André 3000, half of the beloved rap duo Outkast and obscure flute aficionado, hasn’t released a proper solo rap song since he and Big Boi recorded their final album in 2006.
André’s fans have relied on memorable but brief features (his verse on Beyoncé’s “Party”) or barely-there snippets (the two words he sings on Kanye West’s “30 Hours”) to hear the rapper’s velvety voice
Now it seems fans will have to keep waiting for Dré’s grand return to rap: In an interviewwith GQ tied to last week’s release of his instrumental flute record “New Blue Sun,” he said it sometimes “feel inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way.”
“I’m 48 years old. Not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does,” he told GQ. “What do you talk about — I gotta go get a colonoscopy? What do you rap about — my eyesight is going bad?”
Those who have followed the Atlanta favorite since Outkast’s first album nearly 30 years ago would undoubtedly be thrilled to hear Dré rap candidly about aging. But 48 is by no means rap’s retirement age. Genre stalwarts like Jay-Z, Eminem, Missy Elliott, the duos Black Star and Run the Jewels and even former bandmate Big Boi have found material to mine well into their late 40s and early 50s
Others have set rap down to enter new phases of their careers beyond music — Pharrell is leading Louis Vuitton’s men’s division, and Dr. Dre became one of the richest men in rap after he sold his popular headphone brand Beats to Apple for billions of dollars in 2014.
André, as ever, is charting his own path, appearing in recent films by acclaimed directors Noah Baumbach and Kelly Reichardt, while still being spotted by fans across the world, often with a woodwind in hand. He even hinted to GQ that he secretly played on some of the flute-heavy tracks released by beloved rappers in the last several years.
His new album has courted acclaim for its ambient, engrossing musical landscape. But if André ever decides to return to rap for more than the occasional feature, he’s got plenty of influential artists’ examples to follow.
