZ, Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, etc....his fame was more due to him being a pioneer for southern rappers who really didnt have a voice in HipHop at that time...Outkast was the first group from the south to sustain a mainstream rap career

I'm cool with Outkast but it was really Goodie Mob before them as far as Southern rap goes but

for some reason they didn't get the national acclaim they should have and when Cee Lo left it was a wrap. Their first 2 albums were dope and popular here in the South.

phunkdaddy said:

big goodie mob fan too. but outkast and 3 stacks deserve all the props they ever got. not overrated at all. and i disagree about Dre's lack of lyrical prowess. i never fuq'd with jay electronica but if there's anything i missed that was better than he long awaited but severely underwhelming debut, its blasphemous to mention him in the same sentence. outkast's catalogue is arguably the strongest in hip hop among indiv's or a group. not a "fall off" album anywhere.

Hey Ya had to be one of the most overrated hits of all time.

MattyJam said:

Hey Ya had to be one of the most overrated hits of all time.

Wasn't it only highly rated because the public marvelled at him ripping off the Prince gimmick of playing "every instrument"?

Anyway that Love Below record had some decent Prince rip-offs on it like "She Lives in My Lap". I thought that was more why he became super mainstream. Outkast was more of a hip-hop heads thing until he broke out the Prince gimmick.

Southern rappers have been in the game almost as long as the game has been around. 2 Live Crew, anyone? Last time I checked, MIAMI is about as far south as you can get. Geto Boys were played right alongside NWA back in the day. That's Texas, not NY.

What's happening in this thread is akin to when people go "Purple Rain is one of the most overplayed ballads" and Prince fans go

You really can't reduce Andre 3000 to one song off of a hit album. That just says that you really don't know the music rather than making the attempt at belittlement. That is not at all why they have the following that they have. Dre has an introspectve perspective that is EASILY as good as Jay-Z.

I'm out. You all aren't qualified to have a convo about Outkast. Go put Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik on repeat. Pfft.

BlaqueKnight said:

Southern rappers have been in the game almost as long as the game has been around. 2 Live Crew, anyone? Last time I checked, MIAMI is about as far south as you can get. Geto Boys were played right alongside NWA back in the day. That's Texas, not NY.

What's happening in this thread is akin to when people go "Purple Rain is one of the most overplayed ballads" and Prince fans go

You really can't reduce Andre 3000 to one song off of a hit album. That just says that you really don't know the music rather than making the attempt at belittlement. That is not at all why they have the following that they have. Dre has an introspectve perspective that is EASILY as good as Jay-Z.

I'm out. You all aren't qualified to have a convo about Outkast. Go put Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik on repeat. Pfft.

I mean technically this thread is about Andre 3000, not Outkast.

MattyJam said:

Hey Ya had to be one of the most overrated hits of all time.

So it is everything under the sun, and that includes Prince, what else?

I put Dre in the "MC" Category, his wordplay is top notch IMO. He's not a basic Rapper at all

Good point about the Geto Boys being Southern legit Southern rappers but unless you were on

some other shit with Luke and his wack ass music nobody cared about 2 Live Crew. Most hip hop heads saw them as a gimmick. I'm from the South and outside of the South they got no love. You sure as hell couldn't go to New York playing that bs or you would have gotten trashed. Unless you're from Florida nobody looks at 2 Live Crew as legit rappers. Their music was strictly for the strip clubs.

phunkdaddy said:

Good point about the Geto Boys being Southern legit Southern rappers but unless you were on

some other shit with Luke and his wack ass music nobody cared about 2 Live Crew. Most hip hop heads saw them as a gimmick. I'm from the South and outside of the South they got no love. You sure as hell couldn't go to New York playing that bs or you would have gotten trashed. Unless you're from Florida nobody looks at 2 Live Crew as legit rappers. Their music was strictly for the strip clubs.

I agree. My poiint wasn't that 2 Live Crew was any good; just that they existed.