Twenty-three years ago, Outkast blessed us with Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Two years later in 1996, the duo from East Point reinvented themselves and gave us ATLiens, officially coining the term for Atlanta natives. Then came Aquemini, Stankonia and the diamond-certified double disc Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
And since the release of Outkast’s 2006 soundtrack to Idlewild, their final full-length collaboration, fans have been patiently waiting for a follow-up album from the duo. Well, we just may be waiting in vein, as Andre 3000 recently revealed in an interview with Complex that he really isn’t interested in dropping another Outkast album.
“I kind of like not being a part of [rap], now that I’ve done it,” he said. “As I get older, I start to see myself move more back from it—the hustle and bustle of putting out an album, the pressure of being in the studio trying to come up with something. Now it’s more like a hobby for me, so I don’t think about it in that way.”
He continued, “Even with Outkast — if we never do another album, I’m totally fine with that. When I was 25, I said I don’t want to be a 30-year-old rapper. I’m 42 now, and I feel more and more that way. Do I really want to be 50 years old up there doing that? When I watch other rappers that are my age I commend them, but I just wonder where the inspiration is coming from. At this stage I’m really more focused on what I am going to be doing 10 years from now. And I hope to God it won’t be rapping.”
