André 3000 Revealed ‘New Blue Sun’ Doesn’t Count Toward Solo Deal
Written by djfrosty on November 18, 2024
André 3000‘s revealed an interesting tidbit about his instrumental album New Blue Sun.
During a recent appearance the Toure Show podcast, the Atlanta rapper said his debut solo album doesn’t count towards his current deal with Epic because it’s not a rap project. “They congratulated on the process, they congratulated on what the work was, but contractually — it’s very interesting — my label will not count this album against my contract,” he disclosed.
After Toure asked him to clarify whether the album counts towards an Outkast deal, André answered, “This is as a solo artist,” confirming that he also has a solo record deal aside from his group deal with Big Boi.
André went on to say that his attorney explained it for him, saying that his contract contained a legal stipulation that prevented him from releasing “just anything” in order to fulfill the terms of his contract. “It’s something where it says, ‘The next recording has to be 90 percent like the recording before.’ You see what I’m saying? It stops you from turning in 10 tracks of hand-clapping and saying, ‘This is my album,’” he explained.
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The OutKast rapper when on to reiterate that Epic CEO Sylvia Rhone and her team have been “so supportive” of New Blue Sun, and added that he has very little interest in “getting out” of his Epic deal. “It’s not like I’m trying to get out, like, ‘Let’s hurry up and get out.’ And then, ‘Oh, I’m about to put out this rap album,’” he explained. “Nah, I don’t have a rap album, none of that kinda sh—t, so I’m not stressed about it … I wish it would count. It’s interesting news that artists should hear: that this new album is not counting.”
Billboard reached out to representatives for Epic Records and André 3000 for comment
New Blue Sun broke a record for the longest song to hit the Hot 100 chart and is aptly titled, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.” The album was also recently nominated for album of the year at the upcoming Grammys.