Despite Eminem’s skills, Andre 3000’s flow keeps him on his toes. When B.o.B played Slim Shady his “Play the Guitar” collaboration during a studio session with the Outkast legend, Slim Shady’s reaction surprised B.o.B.
Andre 3000 provided a show-stealing guest verse on the song. It was released in 2011 after the success of B.o.B’s debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray.
Eminem’s Reaction to Andre 3000 On His Song With B.o.B’s
B.o.B recalled, “I remember when I was in the studio with Eminem and I played Eminem ‘Play the Guitar’”. “And I remember Em being like, ‘You just never know where [André 3000] gon’ land at.’ I know what he meant when he said that.”
“I was watching him listening to André 3000’s verse on my song and he was like, ‘Damn, man. You just never know where he’s gon’ land with the flow.’ And I’m just like, ‘Yo, this is wild to me!’”
The Love Below lyricist was also praised by B.o.B, who said: “I know what [Eminem] meant by that because … the way André approaches verses, he’s like a journalist, he’s storytelling.
“You know when you see battle rap and they make you go, ‘Oooh!’ He’s able to do that just from talking from his perspective and you be like, ‘Damn! I never thought about that’ … To this day, I still listen to Dré’s verses and be thinking like, ‘How the fuck did he? Why did he say that like that?’”
Mutual Love
The love between Eminem and André 3000 is mutual, despite their lack of collaboration. Andre 3000 revealed to Rick Rubin, during a rare appearance on his Broken Record podcast in 2019, that he and Em used to geek out over Bay Area Hip Hop collective Hieroglyphics.
He said, “Me and Eminem, we sat on the phone for about an hour talking about the Hieroglyphics crew”. “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.”
In 2002, Eminem saluted André 3000 on the track “‘Till I Collapse.” He spit,“It goes Reggie, JAY-Z, 2Pac and Biggie/André from OutKast, Jada, Kurupt, Nas and then me”.
In the sequel to his hit single with Paramore’s Hayley Williams, B.o.B collaborated with Eminem on Airplanes Pt. II. At the 2011 Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Take a look at “Play the Guitar” by B.o.B and André 3000 below.
