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Artist News
Andre 3000 bemoans ‘sell out’ Outkast reunion
By Aly Barchi | Published on Friday 5 December 2014
Andre 3000 has shockingly revealed that Outkast’s big 20th anniversary re-activation earlier this year was, on his part at least, done for financial reasons, rather than for the love of, in his words, “pedalling” the same old hits once more. Like I said, shocking, right?
He made the claim whilst talking to Nicholas Jaar (no idea why) in a conversation for The Fader, which was meant to centre on ‘I Feel Ya’, a Miami-based exhibition that’s taking place at the moment featuring the 47 jumpsuits 3000 created and wore for all the recent Outkast shows.
Andre said: “I didn’t wanna do the tour. We hadn’t performed in ten years. It was old songs”. And then he was like: “I’m like, ‘How am I gonna present these songs? I don’t have nothing new to say’. So I was like, ‘Maybe I can start saying new stuff while doing these old songs'”. The “new stuff” became wearing a series of jumpsuits with slogans printed on them. “It became a theme” he went on, “where I was more excited about [the jumpsuits] than the actual show. This is fun, running out in these”.
As for his motivation in doing the shows in the first place, he goes on: “It was a decision. I’m 39, I got a seventeen year old kid and I gotta support certain things. And my partner Big Boi is like, ‘This is a great thing for all of us’. I didn’t wanna do it – so I knew I was doing it for a reason – I felt like there was a certain sell-out”.
But that’s all fine, because now he’s being honest about it. “Maybe if I’m telling people, ‘I am selling out’, then it’s not as bad as pretending. It’s being honest about it like, ‘Shit, I did these songs when I was seventeen and I’m out here pedalling them now’. But it’s the honest thing, that’s what it is. I felt weird about going out on stage and doing it again. I felt like people would be like, ‘Y’all are doing all these festivals, y’all are just doing it for money’. And I felt like a sell-out, honestly. So I was like, if I’m in on the joke, I’ll feel cool about it”.
Hey, at least now the fans are now in on the joke too; having paid for tickets to see Outkast ‘pedalling’ away joylessly at all those festivals. And Andre has his cash now so it’s all fine. Ha ha ha. That’s a good joke. Ha.
