André 3000 has released a limited edition line of t-shirts in an effort to raise money for The Movement For Black Lives. The shirts are inspired by the iconic jumpsuits he designed and wore during Outkast’s 2014 tour.
“Something very important is happening all over the world and it is happening to all of us. How does it make you feel?” the Atlanta-bred legend wrote on his website.
The t-shirts come in 13 different captions ranging from: “Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?” to “Passionate about compassion.” The original Outkast jumpsuits were also praised and featured during Art Basel in 2014.
“For 3 days, a selection of shirts inspired by a collection of my jumpsuits will be sold and 100% of net proceeds will be donated to Movement for Black Lives to aid in their fight to end police brutality & racial injustice against Black people,” 3 Stacks continued. “This is only one piece in the war against systemic racism. It takes all of us. BLACK LIVES MATTER… at a minimum.”
The shirts went up for sale on Wednesday (June 10) and will remain available until Friday (June 12). André also shared his t-shirt designs on Instagram — his first post in two years.
According to its website, The Movement For Black Lives was created as coalition of “Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions, develop shared assessments of what political interventions were necessary in order to achieve key policy, cultural and political wins, convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a shared movement wide strategy.”
Several other hip hop artists have also used merchandise as a means for raising money in the fight against systematic racism and police brutality. Earlier this month, Russ reissued a t-shirt that read “If you want to change the system, speak up. White silence is violence.” All proceeds from the shirt’s sales went to benefit the Black Lives Matter Network.