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Andre 3000 Talks Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Coachella & More

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Andre 3000 breaks with tradition to offer some genuine insight into his life and most recent creative ventures in an exclusive interview with The New York Times. The article follows Outkast's return to the stage after an 8-year hiatus and comes packed with commentary on Dre's feelings about returning to the stage, his thoughts on the rap game and his place in it as he approaches 40. Dre also talks about getting career advice from Prince, playing Jimi Hendrix, fatherhood and more. If you had indeed forgotten about Dre, this is your chance - short of purchasing a pair of Outkast tickets - to play catch up. Check out the text below for a few choice excerpts from the article. Read the full text of The New York Times interview with Andre 3000 via nytimes.com. Stay tuned for more from Andre 3000?

Given that playing Hendrix had been discussed for so long, were you reluctant?

I may have said it to John [Ridley]: “Man, I’m old. I have gray hair. Get some young unknown kid to play Hendrix.” I turned it down. They kept at it. I actually asked my son, [Seven]. He said, “Yeah, man.” Honestly, I needed it in my life, too. Hendrix kind of saved me. I was in a not-so-great space, just in a dark place every day. I needed something to focus on to get me out of my depression and rut. Sometimes, when you’re alone, you can let yourself go. I knew if I got on a train with a lot of different people, then I couldn’t let them down.

The film shows how open he was to letting women in.

It’s funny, the parallels [to me]. People like to joke about [his former girlfriend] Erykah Badu, the mother of my child: “Oh, you completely changed.” I was on my path before I even met Erykah. But one thing I can say. I’m singing around the house, and Erykah’s like: “That sounds great. Why you not doing it?”

I’ve heard you say that you didn’t want to become an old rapper.

I remember, at like 25, saying, “I don’t want to be a 40-year-old rapper.” I’m 39 now, and I’m still standing by that. I’m such a fan that I don’t want to infiltrate it with old blood.

Why the tour now, then?

Honestly, I never planned to go onstage again in that way. If I feel like I’m getting to a place where it’s mimicking or a caricature, I just want to move on. But I felt like: Let me do it now ’cause these kids [in the audience], it feels good to know that they’re happy. I really don’t actually get anything from performing.

Not even over the course of the whole tour?

I feel good in being able to look at Big Boi and say, “Hey, man, we did it.” Big Boi’s got these great records on his own, but this means something else for him.

When you started the tour, was it difficult to be onstage after so long?

Yeah, I think people could see it at Coachella, the very first show. It was foreign. My head wasn’t there. I kind of fluffed through rehearsals. A few hours before the Coachella show, I get a message that Prince and Paul McCartney are going to be there. My spirit is not right, and idols are standing side-stage, so as the show started, I’m bummed. This is horrible. In my mind I was already gone to my hotel room halfway through. So Prince called a couple days after. It was my first time actually talking to Prince. He said: “When you come back, people want to be wowed. And what’s the best way to wow people? Just give them the hits.”

I’m explaining to him that I really didn’t want to do it. He said: “I’ve been there. I’ve tried to do other things. After you give them the hits, then you can do whatever.”

Prince told you to boss up, so you bossed up.

He broke it down like this: “You’re a grown man. You’re either going to do it or you’re not.’

Is part of the reason you retreated from doing music because of how confining the rapper box was?

No. My thing is I’m an idealist. What I get off on is doing things people said could not be done. And so if I’m at a place where I feel like I’m regurgitating or doing the same thing, it’s doing nothing for me. I get bored really fast. I saw a certain thing in rap. It started becoming acceptable. It wasn’t rebellious. So what could be more rebellious than singing love songs, emotional songs [on his half of “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”] when everybody else is mean-mugging, saying “I’m a player.” I want to say: “I love these bitches, man. I really do.”

What’s your creative life been like since that era? It’s mostly been out of view.

I write ideas, I write thoughts. Melodies come more for me than raps. I sit in my house and just play. I’ve been drawing and painting a lot more. I’ve always drawn costumes, things I was going to wear onstage.

Seven and I hate folding clothes, so we’d always take all of our clean clothes and just put ’em on the table. One day, I was like, “Man, we living like college students.” I got so fed up with [the mess]. I drew it. [He pulls out iPhone and flips through some sketches.] I see me moving into a visual space.

So no plans to put out an album, but we might get a gallery show?

No, I’d love to put out an album.