Hunting for a new Andre 3000 record has been like Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, when it comes to the length of the voyage for hip-hop fans. Any news about potential recordings is thus reason to get cautiously excited … and fans were significantly more than that when comedian Chris Rock posted the following on Instagram: A photo surrounded by fellow music and comedy luminaries, saying they were “hard at work on the new Andre 3000 album.”
The photo includes Rock, Andre 3000 and Jack White, along with D-Nice, Jarobi White and fellow comedian Dave Chappelle, a passion hip-hop advocate in his own right. It’s immediately hard to tell if Rock meant for the photo to be taken seriously, but given that Andre 3000 did tell Billboard earlier this year that he’s “always recording,” maybe fans’ hopes will come true.
Andre 3000 hasn’t released an album in more than 10 years at this point, and has never really put out a completely solo album outside of his collaboration in iconic hip-hop duo Outkast. He has, however, appeared occasionally on the songs of other hip-hop/R&B artists in recent years, such as Kanye (“30 Hours”) and Erykah Badu (“Hello”). It would seem that, at the very least, he’s been staying sharp and ready to make some kind of potential return to prominence. Music fans would undoubtedly welcome him back.
We’ll just have to see if this particular project materializes, but you can be certain that the Andre 3000 fans out there will be disappointed if it all boils down to a rib by Chris Rock. Who knows? Maybe the positive reaction to this news will hasten further details.