Andre 3000 & Rick Rubin on the paralysis and isolation of success, working through production blocks and being a bestselling from the artist’s point of view

This for me is a fascinating one. A conversation between two legendary musicians, Andre 3000 and Rick Rubin.

We’d all probably presume that as a member of Outkast, and a successful artist in his own right, Andre Benjamin would be happy, productive and pouring out more music but as this really candid discussion reveals, it’s quite the opposite.

He talks about his struggles with the paralysis of his own success and the huge expectations put on him as a musician now. He discusses the feelings of isolation and anxiety when working on material and the fact that he’s struggling to put out anything new because it comes under such scrutiny these days.

Rick talks with him about methods to break that cycle, and producing lots to allow the good stuff to present itself, but they get into deep conversations about the effect of being a successful artists from their own point of view, and that what you might expect, certainly isn’t the case.

I don’t normally recommend podcasts, but this one has really inspired me and if you’re a music producer worried about your music reaching an audience, or not being good enough, it’s well worth checking out when you have time.