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André 3000 has given credit to Q-Tip for inspiring his first rap name, noting that him and Big Boi were massive fans of A Tribe Called Quest growing up.
In an interview with Highsnobiety, the OutKast legend revealed that he originally called himself Jahz as an homage to Tribe leader before settling on Dré and eventually André 3000.
“My first rap name was Jahz because of Q-Tip,” he said. “We were huge A Tribe Called Quest fans. In high school, they were the pinnacle — them, Grand Puba, Souls of Mischief. I don’t think Q-Tip gets enough credit for introducing a generation of kids to a forgotten music.”
The ATL legend was especially inspired by how Tribe incorporated jazz samples into their forward-thinking music.
“As a kid, jazz music meant some old-people shit that’s in elevators,” André added. “Q-Tip found a way to make it actually cool. The jazz guys were actually the rap guys of that time. They were doing heroin, they were in clubs.
“Years from now, people are going to listen to trap music and think, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ It happens. It happens.”
The ties between OutKast and A Tribe Called Quest run deep. André 3000 was a speaker at Phife Dawg‘s funeral in 2016 and during his eulogy revealed that the groups had discussed making an album together.
“I’m gonna say some interesting news and some disappointing news at the same time,” he said. “About a year or two ago maybe, we were talking about doing a Tribe Called Quest and OutKast album. For whatever reason, it did not happen.
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“I don’t want to let the time go by. Please, people, don’t let the time go by because you never know. That’s one of the biggest things that I regret now. It was on our plate and we just… let it go, for our own personal reasons or whatever.”
3 Stacks also reflected on the impact that Tribe had on him and Big Boi as teens: “OutKast would not be OutKast [without Tribe] … We would sit in high school and be like, ‘Man, we love them.’
“Our label tried so hard to make us Tribe. In our bio — we didn’t even write this shit — they called me the poet and Big Boi the playa, like it was some Southern Tribe shit but we didn’t even like it. We just wanted to rap.
“And we loved them n-ggas so bad. We were like, ‘Okay, we’ll be a street Tribe.’ We were robbing n-ggas and stealing cars and shit. Imagine me trying to rob n-ggas! But it’s true.”
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