André 3000 has returned with a new project.
On Monday, André surprise-released a seven-song EP dubbed 7 Piano Sketches, which the Outkast frontman teased by wearing a piano on his back at the 2025 Met Gala.
“The original title for it was The Best Worst Rap Album in History,” André 3000 said in a press release. “And here is an excerpt from the original liner notes: ‘It’s jokingly the worst rap album in history because there are no lyrics on it at all. It’s the best because it’s the free-est emotionally and best I’ve felt personally. It’s the best because it’s like a palette cleanser for me.’”
A New Andre 3000 Album Just Released
André hopped on Instagram to share details about the project, which he claims was recorded about a decade ago in Texas. He also thanked piano music composers Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Philip Glass, Stephen Sondheim, Joni Mitchell, and Vince Guaraldi for giving him inspiration to create the EP.
“Warning: no bars,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “These piano sketches are improvisations. To conjure them up, I spread my fingers out on the keys and randomly but with purpose move them around until I find something that feels good or interesting. If it feels really good, I will try to repeat it.”
He added: “These piano pieces weren’t recorded with the intention of presenting them in any formal way to the public. They were personal, at-home recordings. I would sometimes text them to my family and friends. Pardon the sound quality, they were all recorded with my iPhone sitting directly on the piano or my laptop microphone with the exception of ‘Blueberries’. (recorded in studio). Most of these were recorded in Texas. The house my son and I were renting had no furniture at all. Only a piano, our beds, and TV screens.”
7 Piano Sketches arrives nearly a year and a half after André’s latest solo effort, New Blue Sun, which dropped in November 2023. Another instrumental project, New Blue Sun, was nominated for three Grammys: Album of the Year, Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Alternative Jazz Album.
Hip-hop fans continue to wait for a proper solo album from André, who’s yet to release a full-length rap album by himself after years of success alongside Big Boi. And yet, the duo has given fans plenty of classics over the years, thanks to Outkast LPs such as 1996’s ATLiens, 1998’s Aquemini, and 2000’s Stankonia, among others.
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