André 3000 has performed his 10-minute-long track ‘That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther…” while appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The musician made his appearance on the famed talk show yesterday (January 23) and performed the lengthy flute track ‘That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Shit Was Wild’, from his debut solo LP ‘New Blue Sun‘ which was released in November.
His solo LP came 17 years after OutKast’s sixth and final studio effort, 2006’s ‘Idlewild’. Since then, André had distanced himself from making music. Clocking in at 87 minutes, the project consists of minimalist and experimental flute music. Fans were told ahead of the record’s arrival that it would contain “no bars”, beats or vocals. The LP’s opening track is titled: ‘I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time’.
Before his performance, the former Outkast member spoke to Colbert about what led him to create an instrumental jazz album. Speaking about his love for the flute, the musician said that the instrument is “the closest thing to singing… you’re actually hearing a human’s wind.”
André also explained the inspiration behind ‘That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Shit Was Wild’, which came from a real life event.
“It was a reference to a ceremony that I had in Hawaii, and on the second day of the ceremony, I actually became the panther,” André told Colbert. “It was an ayahuasca session. I don’t know the details of how it happened, but my face contorted, and my body started making noises, like, ‘grrrr.’ So on the song, I’m mimicking that sound.”
Elsewhere in the interview, André explained his decision to include a warning on his album that there would be “no bars”.
“Fair responsibility,” he said. “I felt like I wouldn’t want people to buy something thinking that it’s going to be one thing, so I wanted to just let people know as soon as possible — and as loud as possible — what was on it.”
In other news, André recently announced a his ‘New Blue Sun Live’ tour. Kicking off on January 29 in Brooklyn, NY, the musician is set to make stops in major cities such as Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Check out the full dates below and visit here for tickets.
In other news, André 3000 has said a collaboration with SAULT is on the cards, revealing that he has spent time in the studio with the mysterious collective, while Ja Rule has said that he’s “heartbroken” that André 3000 doesn’t want to rap anymore.
The post Watch André 3000 perform ‘That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther…’ on Colbert’s The Late Show appeared first on NME.
