André Benjamin mini-bio: André 3000 (born André Benjamin on May 27, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a rapper and hip hop producer. He is half of the successful hip hop duo, OutKast.
Early life: André was born in Atlanta and raised in poverty by a single mother. He met his future OutKast partner, Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, when the two attended Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia.
Career: In 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album that highlighted the differences in the musical styles of the group's two members. André's half of the album, The Love Below, garnered the most attention from mainstream audiences, with the popular singles "Hey Ya!" and "Roses".
The album's fourth single and video (Andre's third), "Prototype", was released shortly after, whereas Big Boi's Speakerboxxx has seen the release of the hit "The Way You Move" and most recent single "Ghetto Musick." The Love Below was, unlike Speakerboxxx, an exercise in funk, jazz, and alternative music, featuring mostly sung (instead of rapped) vocals from André.
In addition to rap groups A Tribe Called Quest and 2 Live Crew, other influences on André 3000's music include punk and new wave artists The Ramones, the Buzzcocks and The Smiths. In the February 14, 2004, issue of British music magazine New Musical Express, he identifies "William, It Was Really Nothing" as his favorite Smiths tune.
André has moved into the film world and has made appearances in The Shield, Be Cool, Revolver (2005), Scary Movie 4, and a co-starring role in Four Brothers. He is currently shooting a movie with Big Boi for HBO before moving on to star in the dramatic role of a yet untitled film set to shoot in Louisiana, produced by Chesley Seals and Kat Hantas.
Aliases: André has several aliases: "Dre" (his original moniker), "Possum Allawishes Jenkins", "Dookie", the reversed "Benjamin André" and "Johnny Vulture" (for example on Gwen Stefani's album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., on which he produced/appeared on the tracks "Bubble Pop Electric" and "Long Way To Go"). Most of these appear in the Hey Ya music video, where he and his "clones" all have different names ("Johnny Vulture", "Dookie", "André (Ice Cold) 3000", and "Benjamin André", as well as the three in horse riding caps called "The Love Haters". An interesting, possibly indicative of a day-to-day tendency to adopt monikers, is evident in an episode of Punk'd, when he responds to an agitated shopowner asking his name by answering "Bill Bixby" without skipping a beat.
Personal life: André was in a romantic relationship with neo soul musician Erykah Badu for several years. Together, they have a son, Seven. André has chronicled the relationship and its breakup in various OutKast songs, including "Ms. Jackson," the second single from the album Stankonia.
The song is addressed to Badu's mother, whose maiden name was Jackson. On the last track of "The Love Below", entitled "A Day In The Life Of Benjamin Andre", he delivers an epic, breakneck-pace autobiography chronicling his youth to the present day.
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