Artist Overview: André 3000

When hip-hop fans talk about the greatest artist of the genre’s history, their minds go to a handful of household names: Jay-Z, 2Pac, Nas, Eminem, and Biggie. Older fans will mention names like Rakim and LL Cool J, while younger fans will throw Kanye West and Lil Wayne into the mix. But one rapper, someone on par with if not greater than those named above, is not nearly brought up often enough in these discussions. The better half of the greatest hip-hop duo of all time, he is none other than André 3000. This article aims to make a case for him as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

In terms of pure rapping ability such as lyricism, flow, and delivery, he clearly stands at the topmost tier. Incredibly versatile and multitalented, André 3000 is gifted as a singer, rapper, dancer, and can play and perform multiple instruments. He also has three or four classic albums under his belt alongside the legendary MC Big Boi. His influence on hip-hop culture is severely underrated, and his music was often experimental, having a strong stylistic influence on the way rap music sounds today. As part of OutKast, he basically introduced Southern hip-hop into the mainstream and put Atlanta on the map as one of the most influential cities in hip-hop to this day. Furthermore, André 3000’s unique career as a feature artist later in his career has produced some incredible moments in the past decade.

As a rapper, André’s lyricism, flow, delivery, breath control, and sense of rhythm are virtually unparalleled. It is often said amongst his fans that André “does not have a bad verse.” There is certainly plenty of truth to this assertion; in Outkast’s prime, André 3000 gave every single verse some witty bars, intriguing rhyme schemes, and catchy rhythmic patterns. When coupled with his strong Southern drawl, his eccentric voice never fails to make his vocal deliveries interesting, and his often thought-provoking lyricism hooks the listener into his verse. Here are a few examples of his incredible rapping ability.

On one of Outkast’s most legendary songs, Elevators (Me and You), Andre’s iconic bar on the second verse is often appreciated:

“I live by the beat like you live check-to-check

If it don't move your feet, then, I don't eat, so we like neck-to-neck.”

However, in the first verse, André’s slow yet incredibly precise flow defies most of what is seen in 1990s hip-hop and even today. Typically, rappers go at multiples of two or four syllables per beat, as the beats are generally in a 4/4 time signature. They usually follow consistent patterns and have predictable flows, which are relatively easy to execute. However, in André’s verse, he follows no such pattern. The opening line

“One for the money, yes sir, two for the show”

fits in four beats. However, the pauses and gaps are all off-beat, producing a unique groove that satisfyingly ends exactly on the clap of the final beat. The line itself starts one-fourth of a beat after, so the first beat consists of a quarter beat pause, and “one for the”. The second one is “money yes sir”, and the third one is the pause after “sir”, followed by the remaining three syllables of “two for the”. The line culminates on the fourth beat which is simply the syllable “show” which takes up the entire beat, finishing on the drop. The following line starts a fourth of a beat before the bar and opens with a triplet that fits neatly into the pocket. André’s verses are chock-full of unpredictable pauses and embedded triplets, quintuplets, and all sorts of combinations and rhythmic phrases, displaying incredible skill in a perfect execution of his compositions. André 3000’s unmatched creativity, sense of rhythm, and breath control with his rhythmic phrasing truly set him apart from other MCs in the realm of flow. But the actual words which are intricately laced in these unorthodox patterns offer a whole world of their own.

One of the greatest and most iconic hip-hop verses of all time–André 3000’s second verse on the title track of OutKast’s legendary 1998 record Aquemini–is a true masterpiece of lyricism:

My mind warps and bends, floats the wind, count to ten

Meet the twin, Andre Ben, welcome to the lion's den

Original skin many men comprehend

I extend myself so you go out and tell a friend

Sin all depends on what you believing in

Faith is what you make it that's the hardest shit since MC Ren

Alien can blend right on in wit' yo' kin

Look again 'cause I swear I spot one every now and then

It's happenin' again wish I could tell you when

Andre this is Andre y'all just gon' have to make amends

This short, yet dense and tight verse is plastered with allusions to culture and mythology while maintaining the same “-en” rhyme scheme throughout. For example, “welcome to the lion’s den” refers to the biblical story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. The bars are downright intelligent, pieced together with references to the theme of the album, to the overall set of words associated with the album concept, and more. Aquemini is named the way it is in order to show a duality: Big Boi was born an Aquarius and André was born a Gemini (which is often represented by twins), hence “meet the twin.” After making a play on the Christian concept of “original sin,” which “many men” already “comprehend,” he asserts that after all, righteousness and evil really only depend “on what you believing in.” Faith, he claims, is merely the implementation (“what you make it”) of a belief. This realization makes him feel like an “alien” amongst everyone else, but he can spot a few realized souls “every now and then.” This could also very easily be interpreted as a reference to the idea of “fake friends” who try to infiltrate a rich or famous person’s circle. The final and tenth bar (“count to ten”) talks about the extreme duality of André’s own personality and his struggle to resolve his identities. He metaphorically introduces one side of himself to the other, telling them that they must “make amends.”

This is absolute top-tier lyricism, right up there with Nas, Lupe, Rakim, GZA, and so on. Have a quick listen to songs like ATLiens, Wheelz of Steel, Da Art of Storytellin’, Two Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac), Ain’t No Thang, and you will discover much of the same level of brilliant lyricism and flow.

André 3000’s discography is nothing short of legendary. While he has not officially released any solo material, he contributed greatly to OutKast’s 12-year long catalog of near-perfection through his extreme versatility and creativity. André’s artistic growth from OutKast’s debut record, 1994’s hard-hitting classic Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, to 2004’s The Love Below (which for all intents and purposes was an André 3000 solo record) is astounding to behold. This is not only due to the magnitude of his improvement (he went from purely a rapper to a very talented singer, dancer, and guitarist), but the raw talent he already had with him coming out of the gate. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik features strong, hard-hitting rap that sounds fairly characteristic of the era to the untrained ear, resembling the stalwarts of the day from New York and Los Angeles. However, the seeds of the creative brilliance we would see later on are present here. The melodic hooks on certain songs, along with the idiosyncratic rhythmic structure, are there, to an extent. These ideas are taken to another level on 1996’s ATLiens. The aptly futuristic and funky production creates a spacey vibe that is different from anything else to date, and hard-hitting, improved, and diverse flows and bars populate the tracklist from start to finish. Critics praised this effort for its nonstandard lyrical content and the new and relatable theme of alienation in a genre dominated by the ideas of kinship and brotherhood. As the only major Southern hip-hop act at the time, OutKast truly lived up to their name and embraced their status as the outsiders to the East-West rivalry at the time. From ATLiens onwards, their albums had a strong thematic focus and became increasingly diverse and creative. 1998’s Aquemini is about the duality of André and Big Boi and includes some very unique moments for its time period. For example, on Da Art of Storytellin’ part one, André delivers an entire verse to an actual melody, something completely unheard of at the time. This album features even more legendary songs and is a step up from ATLiens on nearly all fronts. The crowning jewel of Aquemini is easily the title track–simply one hard-hitting verse after another, with the aforementioned André 3000 verse which is regarded as one of the greatest of all time. The song itself has a strong thematic focus and professes the very real idea that all good things must come to an end, acknowledging and expounding on the duo’s vastly different personalities, exploring the idea of duality, and touching on profound themes that just weren’t prevalent in a hip-hop world characterized by rampant hedonism and violence. OutKast’s next two projects, Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below are their most famous, with massive hit songs like “Hey Ya” and “Ms. Jackson” that everyone who grew up in the 2000s knows by heart. These iconic singles and albums are characterized mainly by André 3000’s unique and eccentric singing voice, with Big Boi carrying the load on the rap side of things. However, André does have several brilliant rap verses in this stretch, such as on “Spaghetti Junction”, “So Fresh, So Clean”, and “A Life in The Day of Benjamin Andre.”

Finally, André 3000’s feature run in the last 10 years has been nothing short of flawless. Some of the decade’s most groundbreaking and critically acclaimed projects have been blessed by an André 3000 feature. Notable examples are Frank Ocean’s 2016 masterpiece Blonde, his 2012 debut record Channel Orange, and A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. On Channel Orange, André played the guitar, sang, and rapped for the second half of the beautiful song “Pink Matter,” creating a moody and haunting atmosphere of sound with his steady guitar chords, occasional improvisations, and an awe-inspiring, eerie vocal melody. On Blonde’s “Solo (Reprise)” he delivers a fiery rap verse with personal and deep lyrics, something common to all of his features in this latter half of his career. On the intro track “the ends” on Travis Scott’s Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight, André recounts, in stirring detail, his childhood trauma and persistent survivor’s guilt of living through the 1979-1981 Atlanta Murders. This was a horrifying period in which alleged serial killer Wayne Williams brutally murdered nearly thirty people, mostly young children. The same year, he appeared twice on Kid Cudi’s album Passion, Pain, and Demon-Slayin. In the song “By Design”, the two sing about their worldviews and approaches to life, as André closes the track with a pair of poetic stanzas sung in a high voice. On “The Guide” he delivers an intense rap verse over a futuristic instrumental and a hard-hitting, atmospheric beat. That vintage rhyming ability is on full display here, with some brilliant wordplay and a lightning-fast flow.

André 3000 certainly has one of the most versatile careers of any hip-hop artist ever and has remained one of the most respected artists in the industry. He did what no other rapper of his era had done–he diversified himself into a guitarist, singer, dancer, while still maintaining his reputation as one of the most skilled MCs and writers to ever pick up a mic or a pen. He didn’t just have these extra pursuits as side gigs; some of his most legendary moments in music feature him singing or playing guitar. In the past two decades, the city of Atlanta single-handedly changed the way modern music sounds with its very own genre, trap music. If it weren’t for OutKast and André 3000’s instrumental role in presenting the city as a legitimate center of hip-hop, we might not have seen the revolutionary changes brought by artists like Jeezy, T.I., Young Thug, and Future. In short, his legendary career deserves to be in the conversation for the greatest of all time.

Edited by Tarun Batchu