Andre Benjamin extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

André 3000
André 3000 at the 2007 Comic Con in San Diego, California.
Background information
Birth name	André Lauren Benjamin
Born	May 27, 1975 (1975-05-27) (age 34)
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop, funk, soul
Occupation(s)	Musician, actor, rapper, dancer, singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, violin
Years active	1991–present
Label(s)	LaFace
Associated acts	Big Boi, OutKast, Dungeon Family, Erykah Badu, Sleepy Brown, Fonzworth Bentley, Kelis, Patti LaBelle, John Legend, TLC

André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975) better known by his stage name André 3000, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor, best known for his work in the group OutKast.

Contents 1 Early life 1.1 Music career 1.2 Film career 1.3 Fashion 2 Personal life 2.1 Politics and endorsements 2.2 Aliases 3 Filmography 3.1 Films 3.2 Television 3.3 Video games 4 References 5 External links

Early life

Benjamin was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Sharon Benjamin Hodor, a single mother who sold real estate, and Lawrence Walker, a collections agent.¹² He is of African American and Native American descent.³ Being an only child and growing up in East Point, Decatur and Buckhead, Benjamin saw many different lifestyles (clothing and music) that he combined throughout his career. He attended Willis A. Sutton Middle School, and Tri-Cities High School, where an orchestra teacher named Mrs. Natalie F. Colbert taught him how to play the violin.

Music career

In high school, Benjamin (who was then performing as "Dre") met Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and after a few lyrical battles the two teamed up to form Outkast. Shortly after graduating high school the duo were signed to the Atlanta-based LaFace label and released their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik in 1994. Buoyed by the success of the single "Player's Ball", the album went platinum by the end of the year and Outkast was named Best New Rap Group of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards.

On their next two albums ATLiens and Aquemini, Outkast experimented with their sound by adding elements of trip-hop, soul, and jungle. Benjamin's lyrics in particular took on a more surreal, space-age tinge. At this time Benjamin took up the guitar and painting and became involved with singer Erykah Badu.

Outkast's fourth album, Stankonia, saw Benjamin take on the new name of Andre 3000 (largely to distinguish himself from Dr. Dre) and increased the group's crossover appeal with the single Ms. Jackson, which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written in the aftermath of Benjamin's breakup with Badu and was a fictionalized account of the disintegration of their relationship.

In 2001, Outkast released a greatest hits album Big Boi and Dre Present... OutKast which contained three new tracks. One track, The Whole World won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Later that year, Benjamin participated in the Dungeon Family group album, which saw a number of prominent Atlanta-based hip-hop groups combine into a supergroup.

In 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album which highlighted the differences in the musical styles of the group's two members. André's half of the album, The Love Below, garnered the most attention from mainstream audiences, with the popular singles "Hey Ya!" and "Roses". The album's fourth single and video (Andre's third), "Prototype", was released shortly after. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx spawned the #1 hit "The Way You Move" and the relatively successful "Ghetto Musick." The Love Below was, unlike Speakerboxxx, an exercise in funk, jazz, and alternative music, featuring mostly sung (instead of rapped) vocals from André.

He returned to rapping in 2007 after a long hiatus, appearing on many various remixes including "Walk It Out," "Throw Some D's," "You," Jay-Z's "30 Something," and a few original songs such as UGK's 'International Players Anthem', Devin the Dude's "What A Job", Fonzworth Bentley's Everybody and John Legend's 'Green Light'. He also recently appeared on Big Boi's single Royal Flush.

Benjamin has recently stated that he is making a solo rap album, and that the response to his remixes is part of the motivation. In the same interview, he stated that he wanted to write a verse for a remix to "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston, nothing ever came of the remix.⁴

Andre is featured in John Legend's latest album, Evolver, on the track "Green Light", which was released on October 28, 2008. Prior to the release, Andre commented: "It's going to be a surprise for a lot of John Legend fans, because it is a lot more upbeat than John is — than people think John is I was actually happy to hear it. This is a cool John Legend song."

Film career

André has made appearances in Families, The Shield (André plays Robert Huggins, a character that originated in an episode titled “On Tilt” from Season 3 in 2004.), Be Cool, Revolver (2005), and had a co-starring role in Four Brothers. Andre was also cast as Percival in Idlewild, released on August 26, 2006. He is currently shooting a movie with Big Boi for HBO. He is also currently working on an as-of-yet untitled project, filming on location in Louisiana and is being produced by Chesley Seals and Kat Hantas. He voiced a crow in Charlotte's Web, a movie adaptation of the 1952 children's book. As of November 2006, he voices "Sunny Bridges," a prize-winning musician who gives up touring to teach at his alma mater, in a new animated series he produced on Cartoon Network called Class of 3000. He has also worked with Esthero on a promotional version of "Jungle Book" which was on a Wikked lil' grrrls sampler, but never made it to the actual album due to issues with Esthero's publisher, Warner Bros.. The following year, he appeared in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, with Woody Harrelson and Will Ferrell. He also starred in the 2008 film Battle in Seattle, a film about the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests.

Benjamin was a member of Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender's production company A Band Apart until its close in 2006; he then formed his own company, Moxie Turtle.

Fashion

He launched the "Benjamin Bixby" clothing line in spring of 2008, inspired by college football circa 1935.⁵

Personal life

In 2004, alongside Alicia Silverstone, André was voted by PETA to be the 'World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity.'^{citation needed} He has a son with ex partner Erykah Badu named Seven Sirius Benjamin. He is also childhood friends with Fonzworth Bentley.

He was arrested in Henry County, Georgia in March 2009 after being caught going 109 mph in a 65 mph speed zone.⁶

Politics and endorsements

André posed for a bondage-themed print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election.⁷ In the ads by photographer David LaChapelle, André has his mouth gagged by a bow-tie in a symbolic function.⁸ The ads drew national attention.⁷

Aliases

André has several aliases:

• "Cupid Valentino" (from the song "Happy Valentine's Day")
• "Dre" (his original moniker)
• "Ice Cold (From Hey Ya)"
• "Possum Aloysius Jenkins"
• "Dookie (Blasingame III)"
• The reversed, "Benjamin André"
• "Love Pusher"
• "Binhamin" (From the insert of ATLiens)(also shared by Producer Quebo Kuntry, whose real name is James Benjamin)
• "Johnny Vulture" (for example on Gwen Stefani's album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. which he produced and also appeared on the track "Bubble Pop Electric")
• "Funk Crusader"
• "Chamelio Salamander" (From the Sleepy Brown "I Can't Wait" music video)
• "3 Stacks"
• "Sunny Bridges" (Class of 3000)
• "André 3K"
• "Downtown Funky Stuff Malone / Coffee Black" (Semi-Pro)

Most of these names appear in the "Hey Ya" music video, where he and his doubles all have different names ("Johnny Vulture", "Dookie", "André (Ice Cold) 3000", "Possum Jenkins" and "Benjamin André"). Also, when asked his name by a phony insurance officer on Punk'd he calls himself Bill Bixby.

There is also an interlude track on the Outkast CD Stankonia, called D.F. (Interlude), where both Andre 3000 and Big Boi list many of their numerous aliases.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2003	Hollywood Homicide	Silk Brown
2005	Be Cool	Dabu
	Four Brothers	Jeremiah Mercer
	Volcano High	Kim Yung Soo	Voice only
	Revolver	Avi
2006	Idlewild	Percival
	Charlotte's Web	Elwyn the Crow	Voice only
Scary Movie 4	Jack	Uncredited
2007	Fracture	George
	Battle in Seattle	Django
2008	Semi-Pro	Clarence 'Coffee Black' Malone

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2004	The Shield	Comic Book Store Owner	Single episode
2006-2007	Class of 3000	Sunny Bridges	Eleven episodes
2008	About a Girl	Security guard	Single episode

Video games

Benjamin provided his voice for the 2005 video game L.A. Rush.

References

External links

• André 3000 at the Internet Movie Database
• André 3000 at Allmovie
• I'll give son a gun - Andre 3000
• Andre's gun revelation
• Everything-Outkast
• Andre Benjamin Launches Benjamin Bixby Line at Bloomigdale's San Francisco

v • d • e OutKast André 3000 • Big Boi Studio albums Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik · ATLiens · Aquemini · Stankonia · Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Other albums Big Boi and Dre Present...Outkast · Idlewild Singles "Player's Ball" · "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" · "Git Up, Git Out" · "Elevators (Me & You)" · "ATLiens" · "Jazzy Belle" · "Rosa Parks" · "Skew It on the Bar-B" · "Da Art of Storytellin' (Pt. 1)" · "B.O.B." · "Ms. Jackson" · "So Fresh, So Clean" · "The Whole World"  · "Land of a Million Drums" · "Hey Ya!" · "The Way You Move" · "Ghetto Musick" · "Roses" · "Prototype" · "Mighty O" · "Morris Brown" · "Idlewild Blues" · "Hollywood Divorce" · "The Train" · "Royal Flush" (credited as Big Boi featuring André 3000) Featured singles "Gone Be Fine" · "International Player's Anthem (I Choose You)" Related articles Discography · Organized Noize · Dungeon Family

v • d • e Dungeon Family Groups OutKast • Goodie Mob • Organized Noize • P.A. • Lumberjacks • Society of Soul Members Sleepy Brown • André 3000 • Big Boi • Mr. DJ • Big Gipp • Cee-Lo Green • Khujo • T-Mo • Witchdoctor • Big Rube • Cool Breeze • Big Reese • Killer Mike • Slimm Calhoun • BlackOwned C-Bone • Supa Nate • Bubba Sparxxx See also Outkast discography