New York, August 21, 2006 – The scene at Manhattan's Ziegfeld Theatre was surprisingly calm at the premiere of Idlewild, the new film starring rap royals Andre Benjamin and Big Boi, known collectively as OutKast. Terrence Howard, Macy Gray, Patti LaBelle and Phylicia Rashad trotted the red carpet that was strewn with models in 1930s vintage and wavy hairdos.

The hip-hop pedigree brought out a refreshing array of media we don’t normally see on red carpets, including a magazine with the word “Felon” in the title. Ben Vereen, who is in the movie, brought along Liza Minnelli, with whom we discussed rap music.

We asked Big Boi about reports that he and Andre were growing apart. “It’s a lie”, he told us. “Ain’t nobody growing farther apart. You know, there’s gonna be hatred everywhere, and haters, they don’t want us to stick together. But me and Dre have been best friends since tenth grade high school, man, and it’s not like we’re growing apart. We’re just growing up.”