http://www.rollingstone.c...p?pid=2802





If Outkast were not a multiplatinum-selling hip-hop group, they would make a great cop-buddy movie. Even before Big Boi and Andre 3000 released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below -- a double album that was, for all intents and purposes, two solo albums -- the pair were such a notorious odd couple, their partnership could've been scripted. As anyone who has followed the duo's career knows by this point, OutKast's core dynamic puts a teetotaling vegan dandy (Andre 3000) in the same blunt-smoke-filled squad car as a playa for life with a fondness for pit bulls, oversize bracelets and extremely comfortable leisurewear (Big Boi).
When Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was released last fall, with Big Boi and Andre 3000 each more or less sticking to their halves of the jewel box, it felt like a trial separation that everyone knows is headed for divorce court. They did (and still do) solo interviews to promote the album. Andre 3000 had left Atlanta for L.A. to pursue an acting career and insisted he had no plans on touring. Big Boi said that Dre always says he won't tour, and that he'd eventually come around.

He hasn't. To complicate things further, the album has become the biggest of their career -- eight times platinum and counting, with simultaneously released hit singles and, now, three Grammys, including Album of the Year. Andre 3000's "Hey Ya!," which features no rapping at all (like much of The Love Below), has become one of the rare crossover singles that can be regularly heard on hip-hop, rock and Top Forty radio. Most recently, they received the ultimate nod of mass-cultural acceptance: They've been invited to appear on Oprah.

Both Dre and Big Boi deny that they're breaking up. Still, there's a certain finality to the way Dre discusses the group's future. "There'll be two more OutKast albums," he says, referring to their contractual obligation. "I'm willing to accept that no matter what I do next, it may not be as big as 'Hey Ya!' or OutKast. But it's a growth thing. Paul McCartney and John Lennon never did anything as big as the Beatles. But they still did some cool shit on their own."

Three days after the Grammys, Dre, 28, began shooting Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, in which he and Cedric the Entertainer play members of a thuggish rap group called the WMDs, managed by John Travolta. "I get to dress stupid over-the-top," Dre says with obvious delight. "Platinum jewelry, pants half-down my waist." There was no name in the original script -- Dre's lines were labeled "Andre" -- so during rehearsals he offered a hundred bucks to whoever made up the "stupidest slum-ghetto name." Cedric won with "Dabu."

Dre is driving down Sunset Boulevard in his Toyota Land Cruiser. A saxophone workout by the Jazz Crusaders plays on the SUV's stereo. We pull into a parking garage, and a guard smiles at Dre and waves us through. "You see that guy?" Dre asks. "Remember that song 'Pass the Dutchie'? He did that song. He was in that group when he was a little kid." Dre shakes his head. "He said they paid him $500."

Though Dre is often portrayed as a shy eccentric, upstairs at Katana -- a trendy Asian restaurant designed to look like a set from Blade Runner, only with more models -- he accepts a steady stream of well-wishers with ease and a near--constant grin. Jermaine Dupri stops by for an elbow bump, as do members of Tha Dogg Pound, a guy who says he directed Friday After Next and a young lady who says her girlfriend -- "the white girl back there" -- wants Dre's number. Dre seems briefly nonplused by the request but gives her the number.

With the ubiquity of "Hey Ya!," Andre 3000 has emerged as the more recognized half of OutKast. The song deserves the airplay, chanelling a giddy, birth-of-rock-&-roll energy that comes as close to perfection as pop songs ever do. And any man willing to step out in a muumuu becomes especially conspicuous in the fairly conformist world of hip-hop. Tonight, Dre is wearing a Ralph Lauren Mackinaw over a checked blue oxford shirt and loose blue pants with yellow stars garnishing the leg seam. A tweed cap covers his hair (in cornrows for Be Cool), and his flashiest piece of jewelry is a vintage silver flower ring.

"Most of the clothes in the 'Hey Ya!' video I designed," notes Dre as he reaches for some edamame. He's starting his own clothing line, Benjamin Andre, which will concentrate, at first, on the all-important accessory. "You can have on some total bullshit," he says, "but if you have cool socks, or a hat, or a pocket square, it's like, 'Oh, that shit's fly.' "

How about when you guys started out? Hip-hop is such a macho world.

In the very beginning, I tried to make sure I fit in. We looked like regular cats. I had an Atlanta Braves jersey on in the first video. You had to look macho. It wasn't until our second album, when I started producing, that I decided to make things more personal. I studied the way different artists looked. Prince, Sly Stone -- they were dope for their time. And the jazz guys, too. They were on heroin, but they looked good. Then I went to Jamaica and decided to grow out my dreads. I wanted to keep them covered while I was growing them out, so I found this white Indian turban. It looked cool. Then I started wearing silk scarves, and it went from there. In hip-hop -- well, in music, period -- people don't have that style anymore.

Did you expect to do as well as you guys did at the Grammys?

Honestly? I thought we'd win that many awards, but not in those categories. I thought "Hey Ya!" would get Record of the Year. When Coldplay won, I was like, "Oh, really?" I'm a White Stripes fan, and right now they're considered the saviors of rock & roll, so I thought they would give Album of the Year to them.

Was it a fun night?

Norah Jones called me the night before and said, "Are you ready?" I said, "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." It was stressful, because a lot of attention was on us. I don't like that. The best moment was when we won Album of the Year and Big Boi gave me a hug. The embrace lasted five -- eight, nine -- no, maybe fifteen seconds. The Love Below was originally supposed to be a solo album. At the last minute, management and the record company said it wasn't a good time to do that, so Big Boi did Speakerboxxx. But I was taking so long to finish The Love Below that he wanted to release that as a solo album. A lot of people don't know the album almost wasn't made. So there were a lot of emotions in those seconds.

Are you feeling burned out on music?

I wouldn't say burned out. But definitely uninspired. But anything could come along any day. I'm starting a band. You know the guitar player from the 'Hey Ya!' video, Johnny Vulture?

Um, yeah. [In the video, Dre plays every member of the band, including Johnny Vulture.]

Johnny started a band called the Vultures. He and Andre 3000 hate each other, because Andre 3000 thinks Johnny took his sound.

What else do you have planned?

I want to go to Juilliard to study classical music.

Really? When?

I've been thinking about it for about a year. But things got kinda busy. This record took off. I can't be in school right now. But I'm taking saxophone and clarinet lessons. I'd study classical composition and music theory. Like, now, I was working on songs for Gwen Stefani's album, and I could tell her how to sing them but not the range.

(Excerpted from RS 944, March 18, 2004)

This means 1 of 2 things (or maybe both):

1) RS put an actual musician on the cover for the first time in what seems like a decade.

2) OutKast has officially sold out and is no longer worth listening to.

And why is Andre 3000 dressed like Britney Spears in the "...Baby One More Time" video? These guys are looking more and more like PM Dawn every day.

I like their comments about the Grammys. Very rare for artists to say anything other than "it's great just to be NOMINATED!". They played it safe and gave record of the year to Colplay. That was a burn.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 26 14:41:37 2004 by VoicesCarry]

"Johnny Vulture" reminds me of Jamie Starr back in the day. Whatever happened to him?

VoicesCarry said:

oh SHIT

It's about time Rolling Stone starting putting artists that are important on their cover instead of Howard Dean and Clay Aiken(who got his cover before Ruben!)There have been so many other artists that were never on the cover of Rs..like TLC. Britney Spears has had like 5 or 6 covers in since 98..Prince has had 5 in his entire career!

Universaluv said:

Um, yeah. [In the video, Dre plays every member of the band, including Johnny Vulture.]

LOL I could feel that the reporter was rolling his eyes on Ander!

here's a couple more pics from the mag:

Universaluv said:

i hope that doesn't end up like that garth brooks/chris gains stuff.