André 3000 has shocked fans as he drops his first new album in 17 years! Ahead of the release of his debut solo album, the rapper admitted that he stopped rapping because of his age. He jokingly asked what he would even rap about at 48, “I got to go get a colonoscopy?”
In 2006, André, born André Lauren Benjamin, dropped his sixth and final Outkast album, ‘Idlewild,’ with groupmate Big Boi. During his tenure in Outkast, 3 Stacks and Big Boi dropped six studio albums between 1994 and 2006.
According to Billboard, aside from Outkast’s 1994 debut album ‘Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,’ five of their albums (1996’s ‘ATLiens,’ 1998’s ‘Aquemini,’ 2000’s ‘Stankonia,’ 2003’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,’ and 2006’s ‘Idlewild‘) all reached either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.
Since 2006, André 3000 has now released his first solo album ‘New Blue Sun,’ as of Friday (November 17); and get this, the rapper does ZERO rapping on it. Three Stacks is instead wrapping up the cords on his mic and pulling out his flute for fans. He even doubles down on his decision with the first song on the album called, “I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
Speaking with GQ, in the magazine’s first-ever video cover story, André 3000 again explains why he chose not to rap on his first solo album and offer fans a woodwind project. He counters, “Why anything? Why did we record these albums before in my career? It is just kind of: Those are the things that came.”
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He further explains that he did try to give fans some bars, but notes, “I’ve worked with some of the newest, freshest, youngest and old-school producers. I get beats all the time. I try to write all the time. 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.”
Three Stacks continues to explain how he feels his age just prohibits him from being relatable with his rhymes, besides talking about getting “a colonoscopy.” He says, “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.’ You can find cool ways to say it, but …”
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