For André 3000’s first musical return in decades, the artist has served up a record of flute music, expressing that “it feels inauthentic for me to rap.”
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As we know and love him as one half of the beloved Hip-Hop duo OutKast, releasing an album featuring only flute melodies and no lyrics or beats, is a bit hard to believe. But buckle in kids, cause that’s really what it’s all about.
Knowing the musical offering would come as a shock to most, the 2000s titan let it be known that his newest project isn’t what you’d expect it to be from the jump. Buffering out any confusion with label warning that the album cover art that reads — “no bars.”
André took it even further with title of his opening track, cheekily addressing the impeding question of why all flute and no rap — “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
While both the warning label and first track title were rather straight to the point, André further explained why spitting rhymes isn’t his steez right now in his profile as one of the cover stories for GQ’s Man of the Year series. “It actually feels … sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old,” André revealed.
“And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does," he added.
Going on to playfully quip about what his bars might sound like these days, “And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy,’” he joked. “What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad.’ You can find cool ways to say it, but….”
“I’ve worked with some of the newest, freshest, youngest, and old-school producers. I get beats all the time. I try to write all the time,” the artist shared about his attempts to remain with rap. "Even now people think, 'Oh, man, he’s just sitting on raps,' or 'he’s just holding these raps hostage.' I ain’t got no raps like that.”
What did come naturally though was a collection of flute arrangements, which brings us to New Blue Sun. While André might not have much to say when it comes to rap, when it came to his new album’s song titles, that wasn’t the case. Each cheeky sentence, statement, or question, has plenty to say. Check out the tracklist and listen to the album below.
New Blue Sun tracklist:
1. I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A "Rap" Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time
2. The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off The Tongue With Far Better Ease Than The Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?
3. That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild
4. BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter Wears A 3000™ Button Down Embroidered
5. Ninety Three 'Til Infinity And Beyoncé
6. Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy
7. Ants To You, Gods To Who ?
8. Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens
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