André 3000 on his relationship with Beyoncé: “we have a kinship”
André 3000 and Beyoncé are two artists who really exploded into the mainstream at the turn of the millennium and, within a few years, became iconic. Although André 3000 and Beyoncé make incredibly different kinds of music, with the former being far more experimental, the two are Grammy-award-winning musicians who have significantly impacted black American culture.
Both André and Beyoncé know it is to sell a Diamond-certified album. Still, few know that the Atlanta rapper and Houston vocalist are good friends behind the scenes and have what André 300 describes as a “kinship.”
The pair have collaborated previously on songs such as ‘Party’, which appeared on Beyoncé’s fourth solo album 4, and also worked on the track ‘Back To Black’, which appeared on the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby. On his 2023 album, New Blue Sun, André 3000 paid homage to the singer on the track, ‘Ninety-Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé’ — he had to ask permission to use her name in the title.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Three Stacks unveiled how the two musicians first met, disclosing,” We met during the ‘Hey Ya!’ times in England”. He says that they’ve “always had respect for each other and been fans”, so when she reached out to him to feature on ‘Party’, he said, “I’m like, ‘Hell, yeah, you know I’m with it.’ It was a cool musical family thing. I think people from a certain era, we have a kinship.”
Speaking about the track on New Blue Sun, André told the publication, “The title was really a play on words, just referencing things that I was into. Souls of Mischief, one of their most famous songs was called ’93 ‘Til Infinity,’ and that’s when I was coming out of high school. That was one of my favourite rap tracks. Then I thought it was funny to put that together with a Toy Story proclamation, ‘Until infinity and beyond.’”
He continued, “That was a thing that the character would say in the movie, and I would say, ‘Why not Beyoncé?’ It was funny; it was a play on pop culture stuff. I reached out to Jay-Z and Beyoncé and asked if it was cool. She’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So I was happy.”
The Outkast musician even thanked Bey and her husband, stating, “Thank you, Beyoncé, for letting me use the name! I actually had to clear it. I had to call. And thanks, Jay! I text him, I was like, ‘Hey man, can you ask Beyoncé? I know I got this clearance thing coming through for this song.’ And I explained to him how I used it. And I’m just happy they let me use it so thank y’all. I really appreciate that.”
André 3000’s New Blue Sun album didn’t have any rapping on it, and many were disappointed with the album, which consisted only of instrumental flute pieces. However, at 2023’s Luna Luna art exhibition in Los Angeles, the former Outkast member explained, I didn’t plan to be the flute n*gga. I didn’t plan to be that. It just kinda, like, it happened.” He explained that all of the music he made was by accident and that he had always just gone with the flow.