New Blue Sun: Something More Than A Rap Album
Blog > New Blue Sun: Something More Than A Rap Album
Written by Morgan Learn
Posted February 12th, 2024
The long awaited solo album by Outkast member André 3000 made its debut in November, but to everyone’s surprise, the rapper never utters a word. ‘New Blue Sun’ explores ambient jazz languages and flute accents to convey its own conversation. While the tracklist features an almost cryptic kind of nonsense, don’t let it distract you. In its most quintessential state, ‘New Blue Sun’ is melodically vast.
Track 1, titled “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time” sets the tone for the album’s entirety. While it may feel like the opening play scene to Legend of Zelda, the ethereal ambience lends itself to an almost longing feeling. The dreamlike synths, coupled with fluttering flute notes acts as if revelations have been made.
The 3rd track, “That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control… Sh*t Was Wild” offers a sound seemingly borrowed from Indigenous roots. The mysticism within the flute’s melody transports you to André 3000’s night in Hawaii as if he wants us to experience the journey with him.
Each track varies in musical composition, but connects seamlessly throughout the hour and a half album. “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé”, the shortest song on the tracklist, blends into “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jefferey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy '' without skipping a beat. The penultimate track “Ants To You, Gods To Who?” feels otherworldly, or akin to zooming in and out of a microscope. It then sets the stage for “Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens” to continue the off-kilter, yet uniform sound.
While listening to ‘New Blue Sun’ the absence of lyrics no longer feels like a lack. Instead, it linchpins what it means to be artistically fulfilled. The drawn out track titles in lieu of lyrics plays into André 3000’s wittiness, and tells half of the album’s story. ‘New Blue Sun’ as a whole, feels like gentle air that still shakes you, yet somehow blows the pieces back together. André 3000 may have wanted to make a rap album, but we’re too entranced by his ambient masterpiece to remember that’s what we were expecting in the first place.
André 3000's "New Blue Sun" is out worldwide on March 22nd, 2024. Pre-order a copy HERE.
Track 1, titled “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time” sets the tone for the album’s entirety. While it may feel like the opening play scene to Legend of Zelda, the ethereal ambience lends itself to an almost longing feeling. The dreamlike synths, coupled with fluttering flute notes acts as if revelations have been made.
The 3rd track, “That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control… Sh*t Was Wild” offers a sound seemingly borrowed from Indigenous roots. The mysticism within the flute’s melody transports you to André 3000’s night in Hawaii as if he wants us to experience the journey with him.
Each track varies in musical composition, but connects seamlessly throughout the hour and a half album. “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé”, the shortest song on the tracklist, blends into “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jefferey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy '' without skipping a beat. The penultimate track “Ants To You, Gods To Who?” feels otherworldly, or akin to zooming in and out of a microscope. It then sets the stage for “Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens” to continue the off-kilter, yet uniform sound.
While listening to ‘New Blue Sun’ the absence of lyrics no longer feels like a lack. Instead, it linchpins what it means to be artistically fulfilled. The drawn out track titles in lieu of lyrics plays into André 3000’s wittiness, and tells half of the album’s story. ‘New Blue Sun’ as a whole, feels like gentle air that still shakes you, yet somehow blows the pieces back together. André 3000 may have wanted to make a rap album, but we’re too entranced by his ambient masterpiece to remember that’s what we were expecting in the first place.
André 3000's "New Blue Sun" is out worldwide on March 22nd, 2024. Pre-order a copy HERE.
