André 3000 Reveals Big Boi’s Reaction To ‘New Blue Sun’ Album

André 3000 shocked everyone with his all-flutes, no lyrics album New Blue Sun, but his OutKast brother Big Boi was nothing but proud.

In a new interview with High Snobiety, 3 Stacks revealed what Big’s reaction was when he heard it and how it led to him playing the album for his friends.

“He was smiling,” Dre said. “He was like, ‘Man… I played it for a lot of buddies, even my son. They were like, ‘It’s the real thing. It’s not a mimic.’ You really did this.”

He also said he played it for Tyler, The Creator, adding: “I was in Tyler’s living room listening to it, and then Frank [Ocean] just shows up. And so we’re all sitting there listening to it. I’m wondering what the young people’s opinions would be. And I’m so happy that what I’m hearing is really good feedback.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, André 3000 also revealed that he originally called himself Jahz as an homage to A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip before settling on Dré and eventually André 3000.

“My first rap name was Jahz because of Q-Tip,” he said. “We were huge A Tribe Called Quest fans. In high school, they were the pinnacle — them, Grand Puba, Souls of Mischief. I don’t think Q-Tip gets enough credit for introducing a generation of kids to a forgotten music.”

The ATL legend was especially inspired by how Tribe incorporated jazz samples into their forward-thinking music.

“As a kid, jazz music meant some old-people shit that’s in elevators,” André added. “Q-Tip found a way to make it actually cool. The jazz guys were actually the rap guys of that time. They were doing heroin, they were in clubs.

“Years from now, people are going to listen to trap music and think, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ It happens. It happens.”

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The ties between OutKast and A Tribe Called Quest run deep. André 3000 was a speaker at Phife Dawg‘s funeral in 2016 and during his eulogy revealed that the groups had discussed making an album together.

“I’m gonna say some interesting news and some disappointing news at the same time,” he said. “About a year or two ago maybe, we were talking about doing a Tribe Called Quest and OutKast album. For whatever reason, it did not happen.

“I don’t want to let the time go by. Please, people, don’t let the time go by because you never know. That’s one of the biggest things that I regret now. It was on our plate and we just… let it go, for our own personal reasons or whatever.”