"Class of 3000" cartoon is all about the Benjamin

LOS ANGELES — Vibrant entertainer Andre Benjamin, half of the musical group OutKast, will become even more animated in the Cartoon Network original series "The Class of 3000."

In the series, which he co-executive produces with Tom Lynch, Benjamin stars as the voice of Sunny Bridges, an international music sensation who chucks his glamorous life to teach music to kids at the Westley School in Atlanta.

"[Sunny's] a little bit Andre 3000 — not that I would stop doing music to teach kids music," says the artist, "but I always thought that, you know, especially rap, that was a young man's game. And the older I get, I'm like, 'OK, I don't want to be 45 years old rapping.' So I said, 'Maybe it will be cool if I go back to school and actually be an art teacher,' because that was like my love before I started doing music."

Benjamin fondly remembers listening to music while drawing and painting in one high-school class, and he wanted Sunny to have that same effect on his students.

"Of course you need your academics all day long, but at the same time you need to free your head," he explains. "I wanted to be that 'free your head'-type teacher, so there's a lot of that in Sunny. ... So you do have a criteria you have to do, but at the same time the way he teaches them is fun. I think there's a line in the show: 'They bring the fun, and he puts the "k" on it, and that's the funk.' "'

Although Benjamin has acted before — in his videos and on the big screen — he had only done voice acting once before, for the upcoming film "Charlotte's Web."

"I think with an animated show, because it's animated and they can do so much with your character — you can jump up in the air and stay five seconds, you know — so the voices have to go there too," he says. "The first time that I was in a recording session with the true voice actors, I was so intimidated, man. They helped me out a lot, even though my voice is pretty much the same, you know, as Andre 3000. I have to be a little bit more whimsical and a little bit more magical when it comes to Sunny."

Benjamin also had input into the animation style — flowing movements and curves, giving the characters a loose, boneless look — and stepped in with his fashion sense to give each of the characters a unique style. Similarly, each episode will feature a tailor-made musical number helmed by guest art directors, including Peter Chung ("Aeon Flux") and Charlie Bean ("Ren & Stimpy").

"Because it's a music section within an animated show, we had to kind of take a trip," says Benjamin. "So you kind of think of like 'Fantasia' — like mini-'Fantasias' within the animated show."

To further blur the lines between reality and fantasy, there may even be a chance for his partner in crime, Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, to make a guest appearance.

"I let him hear some of the songs, and he was really excited about it," say Benjamin. "He was like, 'Yes, man, it will be cool if I can come on.' Maybe second or third season we'll probably get into like bring in different artists then. [Sunny] is an entertainer, so he knows a lot of other entertainers. So you may have Big Boi to stop through the classroom, and he may do a song with the kids, or you may have Gwen Stefani, she may come through and do a song, or Snoop. But they'll be animated in our style."

Regardless of whether kids find inspiration, instruction or entertainment with "Class," Benjamin just hopes the cartoon will be memorable.

"So as long as somebody can pick up something from it ... like how I remember 'Schoolhouse Rock' songs. I still remember the 'Scooby-Doo' theme and 'Peanuts,' " he says. "One of my main goals in the show is to have kids grow up ... and one day think back, 'Man, do you remember when "Class of 3000" was on? Do you remember this song?' "