André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name André 3000 (formerly known as Dre, no association with Dr. Dre) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor, best known for being part of American hip-hop duo OutKast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. As an actor, Benjamin has made appearances in a number of TV series and films, including Families, The Shield, Be Cool, Revolver, Semi-Pro, and Four Brothers. In addition to music and acting, Benjamin has also been an active entrepreneur. In the spring of 2008, he launched a clothing line called Benjamin Bixby. He has also been an advocate for animal rights. He is also known for his work on the Cartoon Network animated series Class of 3000.
Early life
Benjamin was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child of Sharon Benjamin Hodor, a single mother who sold real estate, and Lawrence Walker, a collections agent. He is of African American and Native American descent. Growing up in East Point, Georgia and Bankhead, Benjamin saw many different lifestyles related to clothing and music that he combined throughout his career. He attended Willis A. Sutton Middle School, SouthWest Dekalb High School, Newton High School, and Tri-Cities High School.
Career
Music career
In high school, Benjamin (who was then performing as "Dre") met Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. Benjamin & Patton teamed up to form Outkast. Shortly after graduating high school, the duo were signed to the Atlanta-based LaFace label and released their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, in 1994. Buoyed by the success of the single "Player's Ball", the album went platinum by the end of the year and Outkast was named Best New Rap Group of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards.
On their next two albums, ATLiens and Aquemini, Outkast experimented with their sound by adding elements of trip-hop, soul, and jungle. Benjamin's lyrics in particular took on a more surreal, space-age tinge. At this time Benjamin took up the guitar and painting and became involved with singer Erykah Badu.
Outkast's fourth album, Stankonia, saw Benjamin take on the new name of Andre 3000 (largely to distinguish himself from Dr. Dre) and increased the group's crossover appeal with the single "Ms. Jackson", which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written in the aftermath of Benjamin's breakup with Badu and was a fictionalized account of the disintegration of their relationship.
In 2001, Outkast released a greatest hits album, Big Boi and Dre Present... OutKast, which contained three new tracks. One track, "The Whole World", won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Later that year, Benjamin participated in the Dungeon Family group album, which saw a number of prominent Atlanta-based hip-hop groups combine into a supergroup.
In 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album which highlighted the differences in the musical styles of the group's two members. Benjamin'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 (Benjamin's third), "Prototype", was released shortly after. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx spawned the #1 hit "The Way You Move" and the relatively successful "Ghetto Musick". The Love Below was, unlike Speakerboxxx, an exercise in funk, jazz, and alternative music, featuring mostly sung (instead of rapped) vocals from Benjamin.
In 2006 OutKast released their sixth album as a group Idlewild. The album served as a soundtrack to the group's musical film Idlewild. The film centered around life in a 1930s setting, and the album took influences from music of that era, particularly blues. Benjamin had a few rapped verses on the album, including on the first single "Mighty O", but mostly stuck with singing as on The Love Below.
He returned to rapping in 2007, after a hiatus from the genre, appearing on various remixes, including: "Walk It Out", "Throw Some D's", "You", Jay-Z's "30 Something", and original songs such as UGK's "International Players Anthem", Devin the Dude's "What A Job", Fonzworth Bentley's "Everybody", and with Big Boi "Royal Flush" and the leaked single "Lookin For Ya". He also appeared on John Legend's album, Evolver, on the track "Green Light", which was released on October 28, 2008. Prior to the release, Benjamin commented: "It's going to be a surprise for a lot of John Legend fans, because it is a lot more upbeat than John is—than people think John is. I was actually happy to hear it. This is a cool John Legend song."
Benjamin has stated that he is making a solo rap album, and that the response to his remixes is part of the motivation for it.
In 2010, he was featured on Ciara's remix for her hit single "Ride", from the album Basic Instinct.
On 30 July 2010, Big Boi revealed in an interview that Outkast would release a new album "as soon as Dre finishes his album" stating that Dre is indeed recording an album. He added that they have the beats recorded for the new Outkast album and will continue recording as soon as Dre is done. A snippet of a track titled "I Do" was leaked August 2010 that featured a new rap verse by Benjamin.
On January 14, 2011, a song with Ke$ha called "The Sleazy Remix" was leaked.
On June 7, 2011, Beyonce's song "Party" was leaked, it features Benjamin, it is his first collaboration with the singer. It is also featured on Beyonce's fourth studio album entitled 4 released June 24, 2011.
Andre's music aliases
Early in Andre's career and prior to his major-market success, Benjamin developed several aliases that he used in various attempts to establish recognition and develop his fan base. His aliases ranged from simply Dre' to lucrative and humorous names such as Possum Aloysius Jenkins. His biggest alias prior to his career with Outkast was "the Feat" or simply, Feat. Andre is now most commonly referred to as Andre 3000.
Film career
Benjamin has made appearances in Families, The Shield (he plays Robert Huggins, a character that originated in an episode titled “On Tilt” from Season 3 in 2004), Be Cool, Revolver, Semi Pro, and Four Brothers. He was also cast as Percival in Idlewild, released on August 26, 2006. He is currently shooting a movie with Big Boi for HBO. He is also currently working on an as-of-yet untitled project, filming on location in Louisiana and is being produced by Chesley Seals and Kat Hantas. He voiced a crow in Charlotte's Web, a movie adaptation of the 1952 children's book. As of November 2006, he voiced "Sunny Bridges," a prize-winning musician who gives up touring to teach at his alma mater, in Class of 3000, an animated series he produced on Cartoon Network. He has also worked with Esthero on a promotional version of "Jungle Book" which was on a Wikked lil' grrrls sampler, but never made it to the actual album due to issues with Esthero's label, Warner Bros.. The following year, he appeared in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, with Woody Harrelson and Will Ferrell. He also starred in the 2008 film Battle in Seattle, a film about the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests.
Benjamin was a member of Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender's production company A Band Apart until its close in 2006; he then formed his own company, Moxie Turtle.
Fashion
He launched the "Benjamin Bixby" clothing line in spring of 2008, inspired by college football circa 1935.
Personal life
In 2004, alongside Alicia Silverstone, Benjamin was voted by PETA to be the 'World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity. He is also childhood friends with Fonzworth Bentley. Andre also has a son named Seven Sirius Benjamin (born 1997) with R&B singer Erykah Badu.
Arrest
Benjamin was arrested in Henry County, Georgia in March 2009 after being caught driving a car 109 mph in a 65 mph speed zone (approximately 175 km/h in a 105 km/h zone).
Politics and endorsements
Benjamin posed for a print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. In the ads by photographer David LaChapelle, he has his mouth gagged by a bow-tie in a symbolic function. The ads drew national attention.
Discography
Solo production discography
Note: Andre also helped produce several songs on OutKast's albums with partner Big Boi, usually credited as just OutKast or as their production alias Earthtone III.
- 2003
Big Gipp – Mutant Mindframe
- 07. "Boogie Man" (feat. André 3000)
Kelis – Tasty
- 08. "Millionaire" (featuring André 3000)
Killer Mike – Monster
- 03. "Akshon (Yeah!)"
- 09. "U Know I Love U"
- 2004
Gwen Stefani – Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
- 12. "Long Way to Go" (featuring André 3000)
- 2010
Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
- 08. "You Ain't No DJ" (featuring Yelawolf)
- 2011
Beyoncé - 4
- 05. "Party" (featuring André 3000)
Filmography
Films
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Hollywood Homicide | Silk Brown | |
| 2005 | Be Cool | Dabu | |
| Four Brothers | Jeremiah Mercer | ||
| Volcano High | Kim Yung Soo | Voice only | |
| Revolver | Avi | ||
| 2006 | OutKast: Idlewild | Percival | |
| Charlotte's Web | Elwyn the Crow | Voice only | |
| Scary Movie 4 | Jack | Uncredited | |
| 2007 | Fracture | George | |
| Battle in Seattle | Django | ||
| 2008 | Semi-Pro | Clarence Withers/Coffee Black/Downtown "Funky Stuff" Malone/Sugar Dunkerton/"Jumping" Johnny Johnson |
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004; 2008 | The Shield | Comic Book Store Owner then later politician, Robert Huggins | two episodes, including series finale episode |
| 2006–2007 | Class of 3000 | Sunny Bridges | Twenty Six episodes |
| 2008 | About a Girl | Security guard | Single episode |
Video games
Benjamin provided his voice for the 2005 video game L.A. Rush, as well as BETA testing the game.
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). | 
|