Benzino Says He Caused Andre 3000’s 1995 Source Awards Speech

Benzino believes he is the reason Andre 3000 made his now-famous fiery speech at the 1995 Source Awards.

Benzino is confessing the error of his ways nearly 30 years after admittedly hating on OutKast during the album rating process for their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. On Monday (April 10), Ray Daniels debuted a snippet of his upcoming interview with Benzino for The Gauds Show. During the clip, the former Source magazine co-owner admitted he tried to throw his weight around when it came to rating the legendary Atlanta duo’s first album.

“The reason why Andre 3000 said what he did, I’ma have to tell y’all this story,” Benzino began. “When they was giving OutKast 4.5 mics, I remember, I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand the music. And I was the one who kinda raised some situations up at The Source, I’m gonna admit it. And I was wrong. I think it got to OutKast. And I think that’s why Andre said what he said. I think that was kinda directed toward me.”

“I think I made a mistake and I shouldn’t have,” Benzino continued. “Usually, I bow out of the whole five mic thing. The five mics was so strong that we let the journalists take care of that. The Source was business over here and the journalists over here. We would let the journalists take care of that; the writers, the photographers. It was a group of them and they would sit in a room and the labels would send the albums and they would rate them. It was one of the main things, the five mic system. One time, me and one of them got into a debate about OutKast because I didn’t understand at that time that music. And I was wrong.”

Back in 1995, OutKast won the Best New Artist award at The Source Awards coming off the release of their 1994 LP Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and were strangely booed by the crowd as they went to accept their award. The jeers prompted 3 Stacks to make a pointed statement at the podium.

“But it’s like this, though,” Andre 3000 said. “I’m tired of closed-minded folks. It’s like we got a demo tape and don’t nobody want to hear it. But it’s like this, the South got something to say, and that’s all I got to say.”

Benzino officially became co-owner of The Source in 1996. However, for a few years prior, he worked closely with then co-owner Dave Mays in the operations of the publication. Benzino would go on to use his influence to get higher ratings for his albums and sparked a much-publicized beef with Eminem using the magazine, which crushed the publication’s credibility. Both Benzino and Mays were forced out of their positions at the magazine in the early 2000s as a result.

See Video of Benzino Admitting Fault in Trying to Influence OutKast’s Album Rating Below

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