In a recent interview with Highsnobiety, André 3000 said he’s willing to challenge himself with making a rap album.
“I would 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,” André 3000 said. “That’s probably one of the hardest things to do! I would love to do that.”
Last year, the Hey Ya! singer released his highly anticipated solo debut album, which marked his return to music, not as a rapper, but as a flutist. The eight-track album, New Blue Sun, was well received by fans, who had grown accustomed to seeing André walking the world’s streets with his flute in hand.
The album sprouted from André’s fascination with jazz, and his realization that the genre held the same cultural space as hip-hop during its time despite its now widely-accepted, academic, and even luxurious status.
But, André was avoiding rap because he feels too old for the genre.
“I ain’t got no raps like that,” André explained to GQ in an interview last year. “It feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old.”
Funnily, this statement and his subsequent jazz flute album, echoes a popular online meme that urges 40-year-old rappers to start making jazz music because of their age. Regardless of his feelings towards rap, in 2023, André featured in SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS from Killer Mike’s now grammy-award winning album, MICHAEL.
His next album may be rap or jazz or electronic. All we know is that André is going wherever the wind blows.
“That’s the cool thing about my whole ride. It really is a ride,” André told Highsnobiety.