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Andre 3000 on playing a 'normal' dad in TV series 'American Crime'

Andre 3000 will be the first to admit he's not the typical parent. As one half of the hip-hop group Outkast, he's taken home more than a handful of Grammy awards, collaborated with stars like John Legend, Snoop Dogg and Beyoncé, and made one of the biggest comebacks in modern music.

But the rapper, who has a son named Seven with Dallas musician Erykah Badu, is getting the opportunity to feel a hint of parental normalcy in his new role on the TV series American Crime. Andre recently spoke with Billboard about his role, in which plays an architect and the husband of season one star, Regina King. The ABC series chronicles how a Midwest community handles issues of sexual orientation and social disparity when some questionable pictures surface from a high school party.

Andre told Billboard the role was a fun exercise in being outside himself.

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"I've never been married. Of course, I have an 18-year-old kid now, so there were parallels, like the issues of being in a black family or a black person having a black kid in a private school."

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"In real life, I always feel like an oddball going to my kid's school because I'm a musician; I'm not the normal dad. So to be able to play one is fun to me," he said.

Andre also spoke to the magazine about his collaboration with Badu on the song "Hello" on the singer's latest mix tape, But You Cain't Use My Phone — spoiler alert: it's magical — as well as the prospect of new original music.

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Doing TV and film "is not so bad — it kind of puts you in the place where you're fiending to do music," Andre said, though he wouldn't allude to when we might hear new material.

American Crime premiered on Jan. 6. Catch it Wednesdays at 9 p.m. CST on ABC.