André 3000 is not only one of the greatest rappers alive, but a seasoned producer whose endless pursuit of pure creative expression and musical experimentation has carved out a decorated, if not underappreciated, discography on the other side of the boards.
Over the last 30 years, the OutKast legend has quietly produced dozens of songs for his iconic rap group with Big Boi, including some of their biggest hits, as well as tracks for an array of other artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Kelis.
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Unlike many Hip Hop producers, 3 Stacks doesn’t rely solely on drum machines, sampling equipment or computer software. Ever the adventurer, André has incorporated a number of instruments into his production, including the guitar, piano, saxophone and, of course, the flute — his beloved musical weapon that anchors his debut solo album New Blue Sun.
Like many musicians who come from humble beginnings and have a feel-first approach, he’s done it all without being able to read a single note. “I never learned music,” he admitted on the Touré Show in 2023. “If I played a chord, I never knew what I was playing. For me, it’s shapes. I’m just stretching my fingers out and whatever sounds good, I land on it and that ends up being ‘Ms. Jackson.'”
Below, HipHopDX explores the other (often slept-on) side of André 3000’s musical talent: his career as a producer.
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Two Dope Boyz (Behind the Boards)
After Organized Noize — the Dungeon-dwelling production team comprised of Sleepy Brown, Ray Murray and the late Rico Wade — scored the entirety of their breakthrough debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, OutKast stepped up to the MPC3000 and introduced themselves as producers on their sophomore LP ATLiens.
Much like they did on the mic, André 3000 and Big Boi made an instant impact. They didn’t just chip in with deep cuts, but crafted some of the album’s best and biggest hits including “Elevators (Me & You)” and “ATLiens.” Despite them being just 21 at the time, it was immediately clear that André and Antwan had vision to go with their production chops, adding an extraterrestrial and Afrofuturistic touch to the red clay funk of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
“We learned from being under [Organized Noize] for so long,” Big Boi told SPIN of their work on ATLiens. “What better way to paint a picture than being able to create the soundscape for your words? We were maturing and coming of age then. Just trying to figure out, ‘Where are we going?'”
He added: “A lot of those [songs] just came from casual conversation. Just beating on the beat machine, tinkering around with little stuff in the studio, finding a rhythm, and then we’d just kinda sit there. I really wish we had, like, eight Go-Pros in the studio so I could look back at and see how stuff happened. It was truly magical.”
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Beats That’ll Bust Ya Shit Open
Boosted by the positive reception to ATLiens, 3 Stacks and Daddy Fat Sax took on more production duties on their third (and arguably finest) album Aquemini, with Organized Noize only contributing four songs to the 16-track effort.
Its title — an amalgamation of their respective zodiac signs — wasn’t the only clear distinction made between the partners-in-rhyme. While Big Boi came up with the catchy hooks, André 3000 took on the role of producer-in-chief, brainstorming the beats for “Rosa Parks,” “Chonkyfire” and others while also sketching out the album’s hilarious skits.
When he wasn’t experimenting with unusual instruments, such as playing the kalimba on “Hold On, Be Strong,” Dre relied on some of Atlanta’s finest local musicians to bring his ideas to life. He even recruited his stepfather, Rev. Robert Hodo, to play the harmonica on the hoe-down hit “Rosa Parks.”
Not only did Aquemini wow the world, becoming the first Southern rap album to earn the coveted five-mic rating from The Source magazine, but Dre and Big’s production on the project won over their mentors. “I think that was the record where OutKast got their props as producers from Rico and Ray and Pat [Sleepy Brown],” the group’s former A&R Kawan Prather said of Aquemini‘s sonically sublime standout “SpottieOttieDopaliscious.”
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Blasting Off Into the Earth(tone)’s Stratosphere
Following the success of ATLiens and Aquemini, André 3000 and Big Boi took a cue from Organized Noize and formed their own production team with longtime collaborator Mr. DJ, calling themselves Earthtone III.
Also different was where they were recording. In 1999, the duo purchased their very own studio in Atlanta, a complex previously owned by Bobby Brown, and kitted it out with all the equipment they could ever need. They called it Stankonia Studios.
This newfound freedom, in terms of both studio time and tools, was reflected in the music. Drawing inspiration from as far and wide as European raves and Rage Against the Machine, Earthtone III produced the majority of OutKast’s most innovative effort, Stankonia, a cosmic Xplosion of space-age funk, bombastic guitar riffs and ecstasy-dropping drum and bass that would make George Clinton pump the brakes on the mothership.
No song better encapsulates this than “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).” “It was an idea before it was a song,” André told Rolling Stone of the pulse-racing, politically-charged anthem. “We was at this party in London, and they were playing drum and bass music with an MC rhyming. There wasn’t anything killing me in Hip Hop at the time, but woo, that shit was tough.”
He added: “It was the tempo I was looking for, so I thought about how to Americanize it. Techno was too cheesy and dance-oriented for people over here […] But if you make it hard, with feeling and lyrics on top, it’s a new type of music. We call it slumadelic — slum dance music. That way they can understand it.”
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The Prince-Inspired Prototype
Earthtone III only lasted one album as André 3000, Big Boi and Mr. DJ were credited individually on OutKast’s follow-up album, 2003’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Dre not only produced the bulk of his Prince-inspired half of the double album — even playing the free-jazz saxophone on “She Lives In My Lap” — but he was responsible for a handful of highlights on Big Boi’s disc, including “GhettoMusick” and “Last Call.”
However, the apex of André’s work on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below — if not his entire production career — remains “Hey Ya!,” the diamond-certified megahit that everyone from babies to your baby mama’s mama knows. Not bad for his first go at playing the guitar.
“I’ve always been a jack-of-no-trades, but just making it happen. You know, play guitar just enough to play on The Love Below. Play piano just enough to do ‘Ms. Jackson.’ My first chords were ‘Hey Ya!'” he confessed to GQ in 2017.
André’s production particularly on The Love Below also served as a prototype (no pun intended) for the huge shift in Hip Hop that would soon follow. Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak is widely credited as the album that ushered in the era of melody and vulnerability, creating a lane for him and others including Drake, Kid Cudi and Childish Gambino to thrive in, but there’s an argument to be made that there’d be no “Say You Will” without “Pink & Blue.”
The fractured nature of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was, unfortunately, a sign of things to come as OutKast released their sixth and final album, Idlewild, three years later. By this point, Dre and Big had largely handed the production reins back to Organized Noize, as well as a handful of new names, although 3 Stacks still cooked up heatrocks like the Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg-featuring “Hollywood Divorce.”
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Outside Production
André 3000’s production credits outside of OutKast are very much a reflection of his eclectic taste. He’s produced songs for everyone from Gwen Stefani and Gorillaz to Aretha Franklin. And, of course, there’s a fair share of forward-thinking rap and R&B in there, too.
3 Stacks’ first non-OutKast beat came in 2003 courtesy of Kelis’ “Millionaire,” a frenetic, futuristic head-banger that sounds like it was made in the same techno trance as Stankonia and some of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The song also features a legendary verse from the man himself, as well as some epic, Prince-esque singing.
Dre also kept it in the (Dungeon) family by blessing Big Boi (“You Ain’t No DJ”), Big Gipp (“Boogie Man”) and Killer Mike (“AKshon”) with off-kilter yet hard-hitting beats. While his collaborative relationship with Kanye West has been somewhat complicated, he also contributed to the rusty, rock-flavored “Fire” from Ye’s Kids See Ghosts album with Kid Cudi — a fitting song for a man who once portrayed Jimi Hendrix on the big screen.
New Blue Sun: A New Frontier
André Benjamin’s most recent move as a musician is also his most daring. Released in late 2023, New Blue Sun is what few fans expected from 3 Stacks’ long-awaited debut solo album, ditching his revered rapping ability and genre-blending beats for ambient spiritual jazz instrumentals.
New Blue Sun has been reductively referred to as a “flute album,” but it is so much more than that. Yes, André plays a variety of flutes on the record after falling in love with woodwind instruments during The Love Below era, but he’s one of a number of musicians who make up the André 3000 Experience alongside legendary composer Carlos Niño, guitarist Nate Mercereau and drummer Deantoni Parks, among others.
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The entirely improvised album was also inspired by real-life spiritual experiences, with 3 Stacks’ purring animal noises on “That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther…” stemming from an ayahuasca trip on the tropical island state.
Love it or loathe it, New Blue Sun is one of the boldest left turns in music history. It could also see André return to the Grammys stage next month and accept the biggest award in music, with New Blue Sun nominated for Album of the Year. If he does, he’ll become the first rapper to win the coveted prize more than once.
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Looking back on his more than 30-year production career, it’s clear that André 3000 the beatmaker has operated by the same ethos that has guided him as an artist: explore, innovate and evolve, even if fans aren’t quite ready for it. Though the act of producing forces one to speak through beats instead of bars, Dre’s discography as a producer says everything about who he is as a person.
“When I started producing, I just picked up equipment to see what I could get away with,” he said in a 2023 interview with Questlove. “For me, it’s all discovery. To me, that’s what I’m selling. I’m selling, ‘Hey, man. Go towards what you in to.’ That’s what I’ve done all my life. Anyone looking at me, I hope they get that.”
André 3000’s entire production discography is available as a playlist below.
