Andre 3000 has left fans still holding out for a proper Outkast reunion album reeling after recent comments regarding his lack of “chemistry” with groupmate Big Boi.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Andre 3000 gave his reasoning behind him and Big Boi not releasing an album together in nearly two decades.
“I think it’s a chemistry thing,” the Atlanta native said of the musical disconnect between Big Boi and himself. “We have to be wanting to do it.”
The GRAMMY Award winner also pointed to his waning interest in rap music as a whole, a sentiment he’s increasingly expressed in recent years. “It’s hard for me to make a rap, period, you know,” the 49-year-old said. “And sometimes I’m in the belief of ‘Let things be.’”
According to Andre 3000, the prospects of another album being made by the duo are dwindling, as he says he and Big Boi are “further away from it” than they’ve ever been.
“It was a great time in life, and our chemistry was at a certain place that was undeniable,” he says of the group’s peak. “And I think the audience sometimes believes that something has to last forever, and I don’t think that,” he reasoned.
Andre 3000’s debut solo album, New Blue Sun, was released in November 2023 and is nominated for Album of the Year at the GRAMMY Awards. It marks his first nomination in that category since Outkast’s 2003 album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, became the second album from a Hip-Hop act to win the award.
Read Andre 3000’s full Rolling Stone interview here.