The OutKast musician revealed that he and Em used to speak on the phone about the Oakland collective Hieroglyphics


André 3000 has recalled how he and Eminem used to enjoy nerding out over classic hip-hop together.

The OutKast musician recalled an early aspect of their friendship while speaking to super-producer Rick Rubin for the Broken Record podcast.

Asked about his early musical influences, André recalled how he and Eminem bonded over their shared love of Bay Area collective Hieroglyphics.


“I’d have to say Tribe and Dogg Pound, Snoop and them,” André said about his biggest musical influences. “When you’re at that point of discovery as a kid and you’re seeing these new ways of doing things, these new ways of rapping… the way Hieroglyphics were rapping at the time was completely new… the bending of words.

“Me and Eminem, we sat on the phone for about an hour talking about the Hieroglyphics crew,” he continued. “We were trading their lyrics on the phone like, ‘Do you remember, man?’

“They sparked so much, they opened up a new door for everybody. Just to be around that time… we were out when Wu was out. We were out when Nas was out. But we were from the South and we had to step up.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, André admitted that he was currently lacking the “confidence” and “focus” to write a new solo project.