Biography
Antwan Andre Patton, better known as Big Boi, was an American musician and actor best known for being one half of the hip hop duo Outkast alongside recording partner Andre '3000' Benjamin. Outkast's records collectively won six Grammy Awards and ten further nominations, and shifted over twenty-five million copies worldwide. In his own right he released two solo albums, 2010's Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty and 2012's Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours, as well as cultivating a modest acting career, including roles in film and on television. Born and raised in Savannah, GA, Patton attended Tri-Cities High School in Atlanta, where he would meet and befriend Benjamin at the age of sixteen. Two years later in 1994, the pair's debut album as Outkast, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik would be released, drawing them to national attention and paving the way for an increasingly successful career blending 1970s funk and soul with Big Boi's trademark double-speed raps, during which he would rap at a tempo twice as fast as the music. In addition to voice work for video games and numerous uses of his recorded music in film and television, Patton launched his onscreen career with a role in music video director Chris Robinson's fictional history of the Atlanta music scene "ATL" (2006), going on to co-star in Outkast's own film, the retro-styled music biz drama "Idlewild" (2006). After Outkast's extended hiatus was announced following the movie, Big Boi appeared in the screwball comedies "Who's Your Caddy?" (2007) and "The Cookout 2" (2011), and the television movie "Freaknik: The Musical" (2010), also based on Atlanta's scene. Patton and Benjamin reunited Outkast for an appearance at the Coachella music festival in April 2014.
