Suddenly, he’s outside in the sprawling Bowen Homes complex, being followed by a group of children as he sprints down a hill-as Atlanta rapper T.I. Within seconds, he’s spilling down the stairs of a duplex, and then through its front door. He’s shirtless, wearing bright yellow bell-bottoms and a bandana, bearing a more-than-slight resemblance to one of his idols. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” begins with André jumping out of bed in a cramped room covered by Jimi Hendrix, Shaft, and Run-DMC posters.
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I was influenced by both.” André had a full palette to paint with, and when he got the opportunity to apply it to the Bowen Homes in 2000 as one half of Outkast, he didn’t waste a brushstroke. & Rakim or Too Short, then go to school and hear another thing.
In Roni Sarig’s 2007 book about Southern hip-hop, Third Coast, André says the competing influences helped make him who he is: “I grew up right across from the projects, but by going to school with white kids, I got into skateboarding and the music and everything. At her first chance, she transferred him to a high-performing middle school, where he’d join the drama club and the student council. His mother, Sharon Benjamin-Hodo, did everything to make sure her son wasn’t trapped by the same circumstances as many in the development. The buildings may have been colorful, but for many, the day-to-day outlook was anything but.Īndré Benjamin spent part of his childhood in an apartment building located directly across from the Bowen Homes. Many of those crimes could be traced back to the drug trade, which had permeated the Bowen Homes’ fences for decades. The property’s 54 acres also contained an elementary school and library, but like many Atlanta housing projects, the Bowen Homes were mostly known for illegal activity: In an eight-month period in 20, police tracked 168 violent crimes in the area, including five killings. Its 104 buildings-painted green, yellow, red, and blue-comprised 650 units and at any given time housed more than 1,000 residents. Built in 1964, the Bowen Homes were a sprawling public housing development located on the western outskirts of Atlanta, in the shadow of industrial parks and the former Bankhead Highway in an area now known as Brookview Heights.
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