André 3000 is set to drop his debut solo album on Friday

André 3000's last release was Outkast’s album Idlewild, which was released in 2006 as the follow-up to their Grammy-winning double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

Now, André 3000 is ready to share his solo body of work, which couldn't be more different to his released with Outkast. New Blue Sun is completely instrumental, and features André heavily on his instrument of choice – the flute. The album was born out of jams André 3000 with the percussionist Carlos Niño. He worked mostly with keyboardist Surya Botofasina, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau, and other instrumentalists on New Blue Sun include Deantoni Parks, Diego Gaeta, Matthewdavid, V.C.R, Diego Gaeta, Jesse Peterson, and Mia Doi Todd.

Speaking to NPR, André revealed that the album was a long time coming, simply because he is unwilling to release a project unless he truly believes in it – that, and he's not the fastest when it comes to crafting songs. "I'm a writer, and not necessarily a pen and pad writer, but I construct and architect verses in a way," he said. "That's what I've been doing all my life. So I look at it in that way, and if I'm not satisfied with what it is I just don't put it out. Even during the earlier times, Big Boi, he just kind of got down, like, he's so fast and efficient with what he does. And it'll take me a minute to throw them down. So I've always kind of been analysing it or figuring out how I wanted to approach it...

"New Blue Sun was something that I realised, whoa, I really want people to hear it. I really want to share it," he continues. "That's my only gauge. I have to like it as a person, as an artist myself, because if I don't like it I can't expect nobody else to like it. I can't pretend in that way. That's always been hard for me."

ANDRÉ 3000 — NEW BLUE SUN

NOVEMBER 17TH pic.twitter.com/9AOuULnb2O

— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) November 14, 2023

André reveals that it was around the time where he had three songs, that he thought he was onto something. "I was just kind of testing it out 'cause I wanted to see how a younger audience would perceive it. I live in Cali now, so I reached out to Tyler for him to check it out and I went to his house," he says. "We're sitting there and Frank [Ocean] just happened to drop by. So it's us three sitting there listening to these three songs and I just kind of wanted to get an opinion."

He goes on to say that it\s important to have some outside opinions on your music, and listening to the songs with Tyler, the creator and Frank Ocean helped him be able to share his music with other friends and artists.

New Blue Sun is completely instrumental, but does have some questionable titles. "They were long on purpose because I knew if this album has no lyrics that I would try to give as much thought or information in the titles," he revealed to NPR. Speaking on why the album is instrumental, he continued: "I love rap music because it was a part of my youth. So I would love to be out here with everybody rapping, because it's almost like fun and being on the playground. I would love to be out here playing with everybody, but it's just not happening for me. This is the realest thing that's coming right now. Not to say that I would never do it again, but those are not the things that are coming right now. And I have to present what's given to me at the time.

"The title, "I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album, But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time" [is] because this album is about wind and breathing. In that way, it is true. It is literally blowing me this way and I'm blowing flutes and I'm blowing digital instruments," he adds.

Tracklist:

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