Andre 3000 on Polo, Jimi Hendrix Movie, New Music and More

[Laughs] Aw man, honestly what was the worst haircut you’ve ever received in your life?
Uhhh… the worst haircut, the worst… I think the worst haircut was in high school. It used to be called the “Fat Back.”
Fat back??
Fat Back, yup.
That sounds mad Southern, man.
Fat back was really low and you just left all this hair in the back. You had big hair in the back and you blend it…
Was that the Black Mullet?
[Laughs] Like a Black Mullet, so it was like the Black Mullet. I think that was the stupidest thing I ever had.
Were you like in the tenth grade or something?
Exactly, tenth grade. Tenth grade was a really experimental time.
Did you cut it yourself?
Yes, yes I did. My fade was good though. It was stylish, so everybody liked it.
Alright, so if the girls liked it, than it was a win.
That’s right. Fuck everybody else [laughs].
You said that you were cutting hair for the neighborhood kids back in the day. Did you actually wantto become a full-time barber, or was it just a hobby?
Nah. I draw and paint, and I think when you’re an artist it’s just easy to do stuff like that. You know you can blend creativity.
So did you ever think about maybe being a stylist or fashion designer, instead of rapper?
I’m still thinking about it. I think it’ll be hard for me to be a stylist because it’s hard for me to like… a stylist ‘s job seems really hard because, to me, personal style is about personality. I’ve never had a stylist. I like to go shop myself. I like to pick things. A stylists’ job basically is to keep the artists in tune with what’s going on now, so they usually just pull from what’s hot.
Word, it’s like whatever Chris Brown’s wearing they’ll try to throw it on you.
That’s right. It’s like the clothing companies they kind of give the stylists these clothes like ‘These are our new fleet of clothes this season, so place these on people you know.’ So it’ll be hard for me to be a stylist cause I don’t follow [fashion] that way. I just don’t. It’s nothing wrong with it because I see all these guys on television and they look good. They look presentable. But I like personal style more and I could usually tell when people are wearing clothes or when clothes are wearing them.
Who are your current top 5 favorite fashion designers?
This is tough. I forgot his name from but the designer for the newer GAP stuff. I can’t think of his name. Oh! Michael Bastian. I’m always going to be dedicated to Ralph Lauren in a certain way because there’s just this quality you just can’t beat.
That’s the truth. Right before the interview started we talked about this being the last year of Rugby.
And I did not know that, man, I did not know that. Their quality you can’t beat it so you’ll always find a place in your wardrobe for Ralph in some kind of way. I respect Ralph because he’s found a way to make classics forever.
Polo has been relevant since the ‘60s.
And to think in ’67 it was like the Hendrix era. People were wearing flowery, bell bottoms stuff and he just came from left field. Think about it. Everybody was on their Hippie shit when Ralph came out. So he was a rebel in ’67 man.
How do you feel about Lagerfeld?
I respect him. I don’t think it looks cool on me. But you know I respect people who take those chances. He does fashion for a reason, and I respect his mind for doing it. I can’t say that I wear the clothes but I respect him.
I’d say taking chances in fashion is something you’re definitely familiar with. Would you say you go through “fashion phases”?
Style phases man, growing and learning what works for me. But even as a kid you know we were all Ralph [Polo] kids growing up, and in the South it was about being a prep. We used to have style wars. Like how L.A. has gangs like crips and bloods, we had style gangs like Stray Cats.
I wasn’t even aware. In New York we had the Lo-Lifes, and a few others that were straight “Polo gangs.”
Same thing, we had the Stray Cats, they all wore plaid pants, Tretorns and dyed hair. Polo everything. We actually wore Polo riding boots to school. I wore them in the Gillette commercial.