Fresh off of reissuing beloved Outkast albums Aquemini and Speakerboxx/The Love Below with Big Boi, André 3000 has announced his first-ever solo record — and first new full-length musical release in 17 years.
Set for release this Friday (November 17), New Blue Sun sounds like it has even more surprises in store from the elusive legend: according the the lengthy NPR interview where he broke the news, the 87-minute album — which features Carlos Niño on percussion, Nate Mercerau on guitar and Surya Botofasina on keys — has no bars, which its packaging foretells.
"I don't want to troll people," André 3000 told Rodney Carmichael. "I don't want people to think, 'Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!' And you play it and like, 'Oh man, no verses.'"
"No bars, no beats, no sub-bass. André doesn't sing on this joint, either," Carmichael writes. "What he does do is play flute, and plenty of it — contrabass flute, Mayan flutes, bamboo flutes — along with other digital wind instruments. In place of lyrics, he offers eight provocative song titles, the first of which almost reads like a low-key apology, with a wink of irony: 'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a "Rap" Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.'"
"As a rapper, I associated jazz music with old people and elevator music — because it had become that," the artist explained elsewhere in the interview. "And once I started really getting into it, I'm like, hold up: Jazz was the rap of that time. These dudes, they were smoking. They were doing heroin. They were in clubs. We trade verses; they [were] trading solos. [When] you really get into it and you really understand what they were doing — and how rebellious what they were doing [was] — you're like, man, this is the ultimate."
You can check out the full tracklist of likewise-winking song titles below, and check out Exclaim!'s recent ranking of Outkast's albums.
New Blue Sun:
1. I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a "Rap" Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time
2. The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?
3. 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
4. BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter Wears a 3000™ Button Down Embroidered
5. Ninety Three 'Til Infinity and Beyoncé
6. Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy
7. Ants to You, Gods to Who ?
8. Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens
Pre-order New Blue Sun.
Set for release this Friday (November 17), New Blue Sun sounds like it has even more surprises in store from the elusive legend: according the the lengthy NPR interview where he broke the news, the 87-minute album — which features Carlos Niño on percussion, Nate Mercerau on guitar and Surya Botofasina on keys — has no bars, which its packaging foretells.
"I don't want to troll people," André 3000 told Rodney Carmichael. "I don't want people to think, 'Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!' And you play it and like, 'Oh man, no verses.'"
"No bars, no beats, no sub-bass. André doesn't sing on this joint, either," Carmichael writes. "What he does do is play flute, and plenty of it — contrabass flute, Mayan flutes, bamboo flutes — along with other digital wind instruments. In place of lyrics, he offers eight provocative song titles, the first of which almost reads like a low-key apology, with a wink of irony: 'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a "Rap" Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.'"
"As a rapper, I associated jazz music with old people and elevator music — because it had become that," the artist explained elsewhere in the interview. "And once I started really getting into it, I'm like, hold up: Jazz was the rap of that time. These dudes, they were smoking. They were doing heroin. They were in clubs. We trade verses; they [were] trading solos. [When] you really get into it and you really understand what they were doing — and how rebellious what they were doing [was] — you're like, man, this is the ultimate."
You can check out the full tracklist of likewise-winking song titles below, and check out Exclaim!'s recent ranking of Outkast's albums.
New Blue Sun:
1. I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a "Rap" Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time
2. The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?
3. 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
4. BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter Wears a 3000™ Button Down Embroidered
5. Ninety Three 'Til Infinity and Beyoncé
6. Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy
7. Ants to You, Gods to Who ?
8. Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens
Pre-order New Blue Sun.
