André 3000 has weighed in on the common critiques of today’s rappers all sounding the same. 

The hip-hop veteran appeared on the latest episode of LeBron James and Maverick Carter's “The Shop” alongside Sexyy Red, Jerry Lorenzo, and others when she shared his thoughts.

“If we were to come out as OutKast when we thought we were ready, we wouldn’t be around today ’cause we sounded like everybody else, we sounded like who we were listening to,” André said. “Now, I don’t think artists have time to cultivate themselves so a lot of artists sound the same. You can quickly jump on a microphone — it’s awesome because you’re getting an immediacy, but you don’t get time to hone who you are.”

The OutKast rapper added, “Even Future came up in the Dungeon [Family]. I know Ray [Murray, one-third of Organized Noize] has Future recordings where Future sounds different; Future was rapping. It takes a minute. Even 2 Chainz. Like, Tity Boi was rapping.”

He continued, “What I’m saying is, over time you develop a thing and you figure out, ‘Okay, this is most effective for me.’ And we see it and we love Future for what he does now, but I don’t know if it would’ve been as successful.”

Elsewhere during the conversation, André revealed that he doesn’t know what he’s doing following his flute pivot.“I don’t want people to think I’m trying to be a jazz musician. I kind of look at myself as a sonic displayist. I don’t know what notes I’m playing, to be completely honest,” he said. “I’m not trying to pretend like I know what I’m doing, in a way. I actually don’t know what I’m doing and that’s part of the art.”

In November 2023, the “Ms. Jackson” hitmaker surprisingly returned to music with his first solo album, New Blue Sun. The project did not feature any rapping or singing. Instead, he was playing the flute.