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Andre 3000 has been a busy man, celebrating 20 years of Outkast with the other half of the duo, Bog Boi and he’s also been working hard on the upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic. In-between performing, the inspirational lyricist talks with Billboard Magazine about being, “out of touch” with the happenings of Ferguson, his journey since Outkast and more.

“At this age, the driver is just different, and I think for every artist, you’ve got to find out what’s pushing you,” Andre says. “Like, what do you do it for? I didn’t grow up as a kid saying, ‘Man, I want to grow up to be a music star.'”

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Journey after Outkast:

“I was watching this Fellini documentary, and he was saying artists want complete freedom,” Andre 3000 (born Andre Benjamin) says, reflecting on his winding journey, post-Outkast. “[But] usually, when artists get complete freedom, they end up doing nothing. And he was saying every artist needs some kind of opposition. My opposition is time, age. You can make music forever, but I think there’s a magic window.”

Possible Outkast album:

“There are no plans to do [an Outkast album]. It’s not like some people think: ‘They’re about to drop this album!’ We don’t have, like, one song,” Benjamin says. “There’s no trickery or nothing like that.”

Being Out of Touch with Ferguson, MO:

“Honestly, I don’t have a big urge to voice [my feelings],” he says. “But I do feel kind of guilty sometimes. Like when the whole Ferguson thing went down, we were actually in England, and buddies were telling me about it, like, ‘Aw, man, it’s horrible here.’ But I didn’t feel it; I only heard about it. So I felt like, ‘Am I out of touch?'”

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