West Los Angeles Gjusta Bakery is bustling on a sunny Friday afternoon.
Seven-foot-high stacks of flour bags lay near the entrance, soon to be turned into pastries.
Andre 3000 walks in unassumingly, dapping me and joking that our shared first name is a great one.
I agree as we sit and get acquainted over matcha lattes.
Have you been to Japan yet?
When I tell him I havent, he grows enthusiastic: Japan is going to blow your fucking mind.
Im considering moving to Japan.
Whatever youre doing, it makes you want to do it 10 times better.
They do so much at a high level.
Hes done neither, and recently riled many by saying that it feelsinauthenticfor him to rap these days.
He picks at a fraying direction hole on the seven-year-old instrument, noting he needs to have it fixed.
Twice during our interview, fans walk back to our table to thank him.
Hes gracious both times.
I love your music so much, one woman says.
Cant wait for more.
Me too, Andre replies.
What appeals to you about moving to Japan?
Is it primarily the creative inspiration?My age.
Where I am in life.
Just trying to plan out my next 10 years.
Im saying Japan now, but Ive been considering other cities.
I think as you get older, you start thinking about mortality.
I think when most people start rapping, they start rapping young.
I liken it to boxing a lot.
Most people dont start boxing when theyre 50.
I mean, you could.
But the prime strengths come from youth, in rapping.
And I know I get a lot of shit from it a lot of people disagree with me.
Im not saying theres an age limit on rapping at all.
Its just that the parts that I love about rapping, they come from a certain age.
People dont like when I say that, because theres older rappers now that are killing.
I was speaking to a young artist, and we were having the same conversation.
That made me think.
I have to be careful about how I speak about it.
Youve had amazing features as a rapper over the past couple of decades.
If I knew that, I probably would have done an album.
Sometimes, I ask myself …
Some people are solo artists, some people are in groups.
But Ive been in a group most of my career.
I was able to feed off of someone else.
And maybe Im just not a solo rap artist.
I only feature when inspired by the artist I was with.
Many artists send me music.
I was feeding off of them, and it was a chemistry thing more than anything.
I just sat down and said, Hey, check out this new stuff that Im doing.
And the feedback I got was positive.
And not just friends, either.
I sat down with colleagues, even younger people, to get their opinion of it.
IM TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO SAY THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW I FEEL.
A lot of times what were responding to is a feeling.
Rappers talk about riding around listening to a certain R&B orjazzartist.
I dont really ride around listening to rap real loud like I used to.
Sometimes, I get that feeling, and its usually some young dudes, someFutureor something like that.
Its usually some of that.
Its an unhinged kind of thing that I like.
Even an artist like Future, hes older than most new artists.
Hes using young producers.
I think Future would have a different career if he was produced by them.
I describe rapping as you get older like going to a picnic and sitting around with your favorite uncle.
Youre seeing him dance to a song a certain way.
The young kids are over there dancing a totally different way because their rhythm is different.
They grew up on completely different rhythms.
Its the same thing.
Ive heard people say, Well, this classic artist came back and made this new, groundbreaking thing.
They use young producers.
If she wouldve continued doing the Ike and Tina thing, we probably never would have heard of her.
But she got new, young producers to push her a certain way.
Even [Carlos] Santana.
People would talk about Santana, hes a classical artist.
He came back and did the solo on a young persons song.
Youve said that your journey with fluting and meeting your bandmates was a matter of fate.
I think what would help me make a rap album is being around rappers.
When I moved to California, I wasnt writing.
Ive talked to Kendrick [Lamar].
We talked, listened to beats.
Because when theyre doing it so constantly, something got to drip off.
They do four, five songs a day, and Im like, What?
I dont even go to the studio like that.
I havent touched my drum machine in ages.
Im just now getting back to producing songs.
We play a lot of jazz festivals with top-notch jazz artists.
Im almost always intimidated when I go into these spaces because I know what they are.
Theyve spent years going through scales and changes, and I do none of that.
What Ive noticed is, they all watch the show backstage.
What they have to say is very inspiring, and Im happy that were contributing to them as well.
Thats special to hear, because they see where were coming from.
Weve gotten more love than hate in these spaces.
Tell me yall practiced that?
And theyre like, No.
Itll be known players.
And then, we get terrible reviews sometimes, too.
you’re able to tell if they didnt respect it.
I get texts from musicians now like, Hey, man, let me know.
I want to get up there with yall.
We were in Philly, and we had Marshall Allen.
Hes 100 years old.
Hes the longest surviving member of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
When Marshall came up, and hes down there with a saxophone….
It meant a lot to me.
I WANT TO BE HONEST, BUT I NEVER WANT IT TO COME OFF AS NEGATIVE OR UNINSPIRING.
We have a practice in every city we go to, in and out of the country.
Well go to antique shops, flea markets, music stores and purchase instruments.
All kinds of instruments, and I play them.
Its a true sound exploration.
Ive been doing that all this time.
This is just the freest form of it.
I just kept repeating them.Ms.
Jackson,the same thing.
Like, I cant tell you what chord [Im playing].
A musician thats gone to school could.
But you just lay your fingers down like, Oh, I like that.
Its always been that, messing around with instruments and seeing what I can get out of them.
Discovery is as important as recording and mastering something.
Youll never get that time again.
You cant fake doing something for the first time.
The openness of it.
I think if you’re able to find that early on, keep finding that.
Because sometimes, mastering shit can get boring.
Id rather go amateur interesting than master boring.
What are some of your lasting memories of making music in the Dungeon?Being together broke.
Creating a world and then introducing the world to our world.
Everything that Im doing now, I can tie all of this back to my Dungeon start.
All the people around me were pushing me.
It showed me how to push myself.
Rico Wadedied earlier this year.
Not just Atlanta music.
What wouldmusicbe without a Rico Wade that schooled us, that pushed Goodie Mob, TLC?
You and Big Boi did the good-rapper prayer every night as aspiring artists.
When youre in it, youre just focused.
I think its only now that people are saying it.
There was a lot of them!
It makes me go back and realize, Oh, thats a lot of stuff that we did.
Five hours later, I went down the whole rabbit hole of all of our stuff.
Its amazing to hear yourself, from 18 years old till now.
Im just now understanding the weight of whats happened to me.
What do you enjoy most about a long walk?Its a good way to solve a problem.
And I think its a good way to write, too.
You walk, you write, have a beat on for a long time.
I usually walk from here to Santa Monica and back, which is like five, six miles.
Its a good time to think of what you got to do for the day.
And its good exercise.
You craft verses in your head?Yeah.
I dont necessarily write.
I know theres this thing with rappers like, I dont write.
I dont know their process, but for me, its like building a house from the ground.
And then you repeat the first, second level.
People know the choruses, the lyrics.
You have to respond.
Its the total opposite of hip-hop in that way, unless youre freestyling.
I want to jump back to something you said earlier.
I thought it in my head.
I was like, Man, it would be a good exercise just to hang around.
Thats how songs happen sometimes.
I never expressed this to them, but I was so inspired because of their output.
I rarely write rhymes, but I do write down my thoughts.
And naturally, sometimes there may be a rhyming word to it.
People still send beats all the time.
So, yeah, I try.
ANY KIND OF ART FORM PROBABLY SHOULD NOT LAST FOREVER.
Do you journal?Nah, I just jot down thoughts that I think would be interesting.
Sometimes theyre things that may translate into visual art.
Or sometimes, it may be the title of something Im trying to do.
Its almost like a way to stockpile ideas, because they always come back.
What is the origin of the name?Just admiring ants.
I watch YouTube a lot.
I call it going to the YouTube University.
You go down the rabbit holes.
A few years ago, I got into ants really hard.
I was like, Who are the best workers?
I know they can carry many times their weight.
Are there any other interesting facts about ants?Signals that they send each other.
There is such a thing as lazy ants, too.
Its some niggas that dont want to do nothing [laughs].
And once youre discovered in an anthill that youre not doing shit, theyll kick you out.
Ants are the business, man.
Do you have any New Years resolutions for 2025?Figure out where Im living next year.
I think its time to move, but I dont know where.
I think Ill start going places and just feel them out first.
Staying there for a month or two.
Japan, right now, is top.
Amsterdam is another place.
Mexico City is another place.
Seattle, still in the United States….
But I think I want to live abroad.
What was the impetus forthe flagon theStankoniacover?I designed that flag, and we had it made.
I was inspired by a lot of Americana images, and a lot of bands likeMC5used it.
Sly Stone [on]Theres a Riot Goin On.
I was trying to find a way to use the flag, but say something different.
So, making it black and white was taking the color out.
For me, it was saying how I felt America was at the time.
Like, were kind of lost.
Whats your relationship with spirituality?I do believe theres something higher going on thats dictating what were doing.
Im not a religious person, even though I grew up in a religious household.
I just have way more questions and doubt about religion as we know it.
I do enjoy the things that religion has inspired, so I cant be mad at that.
I do think theres possibly been a lot of manmade religion.
What have you learned the most from fatherhood?Daily being around is important.
Building that relationship is super important.
And knowing that even at 49, Im still figuring stuff out.
Im still learning, so the best thing I can tell my kid is that … We got a long way to go as humans.
Its the whole It doesnt get better than this.Thats what Im saying.
We about to get into quantum computers, man.
One hundred years from now, man, theyre going to be like…. Or, what we thought was real is not necessarily that important.
Its going to be something that were doing right now that theyre going to be laughing at.
Hold up, so they did what?
]And its something that we think is totally right.
How much do you think about re-pursuing acting?All the time.
I still get scripts.
Im thinking more about writing my own projects, but, yeah, always.
I have a few ideas.
Are they any particular genre of film?Comedy and thrillers.
Im a fan of those two genres, mostly.
I do like certain horrors, but I like thrillers more than horrors.
I think its a chemistry thing.
We have to be wanting to do it.
Its hard for me to make a rap, period, you know?
And sometimes Im in the belief of Let things be.
It was a great time in life, and our chemistry was at a certain place that was undeniable.
And I think the audience sometimes believes that something has to last forever, and I dont think that.
Any kind of art form, I think thats probably the opposite.
It probably should not last forever.
Its not like a product.
I think the audience feels that way.
But the audience never knows what it takes to make what theyre getting.
I cant blame them for that.
Would you be open to doing a farewell tour?No, I doubt that.
Wedid a tourin 2014.
They required a certain energy.
Honestly, Im not a big fan of looking back.
Im grateful for everything thats happened, but it was a time.
To me, thats what it is.
That was a great time, and I wish yall were there.
How do you feel about fan entitlement?
I dont blame the fan for wanting what theyve known.
I know, for the rest of my life, people will be like, One more OutKast album.
I dont know, maybe I just think differently.
I know I wouldnt be sitting around waiting.
Where were you when you found out about the Grammy nomination?We were in Virginia.
It may have been Richmond.
I was totally surprised when they said the Album of the Year category.
I just had to go for a walk.
Weve won already, in our head.
Not won the actual award.
But, weve won because people will now check it out.
That was my goal after we recorded it and put it out.
That was the only goal.
I do hope they let us perform on the Grammys.
That would be killer if we could.
Production Credits
Grooming byIMAN THOMASatDION PERONNEAU AGENCY.
Production byPATRICIA BILOTTIforPBNY PRODUCTIONS.
