In November of last year, Andre 3000 unveiled his latest project, New Blue Sun. He went in a new direction with the album, opting to omit bars completely in favor of instrumentals. While the project has been generally well-received by listeners, some can’t help but hope for another rap album from the Outkast icon. Luckily, according to Big Gipp, he could have one tucked away.
During a recent interview with B High TV, the Goodie Mob member shared his thoughts on New Blue Sun. He praised Andre 3000 for the effort, calling it “some of the greatest finessing” that he’s ever seen. Big Gipp went on to describe how the project opened new doors for Andre 3000, as well as others in the industry.
Big Gipp continued, revealing that while New Blue Sun was a breath of fresh air, Andre 3000 could drop a rap album whenever he pleased. “I’ma tell you something you don’t know,” he began. “The bruh got a rap album. Bruh, if he wanted to rap, he got that. Organized Noize could go in they vault and pull out a 3000 album. It’s not about that. It’s about where we are in music right now. Him coming out rapping wasn’t gonna change nothing. It was just him joining what’s going on. Now, him coming out doing this and making this successful, he just broke the whole situation down to where now we can go in another direction.”
“At the end of the day, for me, that’s great,” he continued. “Because guess what? He can go out here in theaters, people gonna charge $100, $500, $1000 to see him play his flute. Right? He’s showing you another way to take music and grow gracefully as a man and an MC. ‘Hey, I ain’t got to depend on rap for the rest of my career.’” What do you think of Big Gipp claiming that Andre 3000 has a rap album in the vault? What about his take on New Blue Sun? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
This week, Andre 3000 has rushed back into the public eye. That came after he announced his new album New Blue Sun. The announcement surprised fans as Andre has repeatedly denied speculation that he was working on a new project. But he quickly set expectations for fans by confirming that there would be “no bars.” The project is expected to be entirely instrumental and in a new interview with GQ he dove into why there isn’t any rapping included on the project.
“I’ve worked with some of the newest, freshest, youngest, and old-school producers. I get beats all the time. I try to write all the time. […] Even now people think, Oh, man, he’s just sitting on raps, or he’s just holding these raps hostage. I ain’t got no raps like that,: he explained. But despite his best efforts, he hasn’t conjured much material he believes in. ““It actually feels…sometimes it 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,” he explained. Check out the full interview below.
Andre 3000 Explains Why He Isn’t Dropping Rap Music
Shortly after announcing his new album, Andre 3000 also shared the tracklist. It features numerous exceedingly long and very rambling song titles. “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time” and “Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens” are just two of the tracks the album has to offer.
Andre also revealed that he’s shared some of the new music from the album with friends already. Included are some high-profile names like Frank Ocean and Tyler, The Creator whom Andre specifically cited playing the album for. What do you think of Andre 3000’s reasons for not dropping much rap music as of late? Let us know in the comment section below.
Andre 3000 is an artist who has a legendary legacy as it pertains to rap music. He and Big Boi were an incredible duo in Outkast and they delivered classic albums. Overall, fans have always wanted Andre to deliver a solo rap album. However, he has never actually done it. This has subsequently led to frustration from some fans. Sure, he has given us some pretty legendary features, but he doesn’t seem keen on a rap album. Today, he announced a new instrumental album called New Blue Sun, and it has fans curious.
This project will feature him playing the flute. Furthermore, there will be all sorts of other instruments throughout the project. At this stage, there is no telling what the album might sound like. All we know is that the names of the songs are pretty intense. That said, in a press release for the new album, Andre 3000 actually addressed the idea that he will never drop a rap album. Simply put, the concept of doing one interests him. It is just a question of doing it in a way that makes sense for him.
Andre 3000 of OutKast, winner of the Roc the Mic Award (Photo by KMazur/WireImage)
“There’s this misconception that I just won’t do it,” he said. “I think people feel like I’m sitting around on rap albums, or sitting around and I’m just not putting them out in that way. And no it’s not like that. In my mind, I really would like to make a rap album. So maybe that happens one day, but I got to find a way to say what I want to say in an interesting way that’s appealing to me at this age.” Overall, it could be years before we get a rap album from Andre. However, when it does come, it will be special.
Let us know your expectations for New Blue Sun, in the comments section below. Are you excited to hear some instrumental stylings from Andre? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will always be sure to keep you informed.
Last week, Diddy dropped his highly anticipated and feature-packed new project The Love Album: Off The Grid. The album is absolutely stacked with guests including Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, 21 Savage, Summer Walker, Jazmine Sullivan, John Legend, and MANY more. Songs like “Another One Of Me” and “Moments” are already racking up millions of streams proving the legendary rap executive still has pull. Despite declaring that an R&B resurgence was underway following the release of his new album, Diddy intends to shift back to hip hop next.
The news broke via his son King Combs who TMZ caught up with recently. When they asked him about what his dad is working on now, he let some details fly. “I’ma be on the next one,” Combs began. “We doing the Hip Hop album coming soon.” While the interaction is pretty light on details, just the fact that plans for an album are in place should serve as good news for Diddy fans. Before The Love Album, his last project was the MMM mixtape in 2015. Fans are hoping that they won’t have to wait another 8 years for a new project. Check out the full clip below.
Clearly, the music industry still has a lot of admiration for Diddy. Last week, he turned up for a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards but he wasn’t there just to sing. He also received a Global Icon Award from the show. He’s the third artist to receive the award following Foo Fighters taking home the first one in 2021 and Red Hot Chili Peppers following them up in 2022.
Diddy is also undergoing the process of signing publishing rights back to many of his Bad Boy artists. Not all of them are impressed by the gesture though, some some claiming that he waited until they were basically worthless to do so. What do you think of Diddy shifting his focus back to rap music on his next album? Let us know in the comment section below.
A generational talent gone way too soon, Juice Wrld was one of the most influential artists to this day. Born December 2, 1998, Jarad Anthony Higgins, better known as Juice Wrld, was a rising star from the Soundcloud era. Starting his musical career in high school, many of his peers persuaded him to rap and freestyle.
Releasing his first song, “Forever,” on SoundCloud in 2014, Juice Wrld knew he had the talent to continue forward. Furthermore, dropping his first EP, “999,” on June 15, 2017, which included his most streamed song today, “Lucid Dreams.”
Album Rankings
Juice Wrld performs onstage during Made In America – Day 1. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)
According to Spotify’s Twitter on April 4, 2022, these would be the rankings based on streams. “Goodbye & Good Riddance” (6.4 B+), “Legends Never Die” (4.2B+), “Death Race For Love” (4.2B+), “Fighting Demons” (1.4B+), and”WRLD ON DRUGS” (1.1B+).
With the news/leaks of his final album, “The Party Never Ends,” potentially dropping this year. Let’s take a look at Juice Wrld’s album catalog and rank them.
Death Race For Love
A bit of a controversial pick between this album and “Goodbye & Good Riddance,” but in terms of versatility and pure talent, this album is number one. Released on March 8, 2019, this was Juice’s second studio album and the last album to be released during his lifetime.
Freestyling the album in just five days is a skill that not many can achieve. In this album, Juice Wrld speaks about taking drugs and his addictions, as well as talking about relationships and his love and lust.
An accomplishment in his career as this album was his first to score a No. 1 on the Billboard 200. As well as producing hit songs like “Robbery,” “Empty,” “Fast,” “Make Believe,” etc. The album feels like a journey into the life of Juice Wrld, as the songs reference his lifestyle and his love for his recent girlfriend, Alli Lotti.
Goodbye & Good Riddance
Arguably one of Juice Wrld’s best albums to many of his fans was also the first album that many of his fans came across. This was Juice’s first studio album, released on May 23, 2018. Featuring 17 songs with just one feature (Lil Uzi Vert), this album is a roller coaster of a journey. Including the use of skits in the album; if you listened to the songs in a specific order, you could see his journey.
In this album, the songs varied between the drug use and addiction he faced, as well as referencing his past relationships and achieving success over time.
Some of Juice Wrlds most popular songs came off this album, like “All Girls Are The Same,” “Lucid Dreams,” “Lean Wit Me,” “Armed And Dangerous,” and many more. To this day, many will believe this is the number one album to date and is a staple to his music career.
Fighting Demons
His most recent album to date, “Fighting Demons“ comes in at number three. Released on December 10, 2021, just two days after the two-year anniversary of his death. The album initially had 18 songs, but after reaching specific goals put out by Grade A, like getting a certain amount of views on YouTube and the community begging for more songs. So on March 18, 2022, five more songs were added to the album.
Again Juice Wrld referenced his battle with drug addiction and added Eminem and Justin Bieber to the album to talk about their struggles as well. The album also spoke about what the name implies, and that’s the battling of his demons. The album was mainly a catalog of leaks many fans had heard before and where the names or beats were changed but still used the original lyrics.
This album is still new to the list, but it holds a lot of fans’ favorite unreleased songs at the time. Examples would be “Burn,” “Cigarettes,” “Rockstar In His Prime,” “You Wouldn’t Understand,” and probably one of the most favorite songs in the community, “Sometimes.”
Legends Never Die
This was Juice Wrld’s first posthumous album after his death in December 2019. The album consisted of 22 songs and was realized seven months after his death on July 10, 2020. This album felt like a different vibe from the usual music he created. The album gave more of a poetic side to Juice as well as a melodic side as this album consisted of a lot of vocalizing and singing in a way.
The album came with a response of positive views, and according to Metacritic, they rated this album a 75/100 based on ten reviews. The difference with this album was that it was also released with many singles. Additionally, that meant we heard a decent amount of songs before the release.
This album did have some songs played on the radio and made big success on the music charts. Songs like “Righteous,” “Come & Go,” “Tell Me U Luv Me,” and “Smile” made significant impacts. But “Wishing Well” was probably the most influential song on this album as it spoke about his hardships with drugs and needing help.
Not much of an album, but more of a mixtape; this was Juice Wrld’s only published collab “album.” This mixtape was a joint effort between Juice Wrld and Future. Releasing on October 19, 2018, this mixtape can be considered underrated.
Even though this is a mixtape, this deserves a spot on the list, even if it’s last. The style and charisma Juice had on this album were insane. Mixed with a legend like Future, with his well-known voice and vocals, making this a special mixtape. The chemistry these two had with each other was incredible.
This mixtape barely gets spoken about, but it has made some bangers and has had some decent success. Some songs to look at for would be “Jet Lag,” “Fine China,” “Realer N Realer,” and “7 Am Freestyle.“
Even after the death of Juice Wrld, he continues to push insane numbers and has a very loyal fanbase. Arguably when he features on an album, he puts in some maximum effort and helps push that song to popularity.
We will never know how his full potential, but he will always have a special place in the rap community.
