Cartoon Network is developing a potential series project with OutKast's Andre 3000. The rapper is hashing out ideas with the cable network for a half-hour special pegged for Cartoon's "Adult Swim" block. If Andre 3000 and Cartoon -- both based in Atlanta -- are happy with the results, the channel will greenlight the special for series treatment.
Mike Lazzo, senior vp of Cartoon's "Adult Swim" program block, quickly got over his reservations about collaborating with celebrities upon meeting with Andre 3000, who has worked as an illustrator. "I'm extremely wary of it, but in Andre's case, I think he is a creative genius," he said. "He has definite opinions of what he likes visually."
This would not, of course, be the first time a rapper got their own animated show. I believe that honor goes to Kid-N-Play, who joined NBC's Saturday morning lineup in 1990 with their self-titled cartoon featuring voices by Martin Lawrence, Tommy Davidson, Dorian Harewood, Rain Pryor and Cree Summer.
And one year after Kid-n-Play broke down those barriers, ABC was able to introduce the greatest cartoon in television history, MC Hammer's Hammerman:
"Hammer stars as Stanley Kirk Burrell, a worker at the community centre helping local children. Whenever the hammering beat of his rapping rhymes activates his magic dancing shoes, streetwise Stanley is transformed into Hammerman - the first musical superhero."
One can only hope Andre will match the standard set by these pioneers.
