From early on. it was clear that Andre 3000 wanted to do more with his voice than just rap. Even before he went into the experimental realms of The Love Below, he was incorporating melody into his vocals, but according to him, he got a lot of flak for it.
"It’s funny because now most rappers have to have some type of vocal melody,” the rapper told Vibe. "It’s just a progression of things, man. Back then it was scary to even try something like that. Not everyone was just breaking out singing verses [laughs]. People would tell me, 'Come on, dude. We want them raps. We not trying to hear you sing.’”
Andre's hometown of Atlanta has been one of the biggest adopters of singing, with Future, Rich Homie Quan, and Young Thug coming out of the region, but while their melody-inflected verses have become commonplace in rap, Andre spoke of a time when he felt a lot of resistance doing similar experiments.
"It was scary, but I just went with my own gauge of what I thought was dope,” he explained. "That’s the only thing that I have. That’s what separates me from everybody else. I can’t say that I’m more talented than this other rapper or a much better producer or actor than other rappers, but I know what I know. I know that once I feel a certain thing it’s not up to anyone else to decide at that point.”
Apart from undoubtedly influencing the new generation of rappers, Three Stacks' vocal abilities also helped him land the role of Jimi Hendrix in the new biopic, All Is By My Side, in select theaters now.