André 3000 has teased plans to revive his 2006 Cartoon Network series Class of 3000.
In an interview with Nardwuar The Human Serviette, filmed at Camp Flog Gnaw 2024 last month and shared today (December 10), the former OutKast star – real name André Benjamin – spoke about his first phone call with Tyler, The Creator and how the ‘Chromakopia’ rapper had raved about Class of 3000.
Benjamin created and wrote music for the cartoon series, which lasted for two seasons from 2006 to 2008. He also voiced one of its main characters: Sunny Bridges, a jazz musician turned tutor.
“[In] my very first conversation with Tyler, he said ‘I know all the songs from Class of 3000!’” Benjamin recalls, to his delight. “Tyler, he knows music man.”
When asked by Nardwuar if it was hard making a cartoon show, Benjamin said: “It was a lot of fun! We got to do songs every episode, we got to voice these characters.”
He added that he recently rewatched episodes of the show, and said: “And we’re hoping to do something new with it, in some type of way. So, yeah, stay tuned.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Benjamin also talked about playing the flute in public – specifically, in cabs: “I don’t get carsick,” he told Nardwuar, adding that his conversations with cab drivers have ended up becoming educational at times. Watch it below.
Last month, Benjamin released two new tracks: a new song ‘Moving Day’, and a previously unreleased ‘New Blue Sun’ cut ‘Tunnels Of Egypt’.
He also teased new music would be coming over the next year, saying: “I don’t wanna pinpoint what it is, but I just want to express more … put it like that.”
This month, ‘New Blue Sun’ was nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Alternative Jazz Album at the Grammys, and its opening track, ‘I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time,’ picked up a Best Instrumental Composition nomination too.
Discussing the nominations with the New York Times, he admitted: “We were trying to be nominated in some type of way for alternative jazz or ambient, possibly. But I was totally surprised by this. So yeah, it was super, super, super duper cool.”
Last year, Benjamin said that he thought he’d “aged out” of rap, telling GQ: “Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old. And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does.
“And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy’. What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad’. You can find cool ways to say it, but….”
