The uberly talented Andre 3000, whose actual name is André Lauren Benjamin, famously made his distinguishable mark on the music world as a one part of the hip hop duo OutKast.
Even if you aren’t into hip hop music, you’ve probably heard a number of OutKast’s songs, and most likely have rocked out to their 2003 hit “Hey Ya!” which wasn’t anything like the rest of their expansive music catalogue. The group last released an album in 2006, and though many music fans have called for them to get back together, things have been relatively quiet from both Big Boi and Andre 3000.
That is until it was announced that Andre 3000 would be releasing a new album titled New Blue Sun, which actually drops tomorrow. But those that were hoping to hear one of the greatest rappers of all time lay down some bars over beats will have to keep waiting, because the entire project is instrumental, and only features Andre 3000 playing the flute.
Fans have heard Andre 3000 be featured on random songs in the years after OutKast’s breakup, but have lately only seen the respected artist in videos of him playing the flute all across the world.
Like this one:
And he seems to know that an 87 minute long flute album (with no vocals) might be disappointing to some fans who have waited 17 years to listen to another project from the hip hop great. He even named the first song on the album “I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
In a recent interview, Andre 3000 spoke about how he doesn’t really know what good it would do for him to rap, and pointed out to fans that think he’s “sitting on songs” that he actually has nothing, besides rather boring yet hilarious ideas:
“It actually sometimes feels inauthentic for me to rap, because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48-years-old, and not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does.
Things that happen in my life…like I gotta go get a colonoscopy? What do you rap about? Like my eyesight is going bad?”
To be frank, I would love to hear Andre 3000 rap about those things…
Maybe he will in time, but for now, anyone that is interested in new music from one half of OutKast will have to settle for a longwinded (no woodwind pun intended) flute album. Social media is already coming at the new project with jokes, and this one that features the iconic Ron Burgundy jazz flute playing scene from Anchorman below has to be my favorite:
