Andre Benjamin Biography Quotes 16 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Andre Lauren Benjamin was born on May 27, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the city and surrounding areas that would later shape his voice and sense of style. Raised by his mother, Sharon Benjamin-Hodo, and father, Lawrence Walker, he absorbed the diverse sounds of Southern radio and the stories of Atlanta neighborhoods that were in transition during his youth. At Tri-Cities High School, a magnet school for the performing arts in East Point, he met Antwan Patton, known as Big Boi. The friendship quickly became a partnership driven by a shared curiosity about language, melody, and rhythm, and the pair began writing together, carving out their own sound as the Southern hip-hop landscape coalesced around the creative collective known as the Dungeon Family.

Outkast and Breakthrough
Taking the name Outkast, Benjamin and Big Boi signed to LaFace Records under the stewardship of L.A. Reid and Babyface. Their 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, introduced a distinctly Southern sensibility built with Organized Noize producers Rico Wade, Sleepy Brown, and Ray Murray. The album's success placed them on the national stage, but it was the 1995 Source Awards, where Outkast was met with boos, that sparked one of Benjamin's defining moments. Accepting an award, he delivered the now classic line, "The South got something to say", crystallizing a generational shift in hip-hop's geography and identity.

Subsequent albums ATLiens (1996) and Aquemini (1998) deepened Outkast's sonic palette, fusing cosmic funk, bluesy soul, and forward-leaning lyricism. Benjamin's writing grew more introspective and experimental, pairing nimble flows with off-kilter melodies. With Stankonia (2000), Outkast expanded into global pop culture. Around this time, Benjamin adopted the name Andre 3000, distinguishing himself from Dr. Dre and signaling a broader creative persona that encompassed both classic showman flair and avant-garde instincts.

Artistic Evolution and Cultural Impact
Outkast's double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) was a landmark: Big Boi's Speakerboxxx kept one foot in kinetic rap, while Benjamin's The Love Below reimagined the boundaries of hip-hop with lush, jazz-inflected pop ballads and theatrical compositions. "Hey Ya!" became a cultural phenomenon, its infectious hooks and left-field arrangements emblematic of Benjamin's willingness to subvert expectations. The project won multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, underscoring their status as innovators who made the mainstream move toward them rather than the other way around.

The duo's next venture, Idlewild (2006), paired a period film with an album of the same name. Working again with longtime collaborators, Benjamin used the project to bridge his musical interests and growing desire to act, blurring lines between stagecraft and studio craft. Even as Outkast entered periods of relative quiet, their influence surged among artists across regions and genres, from members of the Dungeon Family like CeeLo Green and Killer Mike to younger generations who saw in Benjamin a blueprint for creative fearlessness.

Acting, Television, and Fashion
Benjamin steadily built an acting resume that included roles in Be Cool, Four Brothers, and Semi-Pro, and a transformative turn as Jimi Hendrix in John Ridley's film Jimi: All Is by My Side. He also created and executive produced the animated series Class of 3000 for Cartoon Network, contributing original music and a whimsical sensibility that reflected his commitment to imaginative storytelling across mediums. In fashion, he launched the menswear label Benjamin Bixby in 2008, drawing on vintage Americana and collegiate aesthetics. The line mirrored his stage wardrobe, bold, tailored, and often unexpected, further cementing his reputation as a stylistic outlier.

Select Collaborations and Later Work
Even without a conventional solo rap album for many years, Benjamin's guest verses became events in themselves. His appearance on UGK's "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)" with Bun B and Pimp C showcased his gift for narrative and emotional clarity. He threaded his voice through pop and R&B as well, contributing to Beyonce's "Party", Frank Ocean's "Solo (Reprise)", Kid Cudi's "By Design", James Blake's "Where's the Catch?", and Travis Scott's "The Ends", among others. These verses often arrived as distilled reflections on aging, fame, vulnerability, and craft.

In 2014, Outkast reunited for a festival run that included Coachella, closing a loop with longtime fans while exposing new listeners to the duo's catalog. In 2023, Benjamin released New Blue Sun, an instrumental project centered on woodwinds and ambient textures, created with collaborators including Carlos Nino and Nate Mercereau. The album reframed him as a practicing musician in the most literal sense: a student of tone, breath, and space, willing to trade bars for unhurried improvisations and to reward listeners who approach with patience rather than expectation.

Personal Life and Legacy
Benjamin's personal life has been linked in the public imagination with his former partner Erykah Badu, with whom he has a son, Seven Sirius Benjamin. Their relationship, and later co-parenting, became part of a broader story about mutual artistic respect and community among contemporary Black artists. He has also contended with loss; his mother, Sharon Benjamin-Hodo, died in 2013, and his father, Lawrence Walker, died the following year. These events, coupled with the natural changes of adulthood, often surfaced in his lyrics and interviews as he explored themes of mortality, purpose, and the shifting meanings of success.

Andre Benjamin's legacy rests on a rare combination of technical excellence and restless curiosity. As half of Outkast with Big Boi, he helped move Southern hip-hop from regional stigma to global reference point, aided by the vision of Organized Noize and the extended Dungeon Family. As Andre 3000, he modeled an artistic life that welcomes reinvention, from chart-topping songwriter to actor, from fashion designer to flutist exploring ambient sound. The through line is a commitment to making the unexpected feel inevitable, and to opening doors for others to imagine new forms within and beyond hip-hop.

Our collection contains 16 quotes who is written by Andre, under the main topics: Music - Art - Change - Movie - Entrepreneur.