Andre 3000 and Big Boi made plenty of hip hop fans happy when they announced they were reuniting for a tour this past summer. Although the duo quickly dismissed rumors of new music from the ATLiens, fans were excited but Andre felt as if he was being “a sellout” by doing the shows. “Honestly, I didn’t want to do the tour. We hadn’t performed in 10 years. It was old songs,” he told Fader adding, “I’m like, How am I going to present these songs? I don’t have nothing new to say.”
The rapper explained that due to his lacking of a new way to present the music, he decided to add eyebrow-raising outfits such as jumpsuits reading, ‘Art or fart,’ and ‘I don’t know what else to say,’ with all of them having a price tag reading, ‘SOLD’ (like the one pictured above.) He said, “I felt weird about going on stage and doing it again,” adding, “I felt like people would be like ‘Y’all are doing all these festivals. ‘Y’all are just doing it for the money,’ And I felt like a sellout, honestly.” The ‘SOLD’ price tag on the extravagant outfits were to make the rapper feel better as if he was “in on the joke.” “So I felt like there was a certain sell-out in a way, because I didn’t want to do it, I knew I was doing it for a reason. So maybe if I’m telling people, ‘I am selling out,’ then it’s not as bad as pretending.”
Thankfully for fans Big Boi convinced him that doing the tour was a good thing. Andre recalls, “I’m 39, I got a 17-year-old kid, and I got to support certain things,” adding, “And my partner Big Boi is like, ‘This is a great thing for all of us.'”
© 2014, Julie Aly. All rights reserved.
