By Jamil Weeks

“So age don’t count in the booth, when your flow stays submerged in the fountain of youth” – Rakim from “Classic”

With the release of a surprise album from Andre 3000, twitter fingers have lit up social media platforms. If you were like me a couple of days ago, waking up to news of a new Andre 3000 album was like being a child waking up on Christmas morning to presents under the tree. Rap fans have been clamoring for a solo rap project from Andre since Outkast broke up 17 years ago. Before the release of his latest experimental album, we were treated to glimpses of Andre’s brilliance through his many features. These blistering cameos on his contemporaries’ albums left people to speculate on a full album that many feel could have classic potential. Once news began to circulate that Blue Sun was not a rap album, but instead an instrumental album with no vocals, disappointment seized me like the IRS on a broke 90’s rapper. Then, frustration kicked in upon reading his justification for not making a rap album.

“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. And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy.’ What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad.’ You can find cool ways to say it, but….” – Andre 3000, from GQ Magazine (2023)

Andre is no stranger to using age as one of the reasons he has hung up the mic. I get it. Hip hop traditionally has been a young man’s game driven and dictated by young energy. However, in 2023 hip hop as a culture turned 50 years old. There are many old heads, like me, who have literally grown up with rap music their entire lives. I was born in 1979, the same year the first rap single “Rapper’s Delight” was released by The Sugar Hill Gang. As hip hop has gradually taken over the mainstream throughout the decades since its inception, there has been an audience that has grown with the music. Fast forward to today, there is a market for the 30+ age bracket that still will fork out their money for albums, concert tickets, and merchandise. Veteran rappers like 50 Cent, Nas, and Wu-Tang Clan are selling out shows in big venues domestically and internationally. The last 10 years have seen an increase in the output of music from rappers in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. When Andre uses age as an excuse not to make another rap album, it does not pass the smell test.

When Andre claims he does not know what to rap about at his age, I think about what we have witnessed with Nas and Hit-Boy for the past three years. Since 2020, Nas has released six albums between the ages of 47 to 50. Nas embraced his elder statesman role on those albums, looking to bridge the gap between the old school influence and contemporary styles. The subject matter ranged from health, nostalgia, politics, relationships, finances, etc. A wide range of topics were covered in those six albums.

Inspiration is all around us with recent worldly events. Rather it’s police brutality, dysfunctional politics, the future of AI, emerging wars in the Middle East, inflation, rise in crime, homelessness, opioid crisis, political correctness, etc. When you hear Andre on his features, it is hard to fathom this is a man who cannot find anything substantial to rhyme about with his brilliant mind. Especially puzzling since Andre has been one of the leading innovators in creativity from both an artistic and fashion standpoint in hip hop. Neither Andre nor Nas NEEDS to release an album. They are both legends who have made major contributions to the game. In the case of Nas, he seems to be in a place where he really enjoys making music after finding chemistry with Hit-Boy and being able to independently release music on his label, Mass Appeal. Andre 3000 does not seem to have that passion or infrastructure set up where he would enjoy making another rap album. So why use age as an excuse when one of his peers has proven you can be an older artist and still release quality music? Rappers like AZ, Billy Danze, Ransom, Griselda, Kool G. Rap, and others have proven older rappers are capable of still producing a quality product.

Rap music is the only genre that puts a ceiling on the careers of artists based on age. Musicians from other genres are free to enjoy long, fruitful careers well into their elderly years. In rap, once you reach a certain age, you are looked at as desperate or out of touch if you are still rapping. Certain demographics deem older rappers as irrelevant. One of the most disappointing spectacles witnessed this year was Swizz Beats having to tell the crowd at the BET Hip Hop Awards to stand up and give a round of applause for pioneer, Marley Marl. There seems to be a disconnect in hip hop culture between different generations.

Since his retirement from albums, Andre has done several interviews about not wanting to be a 50-year-old rapper. Andre owes hip hop nothing. However, if Andre is uninspired to make an entire full-length album because he has lost the passion, I do not understand why he keeps bringing age into the equation. Through his various features over the past decade, he has shown that he has the capacity to pen elite, conceptual verses. Just this year, Killer Mike released the Grammy nominated single “Scientists and Engineers” featuring a beautiful Andre 3000 verse. The flow from Andre sounded timeless and proved he shows no signs of slowing down from a talent perspective. If Andre has lost the hunger for rap or does not want to deal with the crooked music industry, that is completely understandable.

I feel Andre using his age as an excuse not to rap again is a cop out. There is a whole mystique surrounding his career. Many feel if he were to drop a solo album, it could be a game changer. Some people have Andre in their top 10. As the year goes by and Andre continues to do features, the anticipation for a solo LP intensifies. Maybe he feels he cannot live up to the expectations deep down inside. Selfishly many of us in the South desperately want Andre to pick up the pen and pad again for a solo album to destroy the myth perpetuated from those north of the Mason Dixon line that southern rappers are not lyrical. We feel an Andre album could shift that narrative and inspire more southern lyricists to be propelled to the forefront. Andre has left the door open to a possible album. Maybe this instrumental album is a gateway to him finding the inspiration to release more music, opening the possibility of a vocal album. If that day never comes, I fear Andre may be phased out of top 10 consideration from disillusioned fans. I sincerely hope I am wrong. Still holding out hope that one day Andre delivers that elusive solo LP and proves the South still has something to say.