Outkast ’s André 3000 ( real name : André Benjamin ) did n’t have to physically interchange much to bet Jimi Hendrix in the film Jimi : All Is By My Side — he did n’t even have to bust a wigging ! But as a Southern - turn out - and - raised musician , mastering the accent of the Seattle native was a bit more difficult .
As Benjamin tells Terry Gross in thisFresh Airinterview , he acquire some rather unorthodox methods for nail Hendrix ’s distinctive vox :
There were certain vocal exercises that I learned from my outspoken coach even at one point in time I was walking around with a wine cork in my mouth and speaking with the wine bobber because Jimi , he jut out his backtalk forwards and he talked with a lisp , kind of . So I had to test to mime that sort of matter . A funny thing is , I attempt to find like a , I guess a meeting point to something that I was conversant with in Hendrix , and there ’s a toon role call Snagglepuss . When I was a kid there was this big cat that he would say , “ stagecoach leave even . ” And to me it was Hendrix - y and so every time we would get ready the set , you have intercourse , you would take heed the “ phase left even . ” You know , that was kind of my thing to get into , you have a go at it , the Hendrix interpreter .
However , the voice was n’t the intemperate thing he had to learn for the function . Benjamin plays the guitar right - handed , and Hendrix was a lefthander :
When it came time to do the left - hand thing , I almost had to [ do ] finger choreography , learning where the chords are , instruct the existent chords of the vocal with my leftover hired hand , learning where the banker’s bill are , learning how my finger should lay . But it was really , really unmanageable , because it ’s almost like walking backward and making walking backwards depend normal .
The interview also goes into plenty of contingent about how the filmmaker were able to get around the fact that the Hendrix landed estate did n’t allow them to use any songs Jimi write ( the good news : he performed slew and lots of natural covering ) . The film is in theatre now . [ Fresh Air ]
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