André 3000 has responded to LL Cool J‘s not-so-flattering comments about his debut solo album New Blue Sun.
The ambient instrumental project, partly built around the OutKast legend’s flute playing, divided fans following its release last November due to its lack of rapping.
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LL was among those disappointed by the project and shared his brutally honest thoughts on LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The Shop earlier this year.
“Listen, he is amazing. His bars are all the way up. Not the flute, B. Not the flute,” he said. “Let’s not lie to ourselves. I don’t wanna hear him do the flute. You wanna hear me do a violin album?”
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The 56-year-old also urged 3 Stacks to return to rap, saying: “I wanna hear him get with Big Boi, I want them to make an OutKast [album] or [for him] to do a solo album. Everytime he does a verse, it’s enough material for an album! He’s so gifted. So it’s like, ‘Come on, B. Not the flute.’ That man needs to know the truth.”
During his own appearance on the YouTube series, André 3000 was asked about LL Cool J’s criticism and issued a typically measured and well-mannered response.
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“To me, I feel like if it’s in you — ’cause I got homies my age and older than me that still rap — so if it’s in you, you should rap until you die. You should perform until you die,” he said.
“But what I’m saying is, what it takes for me to do it, I’m always looking for the next. I’m not trying to uphold a thing that I’ve done before.”
He added: “Of course, I have things to say now, but if I can’t say them in a fresh, innovative way, if I feel like I’m just hanging onto the same flow that I used to do, it’s not enough for me.
“So I can’t talk for another rapper about what they doing. I just say, ‘Man, go for it. If it’s in you.'”
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André 3000 has been vocal in recent months about his hesistancy to rap. In an interview with GQ late last year, he admitted he doesn’t feel like he has anything interesting to rap about now that he’s approaching 50 years old.
“People think, ‘Oh, man, he’s just sitting on raps or holding these raps hostage.’ I’m like, ‘I ain’t got no raps like that,'” he clarified. “It actually sometimes feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way.
“I’m 48 years old, and not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. Like, what am I gonna rap about? I gotta get a colonoscopy? My eyesight is going bad?”
On the flip side, the ATLien has described the flute as a crucial outlet of creative expression.
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“This is the realest thing that’s coming right now. Not to say that I would never [rap] again, but the [song] title, you know, ‘I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album, But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time’ because this album is about wind and breathing,” he told NPR.
“In that way, it is true. It is literally blowing me this way and I’m blowing flutes and I’m blowing digital instruments.”
