“It would be an awesome challenge to do a fire-ass rap album at 48 years old”: André 3000 on returning to his rap roots
“I don’t want people to feel like I’m playing with them. That could ruin the whole thing.”
Credit: Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images for ABA
André 3000 says he’d be up for making a rap album again, in a new interview with Highsnobiety.
The musician and producer, who rose to fame as one-half of the rap duo OutKast alongside Big Boi, appears on the front cover of the magazine’s spring 2024 issue.
André released his debut solo album, New Blue Sun, in November. While he’s always been ready to experiment with different genres and styles, the ambient, experimental flute music that makes up the album was a marked departure from the hip-hop and funk he’s known for.
However, he might return to hip-hop in the future, saying he’d “love” to make a rap album. “I just think it’d be an awesome challenge to do a fire-ass album at 48 years old,” he says. “That’s probably one of the hardest things to do! I would love to do that.”
He also discusses listening to New Blue Sun with Tyler, the Creator. He explains, “I was in Tyler’s living room listening to it, and then Frank [Ocean] just shows up. And so we’re all sitting there listening to it. I’m wondering what the young people’s opinions would be. And I’m so happy that what I’m hearing is really good feedback.
“Sometimes the melodies you’re hearing, I was making them up on the spot or I was responding on the spot. That’s the value of this album, that it’s fully alive. It wasn’t planned.”
He says of his latest album, and the departure from his usual sound, “I’m scared. I don’t want to troll people. New André 3000 album coming out! And you play it – like, man, what the fuck?
“On the packaging, there’s a graphic that says ‘Warning: no bars.’ So it completely lets you know what you’re getting into before you get into it. I don’t want people to feel like I’m playing with them. That could ruin the whole thing.”
