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Trivia
Birth name: Andre Benjamin
Date of birth: 27 May 1975
Place of birth: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Nickname: Andre 3000, Dre, Cupid Valentino, Johnny Vulture
Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m)
André was born in Atlanta and raised in poverty by a single mother.
While searching through a dictionary Big Boi and André came across the word "outcast" and decided this would be a perfect group name, for at the time the hip hop industry was dominated by East Coast and West Coast rappers who saw southern rappers as outcasts. They simply changed the "c" in the word into a "k".
His album 'The Love Below' has a overwhelming theme of love.
In the song Prototype on The Love Below, Benjamin has a conversation to "John". Whether this was an actual conversation or played out as a joke is unknown, but seeing as you never hear "John"'s voice it was probably a joke.
He met his future OutKast partner, Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, when the two attended Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia.
The video for "Hey Ya!" is based on The Beatles' landmark appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The video's storyline has "The Love Below" (a fictional band, with all members played by André with the use of special effects) performing in London.
The video for "Roses" is loosely based on the musical West Side Story. It featured sparring 1950s-style gangs, one representing Speakerboxxx, and one representing The Love Below, parodying the widespread arguing among critics and fans as to which half of the album was better. (It is also one of two songs on the album featuring both members of the group)
He wrote "Sorry Miss Jackson" to say sorry to his
ex-girlfriend, Erykah Badu's, mother.
André was in a romantic relationship with neo soul musician Erykah Badu for several years. Together, they have a son, Seven. André has chronicled the relationship and its breakup in various OutKast songs, including "Ms. Jackson," the second single from the album Stankonia. The song is addressed to Badu's mother, whose maiden name was Jackson.
In 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album that 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".
Has a son named Seven with ex-girlfriend Erykah Badu.
Voted sexiest male vegetarian, 2004.
Is an only child.
The album's fourth single and video (Andre's third), "Prototype", was released shortly after, whereas Big Boi's Speakerboxxx has seen the release of the hit "The Way You Move" and most recent single "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.
Is Vegan.
In 2004, PETA named Andre "Sexiest Vegetarian of the Year".
André has several aliases: "Dre" (his original moniker), "Possum Allawishes Jenkins", "Dookie", the reversed "Benjamin André" and "Johnny Vulture" (for example on Gwen Stefani's album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., on which he produced/appeared on the tracks "Bubble Pop Electric" and "Long Way To Go"). Most of these appear in the Hey Ya music video, where he and his "clones" all have different names ("Johnny Vulture", "Dookie", "André (Ice Cold) 3000", and "Benjamin André", as well as the three in horse riding caps called "The Love Haters".
An interesting, possibly indicative of a day-to-day tendency to adopt monikers, is evident in an episode of Punk'd, when he responds to an agitated shopowner asking his name by answering "Bill Bixby" without skipping a beat.
In addition to rap groups A Tribe Called Quest and 2 Live Crew, other influences on André 3000's music include punk and new wave artists The Ramones, the Buzzcocks and The Smiths.
"John" is John Frye, OutKast's audio engineer, who is often there during recordings
Part of the band OutKast.
From Atlanta.
In a campaign commercial released October 30, 2003, the Wesley Clark presidential campaign made reference to OutKast. The reference was an attempt to get the attention of a much younger generation of potential voters. In the ad, Clark is sitting in a coffee shop with a dozen middle-class young adults of various American ethnicities. The young adults do not speak, but sit and listen as Clark appears to be answering their questions. "Well, to answer your questions, no, I would not have voted for the Iraq war... I am pro-choice and I am a strong believer in Affirmative Action; and I don't care what the other candidates say, I don't think OutKast is really breaking up. André 3000 and Big Boi just cut solo records, that's all." The last comment prompts one of the young adults, a blonde-bearded Caucasian, to say approvingly "alright" and to tap fists with Clark.
They were both "Punk'd" by Ashton Kutcher, after he fakes their rented Maybach being stolen, and crashing through a store window.
In the February 14, 2004, issue of British music magazine New Musical Express, he identifies "William, It Was Really Nothing" as his favorite Smiths tune.
Hey Ya was the number one song on the very final weekend of "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem". It was also number one a week later on the very first weekend of "American Top 40 with Ryan
Seacrest".
The The Way You Move video and Hey Ya! videos tie in together, with the Move video starting and Hey Ya! finishing.
Named among Fade In Magazine's "100 People in Hollywood You Need to
Know" in 2005.
Turned down a role in Dreamgirls (2006).
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