Outkast’s Andre 3000 is getting his Andre Benjamin on. The rapper, who appears in the Will Farrell movie “Semi Pro,” also has a role in the movie “Battle of Seattle” out in April and is reprising his role as a comic book store owner in the season finale of the FX Network’s “The Shield.” According to BlackFilm.com, he’s even “producing a couple of film projects.” But he’s not forgotten about music. “There is this misconception that I have stopped doing music to do film,” he said. “The thing is that there is more opportunity to do film. With music, even if you didn’t know Outkast’s history, we usually take two years before every album. It just takes that much time to conjure up something or go through experiences to build up something to write about; but during that time, you get a lot of scripts.”

Hip-hop collective The Roots recently shot two videos in preparation for the Apr. 29 release of their tenth album, Rising Down. The videos are for the songs “75 Bars” and “Get Busy” (both directed by Rik Cordero), but neither is the lead single. Frontman ?uestlove told MTV.com that the lead single is actually a song called “Birthday Girl” featuring Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump. “It’s just an easy pop song,” he said. The Apr. 29 date was purposefully selected; it is the 16th anniversary of the LA riots.

Also due out Apr. 29 is pop superstar Madonna, who called on hip-hop super producers Pharrell, Timbaland and Danja for Hard Candy, her final album under her long-time Warner Bros. contract. “She wanted up-tempo, dance, club music and for everything to have a hip-hop underlining,” Danja told Rolling Stone. The lead single, “4 Minutes to Save the World” was produced by Timbo and written by Justin Timberlake, who will be inducting Madonna into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Mar. 10.

Rapper/producer Pete Rock is giving a performance today at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. He appears with DC breakout artist Wale, who appears on the Roots' new CD. Pete Rock is promoting his first release in four years, NY’s Finest, which has contributions from fellow NY majors The Lox, Jim Jones, Papoose, and DJ Green Lantern.  NY’s Finest hit stores Tuesday (Feb. 26).