Speaking with Billboard on the day of celebrating her 72nd birthday, Soul singer and icon Aretha Franklin reported plans to work on new music with OutKast rapper Andre 3000.
During a birthday party at the New York City Ritz-Carlton Hotel that featured an appearance from Denzel Washington, Franklin opened up to Billboard about the album “Babyface is working on the tracks,” she said of the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. “So, I’m just waiting for him to finish that so he can finish my tracks please,” Franklin said of the singer’s current tenure as a guest star in the Broadway musical “After Midnight.”
Franklin went on to cite Andre 3000 as collaborating with Babyface on those songs. “And I think Andre 2000—is it two or three? 3000 is going to be doing some of the tracks with him,” she said.
Andre 3000 stars in an upcoming biopic on late guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Earlier this month, Danny Bramson, producer of the movie tentatively titled Jimi: All By My Side, spoke with Billboard about taking a chance on the rapper-turned-actor for the role. “We bet the house on our one and only choice, Andre Benjamin,” Bramson said. “Andre and I had ironically spoken once before—when I was producing music for Higher Learning. John Singleton had turned me on to the scene in Atlanta and the song they delivered to us predated their first album. I flew to Atlanta probably two and half years ago and sat down with Andre; I could finally thank him. The idea of anyone playing Hendrix, let alone a right-handed guitarist, was one of the greatest challenges of the project. I found a really patient teacher and put together a regimen for Andre when he came out to Los Angeles. He sat in a small studio, six hours a day, putting in dedication [to learn how to play left-handed]. His guitarmanship had to carry the idea of grace and fluidity. John and I declared that we didn’t want to have the camera cropped on his face and not the guitar. He kept working in a rehearsal room throughout the production.”
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An initial look at Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix is available below.
RELATED: Jimi Hendrix Biopic Producer Says They “Bet The House” On Andre 3000
