Andre 3000 Explains Benefits Of OutKast Hailing From Atlanta, Not New York

While appearing on NPR Microphone Check, OutKast lyricist Andre 3000 explained the benefits of OutKast getting their start in the South as opposed to a city like New York.

According to Andre, the city of Atlanta and the South in general provided much more freedom for artists since “no one expected anything from the South” in regards to the music coming out of that particular region. He added that if OutKast did hail from New York there would have been expectations for their type of music and style of rap.

“It’s one of the places where because we didn’t grow up in New York. Because we didn’t grow up on the West Coast. We had time to soak both of those things in,” said Andre when asked what Southern culture means to Hip Hop. “And because no one expected anything from the South except maybe fast, booty-shake, club music. So, the door was wide open. So, we had an open palette. And one thing I can say about Atlanta is you can do anything from Atlanta. I think it would have been harder for us to come out from New York because they would have expected us to do a certain thing. We would have to be bound to a certain thing. We would have to rap a certain way. So, I think Atlanta is almost like a freedom land because we had no ties to anything.”

Andre continued to speak on Southern Hip Hop and later revealed that OutKast and their Dungeon Family crew made a conscious decision to represent for the city of Atlanta and the South in their music. He added that that was one of the motivations behind naming their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.

“As a crew we knew in our heads that we definitely wanted to represent the city,” the rapper said. “And not just the city. We wanted to represent the Southern lifestyle. It was strategic in naming the album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Cause we knew—We all grew up on New York Hip Hop. And I remember being in the 8th and 9th grade and we was so into New York Hip Hop that we had learned the accents and everything. Trying to imitate New York Hip Hop. That’s just how it was.

“You kinda grow from that,” he added. “And so, the first album when we were jumping into it as a crew we knew what we had to represent. And it was a big part to make sure the city was on our back at the same time. Because before then we did have great talent coming out of the city, but not in a quote-on-quote Hip Hop kind of form. We had great artists from TLC to Kris Kross and those kind of acts, but it was something a little bit different when we came. So, we was just happy to be a part of it.”

Later in the interview, Andre offered praise to a handful of West Coast and New York-based rap groups including A Tribe Called Quest and Souls Of Mischief.

“I have to give a shout out to the Hieroglyphics crew and Souls Of Mischief, because as kids we were hugely influenced by them. When it comes to rap, I would say [A Tribe Called Quest], Hiero, and Das EFX – people don’t mention them a lot – but to me it was about who had the most interesting things, interesting flows,” Andre said, according to AllHipHop.com. “And when it came to that, Tribe had their thing, Hiero had their thing, Das EFX had their thing that was different from everybody else. So when we came out, you definitely could hear the West Coast influence in our rhymes.”

The release of Andre 3000’s NPR Microphone Check interview comes days after OutKast performed at the three-day long OutKast #AtLast homecoming concert in Atlanta, Georgia.

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