André 3000 swears he misses rapping; he just doesn't have an album of new verses in his heart at the moment.
The former Outkast member reiterated his stance in a new Highsnobiety cover story, where he explained why his debut solo instrumental album, New Blue Sun, wasn't rap-centric.
“I would love to make a rap album. I just think it’d be an awesome challenge to do a fire-ass album at 48 years old," he told the publication. "That’s probably one of the hardest things to do! I would love to do that. That’s the cool thing about my whole ride. It really is a ride."
Three Stacks has addressed his age before in the context of relevancy in rap, which other artists like Clipse, The LOX and Lil Wayne were taken aback by. Earlier in the article, the Atlanta native spoke about giving Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean a preview of New Blue Sun, just to check the temperature with younger audiences.
"I was in Tyler’s living room listening to it, and then Frank [Ocean] just shows up," he explained. "And so we’re all sitting there listening to it. I’m wondering what the young people’s opinions would be. And I’m so happy that what I’m hearing is really good feedback."
Elsewhere in the interview, André talked about his original rap moniker being inspired by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. The rapper-producer is often credited for partly introducing jazz to the golden age of hip-hop.
"My first rap name was Jahz because of Q-Tip. We were huge A Tribe Called Quest fans," he explained. "In high school, they were the pinnacle — them, Grand Puba, Souls of Mischief. I don’t think Q-Tip gets enough credit for introducing a generation of kids to a forgotten music."
He continued, "As a kid, jazz music meant some old-people shit that’s in elevators,” André says. “Q-Tip found a way to make it actually cool. The jazz guys were actually the rap guys of that time. They were doing heroin, they were in clubs. Years from now, people are going to listen to trap music and think, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ It happens. It happens."
