Fans of OutKast have been waiting literally decades for André 3000 to release a solo album, much like his partner Big Boi, and the time has come.
This Friday (November 17), the musician/actor born André Benjamin will finally release his debut solo album, New Blue Sun. Whether it's actually want the fans want is another story.
In an interview with NPR, Andre revealed that the album will not only feature him playing the flute, but it will also be "purely instrumental." So, no rapping or singing.
After videos of him playing the flute in public went viral, he tells NPR that he decided it was finally time to share "André the flautist" with his fans.
"I just felt like I'd really like to play but it was really for me," he says. "I would just walk for hours and I'm a walker. I love to walk. So I would just walk and play for hours. I did that for years and it got to a point where, okay, I want to share. And so going into New Blue Sun, it was kind of like trying to figure out, well, how do I share it? And I had all these ideas and all these influences of how I wanted it to sound. And I think moving to Venice definitely helped introduce me to people I would be playing with... So, I'm on the ride with y'all. I'm expecting anything just like y'all. I didn't know I'd be playing a flute."
As for why it took him so long, André explains that the reason why it has taken him so long to make an album is because he's just slow at writing music.
"Even in our height of what people know of what I've done before, I was always like a slow writer," he says. "I'm not a freestyler. I don't be freestyling. I just wasn't blessed with that. So, in these times, it just comes harder for me to do it and I don't know why. I mean I try it all the time. It's not like I don't try or it's not like I have a lot of these songs just sitting — I have songs but it's not like rap things that I really feel happy about sharing. And really, that's the most important part. I have to feel happy about sharing it."
New Blue Sun features eight tracks in total, with names as catchy as "I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a “Rap” Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time," "That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild" and "Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy."
You can read the full interview here.
And don't forget to check out iHeartRadio Canada's episode of Encore, where host Miles Galloway tells the story behind OutKast's biggest hit, "Hey Ya!" Stream it below.