Andre 3000 Pays Emotional Tribute to Rico Wade at Atlanta Jazz Festival

Andre 3000 paid tribute to his longtime collaborator Rico Wade during a performance at the Atlanta Jazz Festival. His late friend died at the age of 52 from heart failure earlier this year. Speaking about their relationship, the Outkast rapper opened up about Wade’s influence on his personal life and music career.

“Last time we were here, we did a residency of about five, six shows, and Rico Wade came in,” he told the crowd. “Now one thing you don’t know about Rico, Rico Wade…” From there, he got emotional and had to pull himself together. “Sorry, y’all.” Rico Wade… So Rico Wade made sure my raps were tight. There were times when I would hit Rico in his ears, and he would walk away saying, “That’s not good enough.” So just a moment, I want you to make some noise for King Rico.

Read more: RIP Rico Wade: A pivotal bridge in hip-hop’s 50-year history

Andre 3000, Big Boi, Rico Wade and more pose at ONE MusicFest

“Dungeon Family all day,” he added. “I wouldn’t be here on stage or able to do any of that. I wouldn’t have the confidence to do any of this without Dungeon Family. They raised me. My family taught me to dream. Taught me to dream and go for it. Big Boi taught me to dream, achieve it and go for it. The dungeon has been the place of many things. Our goal was to keep pushing, to keep stretching. The group gathered for a meal in Wade’s honor over Memorial Day weekend. Check out his full comments to the festival below.

Andre 3000 reflects on the passing of Rico Wade

Andre is not the first artist to pay tribute to Wade after his death. Other collaborators including Big Boi, Killer Mike and more have done so as well. Be on the lookout for further updates on Andre 3000 on HotNewHipHop.

Read more: Rico Wade reflected on the dungeon’s family ties weeks before his death: details

(Via)