We’re still waiting on that ever-elusive solo André 3000 rap album. Every time he comes back with a rare feature verse on a song, everyone is blown away. However, he swears that he doesn’t have anything to rap about anymore. “Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap, because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way,” André told GQ in 2023.
“I’m 48 years old. 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, what do you talk [about]? I got to go get a colonoscopy, like, what do you rap about? You know what I mean? My eyesight is going bad?” André 3000 continued.
Nowadays, he makes jazz music on his flute and with his band. His desire to stay creative remains consistent with his beliefs back in 2003 when he was on his last legs with OutKast. In an interview with The Guardian at the time, André 3000 felt like he could never shake the instinct to make music. However, he did tease that long absence from making an album, arguing that everyone needs time away.
“I don’t think music is something you just can quit,” he told the publication. “But sometimes you have to take a break from what you’re doing to find love in it again”.
André 3000 Admits That He Could Never Stop Making Music, Even if He Doesn’t Have Anything To Rap About
With OutKast, André stressed that he wanted to try something fresh and on his own, leading to the split double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Ultimately, he was just trying to figure out an authentic way to finish out their record deals.
“The way it was between me and Big Boi, it made the sound—we did great works, man—but I just know my own personality and I got to find new things to do,” André 3000 said. “OutKast now, it’s like a double album. What’s the most natural thing to do from there? I don’t know. There’s always a possibility that we’ll get together again. Contractually, we have three more albums to do for Arista Records, so we’ll definitely try to complete those.”
With André’s The Love Below in particular, he made it with the intention of challenging social and romantic norms. “In hip-hop, people don’t talk about their vulnerable or sensitive side a lot because they’re trying to keep it real or be tough,” André 3000 said elsewhere in the conversation. “They think it makes them look weak. That’s what ‘The Love Below’ means, that bubbling-under feeling that people don’t like to talk about, that dudes try to cover up with machismo.”
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