Thug Life Army

Mega hip-hop star Andre 3000 of OutKast wants to make it clear that he and Big Boi are not breaking up.  It may sound like a broken record, but as opportunities increase for both individuals outside of the music world folks still want some reassurance that the talented rhymers from the A-T-L are not going nowhere.

“We have two albums that are supposed to come out this year,” says 3000. “One of them will be the soundtrack to the HBO film that we finished, this 1930’s period piece. It’s kind of like a love story, thriller, gangsta musical, everything type of movie directed by Bryan Barber. That’ll be the next OutKast album.”

Dre, who stars as a gangsta rap artist in the forthcoming film “Be Cool,” said OutKast's current Grammy-winning album “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (and its 11 million units sold) has set the bar pretty high for a follow-up. 

“It’s a lot of pressure because once you do numbers like that, it’s like the whole world is watching what you’re doing next,” says Dre. “We’ve always had fun with people kind of underdoggin’ and not paying attention to what we’re doing. We’ve always found energy in that, so now we gotta find out where that energy is coming from.” 

Andre, at one point, was on board to star in a bio pic of the legendary guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix.  But the on-going legal battle within the Hendrix family over rights to the singer’s music has held up the film’s progress.

“Right now it’s up in the air 50/50,” says Andre. “Hollywood wants to make it, we have producers on board and a couple of directors in line that want to do it, but it’s really a matter of the family releasing songs. The sister, she owns the rights to the songs and I guess there have been battles between his true brother and the step-sister, so nobody’s giving up any rights. Maybe one day they’ll give up rights and we can shoot it.” 

In the meantime, Dre and Big Boi are hoping that their forthcoming soundtrack to the HBO musical will be as progressive and funky as any album in their discography, which stretches back through four studio albums to 1994’s innovative classic, “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.”

“The only way I can explain how we’ve stayed on this long is by a power that we have nothing to do with,” he says. “A lot of the time, I’ll write lyrics and come up with melodies and music and the right songs, and I don’t even know where it’s coming from. I guess it’s because we’re supposed to be doing it.”

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