Big Boi Promises 'Something From Every Genre, Every Funk' On Solo LP

Outkast partner Andre 3000 — and Big himself — will produce tracks for 2007 album.
by Corey Moss

LOS ANGELES — For something he's calling his "mega-top-top-secret solo record," Big Boi sure is willing to divulge details.

"You're going to get something from every genre, every funk, beat, loop, horn, whistle. We got it all on the record," the Outkast rapper said Friday on the set of Fantasia's "Hood Boy" video. "I got maybe 35 beats already done for it now, so I'm just diving in and trying to carve out the pie with the vocals."

Fans can expect something similar to Speakerboxxx, Big Boi's half of Outkast's 2003 smash double album, only without an Andre 3000 album attached. Big's high school friend will, however, contribute production. "I'm going to try to keep it in-house," Big Boi said, noting that he's also producing along with Organized Noize.

The yet-untitled album should hit stores sometime in 2007, unless "they keep pulling me back and forth with these movies," the rapper said. Big Boi, who starred in 2006's "Idlewild" and "ATL," is currently shooting the comedy "Who's Your Caddy?" with Cedric the Entertainer, Faizon Love, Andy Milonakis and Finesse Mitchell.

"It's about a music mogul who tries to play golf in this exclusive golf community," Big Boi explained. "I go inside this country club and buy this huge house, and the 17th hole just happens to be on my property, so they got to let me in. There's a lot of antics with them trying to get me [kicked] out and things like that. It's seriously funny."

Big Boi actually learned golf and polo for the role — some of the perks of his second career. "Acting is great, man," he said. "I've been getting offers for years, but music has always been the first love. But now that I got time to step back from everything and take a breather, I can pick and choose roles and take them as they come."

Although the highly anticipated "Idlewild," which is coming to DVD on December 5, was hardly a runaway hit, Big's not disappointed with the movie, or the soundtrack for that matter (see "Missing Outkast? They've Already Lined Up Three 'Idlewild' Singles").

"The thing that people don't know is that we were switched over to a new record label, going from Arista to Jive," Big Boi said of the soundtrack, which doubled as Outkast's follow-up to Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below. "And Jive, they put their best foot forward, but I don't think they really understand our music and know how to work our music. We're still doing what we did 13 years ago. If you listen to the Idlewild album, the quality of music is there. Everything is there. It's just a new system and trying to get used to things. But hey, we got songs for days."

Along with his own album and movies, Big Boi is busy with his Purple Ribbon imprint, with releases from Konkrete and Janelle Monae on the horizon. He's also featured on Unk's "Walk It Out" remix with Jim Jones and Andre 3000, and Fantasia's "Hood Boy."

This report is provided by MTV News

Stevie Ray ..... Since you are familiar with Outkast, maybe you can answer a question for me. I had a request for a song called "Crazy". The person who asked for it said it was by one of the guys in Outkast. Do you know the song and what album it is on?

I think they may be thinking of Gnarls Barkley who sounds like Andre 3000....

Or they are talking about "Roses"

Where there is a version at the end they say crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy b!tch

It's definitely not Roses. Thanks for the lead. I'll check it out & get back to you.

What is the name of the song by Gnarls Barkley?

Nevermind. I found it. Thanks for the lead.

hmm...
interesting info..
thanks for sharing!!!

Not sure if this matters anymore, but the person you guys are referring to is Cee-Lo Green and he was a member of the Goodie Mob, which at one point joined up with Outkast to form the Dungeon Family. You can see one of their videos here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwh02qMxGUQ