GettyImages-1200000966-scaled

While still returning from his music hiatus, André 3000 is opening up about his experiences in the industry. Recently, in a conversation with Questlove on his Questlove Supreme podcast, the new Blue Sun artist explained how meeting Prince for the first time wasn't necessarily how he thought it would be. “You know, when people pass away, you just kinda want to respect [their legacy], but I think Prince would—I think he would enjoy it,” he said about his newest album “I [had] met Prince in passing. [Around the time of] The Love Below, I lived in L.A. I remember me and the homie goin’ out to a club on Sunset [Boulevard].”He continues to explain that Prince was also in the club that night. When André 3000 came up to his section, Prince invited him to sit but he was very nervous and it showed. “So I’m sitting there, and he starts talking about ‘Hey Ya,’” he recalled. “But what he said, I didn’t know how to take it, if he was taking a dig at me or what. He said, ‘I like that song, “Hey Ya,” man, like, I thought I was the only person who did songs in those tempos.’ That’s what he said to me. I didn’t know if he was like, ‘Mmm. Take that, n-gga.’ I didn’t know how to take it; this is my hero."André 3000 also shared that Prince gave him some unsolicited advice that he wasn't sure about as well. “The album had just come out, and we were trying to figure out the next single. And so I didn’t know what to say him, so I said, ‘Hey, have you heard the album?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I heard it.’ I say, ‘Well, what do you think the next single should be?’ Then he said another Prince thing; he said, ‘In my day, we only had one shot.’ Basically, he was saying, it don’t matter now, whatever you do, it don’t matter. And I didn’t know how to take that either. It’s like, okay, cool,” he concluded.

André 3000 Recalls Thinking Prince Was \"Taking A Dig\" At Him First Time They Met

After André 3000 said that he didn't feel like a rap album would be authentic, he recently revealed that his “human side” wanted another OutKast album. CBS Mornings shared an extended interview with the artist where he was asked if his Outkast band member urged them to get back together. “No but I think because he knows who I am and knows what gets me going, knows what inspires me, knows when I’m excited about something,” he said. “So I think in that sense, he’s never pushed that issue. But I’m sure like, I want another OutKast album. Yeah, like in my mind – but see, that’s the thing. That’s the human side. I [wanted] an OutKast album a long time ago.”“And honestly for me as an individual, it would be gratifying to me to put out a solo rap situation. But not for nobody else at this point. It’s for me because I actually like the challenge of, ‘How could I make this part of my life interesting and rhyme in words?’ How can I do that? So… it’s still a challenge. I think hopefully with will and intent, something will happen.”Back in November, André 3000 said in a conversation with <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/men-of-the-year-2023-andre-3000-profile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GQ</a> that him rapping at 48 was "inauthentic." “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. 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. And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? I got to go get a colonoscopy? What are you rapping about? My eyesight is going bad?”

André 3000 Admits To Have Wanted To Do An Outkast Album

As Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary year is coming to a close, many artists and fans are looking back on the tributes of the year. André 3000's presence, however, was missing throughout the year and according to him, it was intentional. In a conversation with CBS Mornings' host, Gayle King, he explained his disposition on participating in any tributes.“I wouldn’t want to be — I’m doing it just because I’m trying to meet an expectation,” he explained. “I didn’t get into OutKast for that, you know.”https://youtu.be/oUtQYOSMqnMElsewhere in the interview, André 3000 touched on his latest album, New Blue Sun, and the disappointment many fans had because of the lack of rap on the project. He explained to the host that he wouldn't mind creating a rap album again but it would need to be under the right circumstances.“When people ask me about a rap album, ‘Man, I would love a rap album,’ I’m with you,” he began to explain. “But it’s like, I want to be with you when I’m really on it… I don’t sit and try to rap every day like when I was younger, and that’s all I did when I was younger. I miss those times a lot, but it’s like life changes. Life moves on.”

André 3000 Explains Why He Chose To Not Be A Part Of Any Hip-Hop 50 Tributes

Although many hip-hop fans were not excited to hear that André 3000's first album in 17 years did not include a verse from him, the project still broke records. The track, I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time, from the album New Blue Sun is now credited as the lengthiest track to appear on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart. The song is 12 minutes and 20 seconds long, beating out Taylor Swift’s All Too Well (Taylor’s Version), which clocked in at 10 minutes and 13 seconds.https://youtu.be/0JYqz9yEn78The song debuted at No. 90 on the Hot 100, as the LP peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200.Producer Buckwild recently gave props to the eccentric OutKast member for outselling rappers who have been present on the music scene, such as Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, Westside Gun, Ice Spice, French Montana and more.“@andre3000 first week sales reign supreme,” he wrote on Instagram with a list of rappers and their <a href="https://www.vibe.com/news/entertainment/yung-miami-city-girls-album-sales-projections-1234805309/">music sales</a>. “Outselling mainstream rappers with an ambient flute album is such an André 3000 thing to do.”André’s new album's first week sales outsold artists like Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, Westside Gun, Ice Spice, French Montana and more.During an interview with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212661071/andre-3000-album" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NPR</a> he explained his choice in making this type of album. “I don’t want to troll people. I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!’ And you play it and like, ‘Oh man, no verses’,” he started. “So even actually on the packaging, you’ll see it says, ‘Warning: no bars.’ It’s letting you know what it is off the top.”

André 3000 Sets Hot 100 Record With ‘New Blue Sun’

GettyImages-1798189537

Andre 3000 opens up about the time Prince gave him some advice after a bad OutKast performance. During a <a href="https://apple.news/AdJav0vIDSkm4_m1e3DnDRQ">recent interview</a> the rapper reminisced about his 2014 Coachella performance where he headlined as part of OutKast. “I ain’t been on stage in damn near 15, 20 years! So it was odd for me.” He continued, “And right before the show, you see Paul McCartney walk and go to the left side of the stage. And then Prince walks to the right of the stage. I’m like, ‘Ahhh! What the f***, man?!’”Andre added that the new technology was a factor during the set. “You know, there’s new technology like earbuds and s***. I’d never used earbuds in my life. We were always just in front of the monitors or listening to the speakers, so if you were watching the Coachella show, I got people in my ear talking and s***. It’s like, ‘What the hell is going on?!’”The “Hey Ya” rapper went on to say, “Halfway through the show, I was already checked out, so I was just trying to get through it. Yeah, the show happens and it was a bomb night. It was horrible in my eyes.”Andre recalls receiving a special phone call from Prince a day after the performance. “The very next morning I get a call from Prince. I don’t know him like that, I don’t know he got my number- I do not know,” he said. “And the first thing he says is, ‘You know what your problem is? You don’t realize how big y’all are.’ Then he was like, ‘You gotta remind people who you are.’ And from that point on, I was like, ‘Okay.’”It was recently <a href="https://www.wbls.com/wbls-news/andre-3000-to-drop-debut-solo-album-17-years-after-outkast-split">reported</a> that Andre 3000 released his first instrumental solo album, “New Blue Sun.”

Andre 3000 Shares The Advice Prince Shared With Him After A Bad Performance

GettyImages-1200000966

Andre “3000” Benjamin is debuting his first solo project, "New Blue Sun." The project arrives 17 years after Outkast released their last album.Andre's new body of work is entirely made up of instrumental woodwind music. "I've been interested in winds for a long time, so it was just a natural progression for me to go into flutes," André, 48, said in a statement. According to an announcement, the woodwind theme is a "celebratory piece of work in the form of a living, breathing, aural organism."https://www.instagram.com/p/Czo3sMhJVI-/?img_index=1The multi-instrumentalist previously showed off his woodwind skills on Outkast's 2003 track "She Lives in My Lap" as well as 2019's "Where's the Catch?" with James Blake.The album, coming on Sony Music’s Epic Records, is co-produced by Andre 3000 and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Niño, and featuring the playing of Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, Deantoni Parks, Diego Gaeta, Matthewdavid, V.C.R, Diego Gaeta, Jesse Peterson, and Mia Doi Todd.<h3 id="h-he-ll-make-a-rap-album-one-day">He'll make a rap album one day</h3>In the announcement, Andre describes the work as “therapeutic,” and says of releasing an album in his more-familiar rap musical genre, “There’s this misconception that I just won’t do it. I think people feel like I’m sitting around on rap albums, or sitting around and I’m just not putting them out in that way. And no it’s not like that."“In my mind, I really would like to make a rap album,” the "Hey Ya!" rapper added. “So maybe that happens one day, but I got to find a way to say what I want to say in an interesting way that’s appealing to me at this age.”In an interview with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212661071/andre-3000-album" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NPR's All Songs Considered podcast</a> upon the album's announcement, André spoke further about not wanting to catch fans off-guard with the genre departure of his upcoming album."I don't want to troll people. I don't want people to think, 'Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!' And you play it and like, 'Oh man, no verses.' So even actually on the packaging, you'll see it says, 'Warning: no bars,'" he told the outlet.