Italian
André 3000 has a request: Please stop calling his latest project a “flute album.”
On New Blue Sun, the rap genius does indeed play a number of woodwind instruments, but the eight-track ambient jazz set also features bells, chimes, keyboards, cymbals, piano, drums, sintir, a gong and a wind controller.
“The media has touted it as this flute album and I think it’s a misrepresentation of the album. It’s way more than a flute album. They belittle it by calling it a flute album because there are actual flutists that have made flute albums, like Jethro Tull and Paul Horn,” 3000 tells THR. “I think it could be a turnoff to some people if they think, ‘Yo, he’s just in a room playing this flute.’”
While the media may have tried to put the project in a box, the Grammys are singing its praises. New Blue Sun was nominated for album of the year, best alternative jazz album and best instrumental composition; 3000 won the top prize in 2004 with Big Boi for OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Here, the 49-year-old talks about getting Beyoncé’s approval after using her name in a track, how his love for the flute has bled into his acting career, and getting the call from Sade to contribute an album celebrating the trans community.
What’s it like to see this album get Grammy recognition?
It says a lot that somebody’s paying attention. I actually didn’t know that many people were paying attention to what we were doing. It’s funny and interesting that it’s pitted against these very popular music forms. We’re in the same category as Beyoncé and Billie Eilish.
OutKast’s debut album came out 30 years ago; did you ever think this sound would be your solo debut?
Not at all. In my brain, I thought it would be something completely different. I actually don’t even consider it a solo album. It’s a completely new thing. At one point, I was considering if I’d even use the name André 3000. But then, I thought it was interesting to show people in my genre that you don’t have to stay in a place. For this album, I’m using the same formula that I use when I produce OutKast songs. I’m messing around to find things that are interesting to me.
3000 performed in Atlanta in 2016. Paul R. Giunta/FilmMagic You play flute on the Everything Everywhere All at Once soundtrack — did that have an influence on this album, or were you already in this flute space?
I was already into it. The guys that were working on Everything Everywhere All at Once, they’re like, “Hey, we’re scoring this movie. Why don’t you just come in the studio and play?” And they took it and manipulated it and put it in the film. It was fun to experiment; I didn’t know what the turnout would be because it wasn’t my project.
Even with Showing Up [a 2022 comedy-drama feature], which has flute sounds in it as well, I was actually an actor in the film, and when we had downtime, I would be playing on set. The director [Kelly Reichardt] was like, “I enjoyed the music so much, I wanted to put it in the film,” and so it came naturally. They actually made a character in the film that was a neighbor to one of the characters, this flute player.
[When it comes to the album,] I was always recording or thinking in this way because by that time, people had started filming me in public, sneaking Instagram videos and stuff like that. At that point, I already knew that I wanted to find a better way to share it than these small little clips. It was always in the making, but I didn’t necessarily know which way it would go.
New Blue Sun album Courtesy “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time” opens the album, and that’s a true statement, right?
It was basically true to life. As a person who has contributed to rap for so long, of course I’d love to make a rap album. The further I am away from it, the lesser the reality it is for me. I’ve gotten beats from other producers, I tried to do what I’ve always done, produce my own music, but I didn’t like it enough to present it. I’m happy that it went this way. I would like to do a more vocal rap situation and, hopefully, that’ll come. I love rap music, it’s not a thing that I’ve turned my back on. I do feel like, at this age, I appreciate it in a different way. I really appreciate listening to what the kids are coming up with in rap, because it’s such a visceral form of music. I enjoy it when it’s coming from a very fresh place.
How did you come up with the song title “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity and Beyoncé”?
The title was really a play on words, just referencing things that I was into. Souls of Mischief, one of their most famous songs was called “93 ‘Til Infinity,” and that’s when I was coming out of high school. That was one of my favorite rap tracks. Then I thought it was funny to put that together with a Toy Story proclamation (he starts singing), “Until infinity and beyond.” That was a thing that the character would say in the movie, and I would say, “Why not Beyoncé?” It was funny; it was a play on pop culture stuff. I reached out to Jay-Z and Beyoncé and asked if it was cool. She’s like, “Yeah.” So I was happy.
You two collaborated on the 2011 hit “Party” as well as the soundtrack to 2013’s The Great Gatsby. What do you remember of making those records with her?
Really just being excited about working together because we performed together during the “Hey Ya!” times in England [in 2003]. That was some of the first times I’ve met her, so being able to record, I think we’ve always had respect for each other and been fans. To be reached out by Beyoncé, “Hey, can you get on this song?” I’m like, “Hell, yeah, you know I’m with it.” Yeah, it was a cool musical family thing. I think people from a certain era, we have a kinship.
From left: Big Boi, Destiny Child’s Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams and 3000 (second from right) at MTV’s tribute to Janet Jackson in 2001. KMazur/WireImage It’s interesting because both of you are up for album of the year with projects outside of your typical genres — her in country and you in alternative jazz.
I think it’s an interesting time in general, musically. The way people process music, the way they get to it, the categories are a thing, but we’re all influenced by so much across the board that it starts to blur lines. Even as far back as Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, it was just music I’m into. I come from rap, but yeah, why not do this type of thing? Even Lil Yachty’s last album [Let’s Start Here] was an exploration of trying different things. We’re at a point where there’s this cross-pollination. There are Black rappers getting into country music, so it’s a lot going on. People are restless and exploring. It’s always good to push and see what you can get.
Only two rap-based albums have won album of the year at the Grammys: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2004. What comes to mind when you think of that?
It’s an honor to be recognized at any of these things. Coming from a rap form, I think it does say a lot about the Academy as well, though those two albums, they’re not purely just rapping, so that says a lot about the committee. It’s going to be interesting to see which completely rap album wins that award. When you think about Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, there was a whole side of that project that was not rap. Even Lauryn Hill, she’s singing; she comes from rap, but it’s melodic. It’s something else. It’s going to be interesting to see if that ever happens.
OutKast’s Big Boi (left) and 3000 with their six trophies at the 2004 Grammys. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images In 2019 Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” became the first rap track to win song and record of the year. Do you feel like the Academy is missing the mark when it comes to rap losing in the top categories?
I wouldn’t say missing the mark, but it says what you’re into. Some people, they’re into a certain genre, and so most of the Grammy committee, it just says they may not be into a lot of rap. It’s what the committee is based on, but as time goes on and the committee gets younger or there’s more influences in it, I’m sure we will start to see more.
When was the last time you and Big Boi were in the studio together?
Man, I don’t know. Who knows? Maybe Stankonia, Speakerboxxx. Somewhere around there. Even Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, they were actually two separate albums that we put together at the last minute to become Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, so I can’t really remember the last time, but it was too many, many years.
You have a 26-minute track on Transa, an album celebration of the trans community. Could you tell me about that song and contributing to that project?
We were reached out to by [the nonprofit] Red Hot and they were like, “Hey, would you contribute?” Actually, Sade reached out and asked would we be a part of it? If Sade asks you anything, you’re like, “Hell yeah.” We’ve been in contact with her on some other things [André’s selling “Listen to Sade” T-shirts on his website], so we already were talking to her and her manager. This project came up and she said, “Hey, I’m doing this project and was thinking that it’d be great if you were a part of it,” and I was like, “Yeah. OK, cool,” and so we contributed in the way that we felt what’s best. That’s how it came about.
You produced for Aretha Franklin a few years before she passed. What was that experience like?
Humbling, beautiful to witness. To be in the recording booth, to hear Aretha Franklin just sing, I can’t explain it. Because as soon as she opens her mouth and starts singing, like, “Whoa,” that’s her. It was really fun to be asked to be a part of that project and to actually be able to go in the studio with her, and to even have a good conversation with her about music. I was happy about that.
You were at the recent CFDA Awards with Erykah Badu, who earned the Fashion Icon Award. What’s it like to see her get her flowers?
We kind of joke, “Man, they took a long time. They should have been got to this conclusion. We’re just happy that it’s happening.
André 3000 and Erykah Badu This story appeared in the Dec. 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
