9 Things We Learned From Andre 3000 In GQ Style [Photos]

It’s been more than a decade since Andre 3000 had the music game on smash with his witty lyricism, golden vocals, and overall glowing presence.

While he has made a few guest appearances on some choice cuts over the years and did a quick Outkast reunion a few years ago, fans are still clamoring for some new material from the OG ATLien.

Recently GQ Style published an exclusive interview with André Benjamin where the Love Below artist opened up about why he fell back from the fame life, the reason he moved to New York, and wanting to work with Anita Baker.

Here are the 9 things we learned from Andre 3000 in GQ Syle.

—

Photo: GQ Style

Photo: WENN

1. Empire State of Mind

Unbeknownst to many, Andre 3000 moved to New York City and lives in a crib that has a registered bomb shelter for a basement. Andre attributes the move from the South to the city to his need of a change of scene after losing both his parents in the past six years.

Credit: Nicky Nelson/WENN.com

2. Holed Up

When 3000 accepted the role for that Jimi Hendrix film All Is By My Side, he admits that he was “in a hole” and took the gig because he needed “to be around people.”

3. Fears For His Son

Andre fears that given his musical talents along with that of Erykah Badu’s that expectations for their son to be some musical prodigy might be too high.

4. Social Anxiety

Apparently, Andre was “diagnosed with this social thing” that made him paranoid whenever he found himself in a public setting. That explains why he’s fallen back from the limelight. That same social anxiety made him literally move fast and he points to his “Hey Ya” video as an example.

Photo: GQ

5. Anita Baker

Andre says he went through an “Anita Baker phase” which helped inspire him to produce a line of Anita Baker attire but is looking for her blessing before moving forward with the project.

photo: WENN

6. Dear Mama

When he was 35 out of the blue Andre’s mom admitted to him that she used to smoke crack when he was a child and opened up about how she got to that point. Eventually his mother married the guy that used to take care of Andre whenever she would go on her crack binge. Her admission put her in an even brighter light for Dre.

7. First Chords

The guitar chords on “Hey Ya” were the first chords that Andre learned to play.

Photo: GQ Style

8. Big Boi Rapper

Dre feels that ” Big Boi can rap better than me—I always said that.” He also says Big Boi was always the leader citing that he “always had the confidence.”

9. Pulse

Andre admits that he’s “not on the pulse anymore” when it comes to today’s musical generation. That being said he also notes that once he passes away there will be hours of unheard music files that might see the light of day.

Read the full GQ Style feature right here.