@til november gem drop
Andre 3000 is probably ONE of THEE few artists alive that can submerse himself in different artistic crafts and be incredibly proficient.
It’s funny because he was really ready to go solo after The Love Below in ‘03 showcased that he could carry large, multiple ethnic audiences BY HIMSELF with his own style. He wanted NOTHING else to do with the Outkast brand by this time since he felt he outgrew it(the main reason why he kept turning down performing songs from that album at the Grammys), people casually make remarks that Idlewild (‘06) was one of the weaker LPs that Outkast made and it really boiled down to the fact that Andre was NOT INTO making that album, which really only contained 6-7 original songs and was really uneven because of it. Only reason Andre got on board was because of the accompanying movie he starred in, Big Boi gave him creative control over the album and LA Reid forcing the issue for contractual purposes.
Four Brothers (‘05) was supposed to be him finally branching off from just music and being more diverse with utilizing his creative powers. At this time, he was also already in talks to kick off his own clothing line as well but another major reason why the music, movie and other creative deals died after ‘07 was that he was NOT willing to play the game, FULLY, to get that higher level of success.
He’s abandoned the Outkast brand for the reasons of his own personal growth and the fear of getting too immersed in the dark side of the industry, much to the chagrin of Big Boi who’s been damn near begging Dre to get back on board for monetary purposes. So now he’s been relegated to doing features on songs, guest appearances on shows and doing indie films. The funny thing is if he calls Reid or Edmonds to finally get on board, he still has enough cache within the industry to go directly to the top himself quick.