Hip-Hop, we have to do better as a culture.
By now, you’ve probably listened to André 3000’s latest album, “New Blue Sun.” If you haven’t, it’s most likely because you have no interest in listening to an instrumental project that has zero bars on it.
I get the frustration! 3 Stacks is one of the most talented MCs in history. He’s been out of the public eye for a long time now and has only popped in to do verses every once in a blue moon (and they were always good). So getting an album with no bars did not exactly meet the expectations of what many rap fans wanted.
But that doesn’t mean what we got was in any way lackluster.
In a recent interview with CBS Mornings, the Atlanta artist shared his feelings on the reactions to his new album, saying, “Even on the artwork it says, ‘No bars,’ so if you’re disappointed, man, I don’t know what else I could do. “
“I don’t like that people are upset a little bit about it… If I were waiting for a thing for 17 years, a certain thing that I’m looking for, and something else shows up, I would probably be upset too.”
He continued, “To be a rapper, you gotta be rapping. I haven’t been rapping, like I don’t hang around the studio. I don’t sit and try to rap every day like when I was younger, and that’s all I did. I miss those times a lot, but life changes, life moves on.”
I respect André’s response to the disappointed fans, but I’m going to take a step further: Fans need to just get over him not rapping on “New Blue Sun.”
Respect André 3000’s growth
We as music fans can often be unfair to the artists we love most.
If they continue to make the same music writing songs about the same things and using the same production, they are often seen as lazy, boring and lacking depth. If they try something unique and out of their comfort zone, such as using new sounds and touching on topics they previously never did, it’s seen as an unnecessary risk.
It’s a no-win situation.
Don’t get me wrong...I can be that type of fan too. For example, when it comes to Drake, I think the criticism that his music hasn’t grown (when it comes to his subject matter) is fair.
As David Dennis Jr. wrote for Andscape, “I’ve been called unfair for asking Drake to grow up as an artist and for stating that though we are the same age, he always seemed to be making music for his 25-year-old self. But he’s not even making songs for mid-20s kids to dance to these days. He’s making music for men who want to lash out at women. And it’s as lazy as it is sophomoric.”
In my eyes, that’s a legitimate criticism. Getting on Dré for not rapping is not.
This is a 48-year-old man who was known for continuously taking risks and trying new things when it came to his sound and image. He’s one of the rare MCs who was able to satisfy his fans while also changing the type of music he made constantly. It puts him in rare company.
“New Blue Sun” is just the next step in his evolution.
It’d be one thing if the album we got was filled with poor instrumentation and music that didn’t have a lot of effort put into it. But the product we got is filled with unique and soothing sounds that live up to the quality that we are used to from André 3000 music.
I’d rather have an instrumental album where André gave his all than a rap album where his heart wasn’t in it.
I’m sure he could’ve easily done that. But then it wouldn’t have been fair to fans or himself.