Big Boi Finishes Album, Predicts Busy 2010 For Outkast

If Antwan Andre "Big Boi" Patton has his way, 2010 will be a busy year for he and Outkast mate Andre "3000" Benjamin -- collectively and apart.

After leaking tracks for more than a year and a half, Big Boi has just turned in his new solo album, "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty." He tells Billboard.com it will be the first of a batch of new music from the Atlanta duo. "This is all in the next year or so," Big Boi says, "starting with my album coming at the top of the year, Dre 3000 right after me...and when the solo albums come out, depending on how the fans support them, then we're gonna give them the Outkast album."

Big Boi did not predict whether Outkast will play any live dates in 2010, but he does plan to hit the road in support of "Sir Lucious...," which he's already started to do with a spot on this year's Rock The Bells tour and some sporadic, "high-powered funk energy extravaganza" solo shows in the fall and winter. The rapper has also given fans a generous taste of the music he's been working on for nearly three years via several leaked tracks: Royal Flush," which features Andre 3000 and Raekwon; "Sumthin's Gotta Give" with Mary J. Blige; "Dubbz"; "Fo Yo Sorrows" with George Clinton and Too $hort; and most recently, "Shine Blockas" with Gucci Mane.

"It's almost like giving them a little sampler from the album and showing how diverse it is," explains Big Boi, who also worked with T.I., Lil Jon, Jamie Foxx and newcomer B.o.B. on the album. "Every song that I put out sounds totally different from the previous songs I put out. I slow-cooked this album and, man, I'm just so happy it's about to come out. I cannot wait to give it to the fans."

Several release dates have been mentioned during the past year for "Sir Lucious...," but Big Boi says he wanted to make sure that both the creative and business aspects of the album were in sync before putting it out.

"There's been a lot of stops and stars with this project," he acknowledges. "I've just been trying to make sure we've got the right avenues and the right brains and mindsets together to get the marketing and promoting behind it. When you work on something for, like, two years and 11 months, it's like your baby. You want to make sure that everybody has taken the project the way they're supposed to be taking it and the set-up is right."

Besides "Sir Lucious...," Big Boi also guested on the Gucci Mane track "She's Got a Friend" with Juelz Santana, did a remix of Mariah Carey's "H.A.T.E.U." and worked on tracks for Janelle Monae's next album.