Pitchfork

Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 of Outkast, will be the star of his own cartoon series. The show, which Benjamin also executive produced, is called "Class of 3000" and will debut on the Cartoon Network on November 3.

According a press release, "The series focuses on a group of musically-gifted kids and an unlikely visitor named Sunny Bridges who brings sunshine to their lives." Sunny Bridges is the character to whom Andre lends his voice, and he is described as a "multi-talented Atlanta native [who] was at the peak of his musical career when he walked off the stage at a performance in Tokyo in 2006, leaving his brilliant career of 27 Grammys and a Nobel Prize behind... Sunny heads back to the place that made him who he is today, the prestigious Westley School for the Performing Arts in Atlanta." The names of the "gifted kids" on the show include ringleader Li'l D (who is rumored to be modeled after Andre as a kid), twins Kim and Kam Chin, Philly Phil, Tamika Jones, Edward Phillip James Lawrence III, and, in a shameless attempt to cater to the powerful Italian-Greek-Midwestern American population, Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos.

In addition to lending his voice to Sunny Bridges, Benjamin's role in the show will also include writing, producing, and music direction. And for every episode, he will write "a new original song" to be accompanied by an animated music video, with different guest art directors for each video.

Various sources report that Andre hopes to release a soundtrack for the show and is looking for guests to appear on its second season. He was quoted at a press conference earlier this year as saying, "Every time you drop an album, you kinda go through this whole run. You do 'TRL'. You do all those shows. I think 'Class of 3000' will be one of those places that record companies will say, 'We want our artist to be on this show.' It'll be a cool place."

From the clips on the show's website, "Class of 3000" looks a whole lot like "The Steve Harvey Show" as animated in the style of "Recess". The premiere of the show will be an hour long, with future episodes clocking in at half an hour each and including plotlines about befriending a theatrically-inclined gorilla and a song written for a lunch lady named Ms. Squattenchowder.

I wish there was a "thumbs up" emoticon.