In case you’ve been living under a rock this entire year, 2023 marked the year hip-hop turned 50. And while the myriad of celebrations featured rappers from Will Smith to Jeezy and everyone in between—there was one face who wasn’t present: André 3000.
The omission, whether intentional or not, has been a consistent miss throughout the year’s festivities and begs the question as to why we haven’t seen the “New Blue Sun” artists at any of those events. Well, in a new interview with CBS Mornings, André explained why he didn’t participate in any of those events, saying that he didn’t feel the “urge” or “desire” to participate.
“I don’t necessarily like looking back,” he added. “And I wouldn’t wanna be in a place where I’m doing it on some, just because I’m trying to meet an expectation. I didn’t get into Outkast for that. We were just kids, like, trying to see how far we could take it.”
Later on in the interview, when speaking about his new album, “New Blue Sun”—which is 87 minutes of “no bars, no beats” and straight flutes—André explained that though the inspiration for a full-blown rap album hasn’t hit him just yet, he writes down “ideas and lyrics” all the time.
“Maybe I haven’t found the music that’s inspiring enough for me to want to write raps to. Or maybe I got to find a new way to rap. If I don’t feel like I’m doing something, it don’t matter to me,” he explained to CBS News’ Anthony Mason.
Later, when describing what he by “doing something,” the “Hey Ya” artist said: “Affecting something, moving something, saying some truth, revealing something, destroying something. It gotta move a needle,” he continued. “Like, our power came from exploring.”
Whether he does eventually find the inspiration he needs or not, I hope more folks actually give his latest musical offering a chance. Though it’s unexpected, it’s still a good body of work that only further illustrates just how talented André really is.