OUTKAST star ANDRE '3000' BENJAMIN has turned down a role in Beyonce Knowles' anticipated musical DREAMGIRLS, because he fears being typecast.

The HEY YA! hitmaker, whose own musical MY LIFE IN IDLEWILD is set to debut next year (06), admits that while he was thrilled director BILL CONDON sent him a script for the movie, he thought it best to decline the offer.

He says, "Someone just sent me the script for Dreamgirls, with Beyonce, but I can't do it.

"The director wanted to meet, and I'd really love to work with this director, but I just finished a musical, and it was a period piece. I don't want to get typecast."

Dreamgirls, which traces the rise of a trio of singers in the early 1960s, will star Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx. Usher is currently in negotiations to take on a role in the movie.