Andre 3000 plays Jimi Hendrix in the recently released biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side, which means he has been making the interview rounds. Earlier this week, he discussed everything from new Outkast material — do not expect any — to recording with Aretha Franklin. On Thursday night, Oct. 2, he focused on the new film with David Letterman.
"We tried to get it to be as accurate as possible," Andre told the Late Night audience. "We tried to make it look real, so I hope we're doing a great job."
The Atlanta rapper did not get overwhelmed with the role until midway through shooting.
"I got back to my hotel room and was like, 'Man, why did I take this job?'" he said. "Who plays Hendrix? He's like the coolest person in the world. There were times when I was like, 'Man, I think I've gotten more than I can handle.'"
Andre also made the confession that he had never heard of Hendrix until after his formative years.
"I actually didn't discover him until later on in life, like late teens, early 20s," he said. "I was watching Apocalyspe Now, and there's a helicopter scene where it's going over the land, and there's music going on. And I think it was "All Along The Watchtower." I heard the solo and I was like, 'Whoa! What is this?'
"As a black kid, I grew up on rap and all that kinda stuff, so Hendrix was just an image, like this wild, big-haired image. I didn't know anything about guitars, either, 'cause when I was coming up, you just didn't see black people with guitars."
Check out the video below, which features Andre giving a couple history lessons on Hendrix:
