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Interviewer savant Nardwuar has secured a rare interview with OutKast rapper turned flutist André 3000. During a delightful nerd-out between two eccentric personalities, André shared his thoughts on flutes and flute playing, Tyler the Creator, possibly reviving his Cartoon Network show Class of 3000, and more.

The interview was held at Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles last month, and in true Nardwuar fashion, it kicked off right off the bat with a gift for André: a vinyl copy of Haida & Paul Horn, an album featuring a flutist doing a meditative, quasi-duet with an Orca whale.

Speaking about Horn, André made a distinction between himself and more traditional flutists. “People have called New Blue Sun a ‘flute album,’ [but] New Blue Sun is more than a flute album,” he told Nardwuar. “I do play flutes on there, but Paul Horn is an actual flute player. So, if you want to look up a ‘flute album,...

Updated with details and full list: The nominees for the 67th Grammy Awards were revealed Friday morning, and the list is packed with big names. Beyoncé tops the field with 11 noms including Album, Song and Record of the Year, bringing her career total to 99.

Also vying in all three of those marquee categories are Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish and defending Album of the Year champ Taylor Swift.

Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone and Charli Xcx are next with seven nominations apiece, followed by Swift, Carpenter and Chappell Roan with a half-dozen each. See the full list of nominees below.

Among the biggest surprises today was an Album of the Year nom for Outkast alum André 3000 and the Record of the Year mention for “Now and Then” by a little combo out of Liverpool called The Beatles. Also, Wicked star Ariana Grande was shut out of the top categories.

Along...

André 3000 is gearing up for his solo jazz tour, titled New Blue Sun – Live In Concert, in support of his surprise debut album, New Blue Sun, which was released on November 17, 2023.

The tour will feature a collaboration with talented musicians Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina and Deantoni Parks, all of whom contributed to the album.

André 3000, whose real name is Known as André Lauren Benjamin, has made a significant impact on the music industry as a rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He rose to fame as one-half of the influential Southern hip-hop duo Outkast, formed in 1992 alongside Big Boi in Atlanta.

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The U.S. leg of the tour will commence on September 19 in New Orleans, with performances scheduled in major cities such as Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia,...

One door closes, another opens. Just the other day, we heard that filmmaker Mike Flanagan was done with something: he doesn’t want to send any more bleak, hopeless endings into the world. And now, we hear that he has started something: a podcast called Directors Commentary, which is part of the newly launched SpectreVision Radio network. SpectreVision Radio is the podcast branch of the SpectreVision production company, headed up by Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, and Lawrence Ingle. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that SpectreVision Radio is set to be a home for podcasts focused on film, music and the arts, in addition to esoteric subjects including the paranormal and surprising history.

Podcasts on the network will include The Spiel, which is hosted by Scott Wampler and Eric Vespe (they recorded 12 episodes before Wampler passed away unexpectedly earlier this year); Visitations, from SpectreVision co-founders Wood and Noah; and shows...

André 3000 announced his tour in support of his praised solo album, New Blue Sun, on Tuesday. Formerly one-half of Atlanta rap duo Outkast, André 3000 will be joined by Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, and Deantoni Parks, who helped craft the flute-fused album.

The tour runs from January 29 to March 9, with multiple-day stops in Brooklyn, New York; New York, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and Los Angeles, California. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 10 a.m. Et.

André 3000’s New Blue Sun,...

André 3000 has made Billboard chart history as the artist with the longest-ever song to crack the Hot 100.

The song in question is “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” the opening track off the OutKast rapper’s debut solo album New Blue Sun. Landing at the No. 90 spot on Billboard‘s latest chart, the instrumental song clocks in at a whopping 12 minutes and 20 seconds, compared to the average three minute, 15 second runtime of 2023’s Top 10 hits so far.

André claims the title from Tool, whose 10 minute and 21 second “Fear Inoculum” peaked at No. 93 back in August 2019. Before that, David Bowie’s “Blackstar” earned that record in 2016, peaking at No. 78 with a nine minute and 57 second runtime. If by some magical twist of fate, the winds blow “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album…...

There have been hundreds upon hundreds of ambient music albums released this year, but there’s only one released by an elite-tier rapper with a 13-times-Platinum record under his overalls. In the 16 years since the tectonic-shifting Outkast went on hiatus, fans of the duo’s André 3000 have been clamoring for the superstar to deliver something more than the occasional knockout guest verse. Instead, he’s been following his arrow as a nomadic, bohemian troubadour playing his flute in airports, coffee shops, sidewalks and yoga classes. His debut album, New...

L.A.-based musician Matthew “Matthewdavid” McQueen is credited on Andre 3000’s debut solo album, New Blue Sun, as providing “mycelial electronics.” The 39-year-old founder of the record label and music collective Leaving released Mycelium Music in April, an album inspired by the interconnected networks of fungi and produced in large part using an open-source, script-based instrument called Norns, which allows users to create and manipulate sounds by breaking apart and stretching samples into grains or bits. When he got the call from New Blue Sun co-producer Carlos Niño...

André 3000’s debut solo album, New Blue Sun, is out now via Epic Records. Stream it on Apple Music or Spotify below.

The eight-song improvisational instrumental album is different from what fans might be expecting from the OutKast rapper: completely bar-free and no beats. Alongside the jazz musings of co-producer Carlos Niño, core sounds on the record include guitar, synth, and live sampling courtesy of Nate Mercereau, with Surya Botofasina on keyboards and synthesizers. André 3000 himself plays a variety of different wind instruments, including a digital wind instrument, a Maya flute, and others made of wood and bamboo.

“I’ve been interested in winds for a long time, so it was just a natural progression for me to go into flutes,” André said in a statement. “I just like messing with instruments and I gravitated mostly toward wind.”

With long-running tracks and equally long-winded song titles, André’s new...

André 3000 will release his debut solo album New Blue Sun this Friday, marking his first full-length LP since his group Outkast released its last record 17 years ago.

The November 17 release date was announced by André during an exclusive interview this morning with NPR. Though welcome news to fans, André cautioned that the new work might not be what longtime Outkast listeners might expect.

According to André, New Blue Sun will be “an entirely instrumental album centered around woodwinds; a celebratory piece of work in the form of a living, breathing, aural organism.” Released on Sony Music’s Epic Records, the album packaging will include a label stating “Warning No Bars,” meaning no rapped lyrics.

During the interview with NPR’s Rodney Carmichael, André said, “I don’t want to troll people. I don’t want people to think, Oh, this André 3000 album is coming! And you play it and like,...