André 3000 may be expanding his musical horizons lately, dropping both flute and piano projects, but he recently owned up to needing some work on his music theory skills.
The OutKast legend received an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music last week, and during his speech to the class of 2025, he kicked things off by telling the crowd how excited he was by the invitation because he “couldn’t wait to look directly at the future.” The multi-talented artist, who also acts, hinted at feeling some impostor syndrome after getting the invite.
“I started to myself, ‘Why me?” he said. “What could I possibly say to these musically advanced individuals as they’re about to go out into the world? What can I offer them, you know, me being a rapper? If someone were to walk up to me right now and say, ‘André, I’ll give you $2 billion right now if you can look at this keyboard, and with only two seconds on the clock, [and] point to a key that would play the E-note.’ I would not be able to. I would lose that money!”
André then shared how he entered the world of music-making through drum machines and samplers. “There were our first instruments we played with,” he said. “My first drum machines were an Akai MPC 3000 and the SP1200. Most of us didn’t have musical training of any kind, especially not from public schools. Most of the music programs had been cut out of schools by this time. But in search for the perfect samples, it forces us into a practice of patiently listening.”
André explained that by patiently listening to records while hunting for the perfect sample, he became interested in reading album credits, which sparked his desire to start picking up instruments.
André 3000 dropped a new project, 7 Piano Sketches, earlier this month. It’s his first new music since the polarizing New Blue Sun, a new-age and jazzy ambient album that’s completely instrumental and showcases his flute skills. When he released 7 Piano Sketches, he gave fans a heads-up that once again, he wouldn’t be rapping on the material.
“These piano sketches are improvisations,” he explained about the project. “To conjure them up, I spread my fingers out on the keys and randomly but with purpose move them around until I find something that feels good or interesting. If it feels really good I will try to repeat it. I cannot name which notes, keys or chords that I’m playing. I simply like the sound and mechanics of piano playing.”
