André 3000 has spoken about his feature on Kanye West‘s 2021 album ‘Donda‘ and why he wants to thank Drake – see what he had to say below.
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In 2021, André 3000 was approached by Kanye for his album ‘Donda’. Together, the two put together a track titled ‘Life Of The Party’. However, the song never made the final cut of the album as the two rappers were not able to come to an agreement on censorship.
At the time, Kanye was adamant on not including swear words on the record, while André’s verse included profanities. André was unwilling to cut out the vulgarity as he felt that the verse would lose impact, and the song was left on the cutting room floor, though eventually being included in the record’s deluxe edition after it was leaked.
Now, André has revealed while appearing on The New York Times‘ podcast that Drake – who was beefing with Kanye at the time – had a part to play in the song’s release.
“Ye was at a point where he didn’t want any curse words on the album and I said, ‘Yeah I’m cool with it.’ I’m totally fine with no curse words. But take me off the song because I’d written it a certain way,” André said of the collaboration. “I was cool with beeped versions but you have to put the dirty version of it out too.
“He told me, ‘I told my daughter that I would not have any curse words on the album’. I said, ‘Yeah man, the kids for sure. So just take me off,’” André continued.
On the song, Kanye West also took a shot at Drake, while led to the latter leaking the song on his radio show at the time. André said of the situation: “Finally, Drake puts it out. So, I kinda have to thank Drake for letting that song see the light of day.”
He went on to talk about Drake and Kanye’s beef and Kanye’s diss verse on the track: “I think a lot of people think that Kanye did the song and put the diss part out without me knowing about it. I’d heard the diss part and me and Kanye had a conversation about it. I had my feelings about it. I was like, ‘Man, do you really wanna do this on this type of song? It’s kinda like going and shooting up your mom’s funeral.’ He felt the way he felt at the time. He put the diss verse on it.”
Andre 3000 performs on stage in 2024. CREDIT: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns/Getty Images
Last month, André 3000 released two new tracks: a new song ‘Moving Day’, and a previously unreleased ‘New Blue Sun’ cut ‘Tunnels Of Egypt’. He has also teased “something new” with his 2006 animated television show Class of 3000, which lasted for two seasons from 2006 to 2008.
He also teased new music would be coming over the next year, saying: “I don’t wanna pinpoint what it is, but I just want to express more … put it like that.”
Earlier this month, André – who is famously a part of OutKast – said the duo are “further away” from new music “than we’ve ever been”. “I’ll say maybe 10, 15 years ago, in my mind, I thought an OutKast album would happen,” André 3000 admitted. “I don’t know the future, but I can say that we’re further away from it than we’ve ever been.”
“It’s hard for me to make a rap, period, you know? And sometimes I’m in the belief of, ‘Let things be’”, he said.
OutKast perform on day 1 of the 2014 Governors Ball Music Festival at Randall’s Island on June 6, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage for Governors Ball Music Festival)
Last year, André 3000 said that he thought he’d “aged out” of rap, telling GQ: “Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old. And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does.
“And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy’. What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad’. You can find cool ways to say it, but….”
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