Hip Hop 50th Anniversary

My favorite Andre 3000 verse of all time

I love Outkast, but this verse made Andre 3000 stand alone

Honestly Ed
HonestlyEd
Published in
2 min readAug 3, 2023

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Image: Andre 3000

Hip Hop enthusiasts might say Andre 3000’s best verses are his features on other people’s albums such as UGK’s “International Player’s Anthem.” Or, his delicious flow on Rick Ross’ “16 Bars” where 3000’s verse seemed to go on forever.

Contrarians who don’t want to like what anyone else likes might say their favorite 3000 verse is his short rhyme on “The Art of Storytelling (part II)” on Outkast’s mind-bending Aquemini album.

Some people might say that his best verses were his most earnest, such as his heartfelt Stankonia’s ode to Erykah Badu’s mother, “Ms. Jackson.”

They are all be wrong.

In my opinion, 3000’s best verse was a near-hidden track titled “A Day In The Life of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)” at the very end of Outkast’s final album, Speakerboxx/The Love Below. The song is one long verse totaling 4:51 minutes of expansive, varied, narrative…

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Honestly Ed
HonestlyEd

Insights, revelry, and beauty from an essayist, poet, and civic strategist.