OutKast Have Lost Out On $100 Million Amid Hiatus, Big Gipp Claims

OutKast has lost out on $100 million in pure revenue from performing live, Big Gipp estimated during a recent interview. Speaking with VladTV, the Goodie Mob rapper explained why he believes Andre 3000 has mostly stepped away from music since the release of 2003’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

“What people don’t understand is when he did ‘Hey Ya,’ it put him into the stratosphere next to an artist like Lenny Kravitz,” Big Grip said. “Now, you in that Rock & Roll hierarchy. People are looking at you like, ‘Wow, you just went and damn near did some shit like The Beatles and put some rap shit on it!’

He continued: “So, the industry was like, ‘Boy, if you give us 10 more of these hoes, whew!’ It was almost like coming from just being a famous rapper to now you in them Lenny Kravitz boots. It was like, ‘Oh, shit. This is a whole nother’ thing.' So, all of the press that came along with him being able to turn into this artist, and having to take on the workload of having to be an artist at this stage, it made him be like, ‘Damn this shit.’ That’s why it took him so long to go on stage and perform the album because it was so big at the time, bro. They probably turned down $100 million just on shows.”

Outkast did reunite in 2014 for a 20th-anniversary tour, during which they performed at 40 festivals worldwide. One of the highest-paying opportunities Outkast reportedly turned down was the Super Bowl halftime show in 2015, a decision that boiled down to creative differences. “We had two songs, ‘The Way You Move’ and ‘Hey Ya,’ and Dre didn’t want to split the songs up. He didn’t want to cut the songs. He wanted to do both songs. They was like, ‘Y’all can’t do it,’” Big Boi recalled during an appearance on ESPN’s The Dan LeBatard Show at the time.

[Via]