Andre 3000 knows everyone was waiting for him to make his long-awaited solo rap album, but tells GQ it felt “inauthentic.”

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and it seems that’s the premise of Andre 3000 and his new project new blue sun, Fans have been asking for new verses from the Southern legend for years. When Drake leaked his verse on Kanye West’s “Life of the Party” the demand for a proper solo album increased. Still, we’re in 2023 and Andre only has one instrumental album for anyone.

However, he promised that he tried to do the work that people love him for but he followed his heart.

According to gqAndre 3000 is as raw as possible when it comes to rap making and how inauthentic it sounds to him.

“Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap” – said ATLien. “I have worked with some new, fresh, young and old-school producers. I get beaten all the time. I try to write all the time. But rap isn’t what comes next, he says. “Even now people think, oh man, he’s just sitting on the rap, or he’s just holding these raps hostage. I don’t have any rap like that. It really feels like…sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about that way. I am 48 years old. And it goes without saying that age is something that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I have to go for a colonoscopy.’ What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is getting worse.’ You can find nice ways to say it, but…”

We all know that rap is a youth game, but there is room for veterans in this game as well. Everyone has a vision to pursue, but rarely does one follow the path to immense success and artistic creation. Additionally, in the GQ Men of the Year video cover, Andre discusses the risks of abandoning the normalcy he has achieved since Outkast by releasing new music.

“I remember talking to my manager and publicist a few weeks ago,” he said. “I was like, I really have to ask myself, do I want to be there again? Want to run, want to do a PR? I really had to ask myself. And I honestly don’t. I really enjoy my life. As a citizen I like to be able to do what I want. But at the same time, I want to promote music. So I am doing this to promote music honestly. This is not a flex.”

For context, his GQ video cover was recorded while the superstar was washing his clothes at a laundromat. He keeps doing something or the other regularly without any issue or fanfare. Amazingly 3Stacks compares becoming famous to experiencing trauma which may be the best example we’ve heard.

“I think it must have been a painful thing,” he told Barron. “Because it’s really unnatural as a human being to pay so much attention or to expect so much as a human being. I had to keep up all the time with people making your films or coming to you.

Let’s pray that whatever itch this breezy instrumental album has placed on his heart gets scratched at midnight. Regardless of what people want from him, Andre 3000 is a breath of fresh air. Honestly, this stunning instrumental album sounds more on-brand than any rap album.

You can watch GQ’s full 33-minute conversation with Andre Benjamin below.