
André 3000 – Source: Tommaso Boddi / Getty
André 3000 revealed he declined an invitation to play his flute during Virgil Abloh’s funeral because he felt it would have been a ‘distraction’.
Out of nowhere André 3000 returned from his oasis to announce he is dropping a new album. His instrumental yet experimental album New Blue Sun is set to arrive this Friday, November 17. Along with delivering a new unexpected project comes promoting it and speaking to the people which he did with NPR.
According to NPR, 3stacks had a lot to get off his chest about his musical journey. However, during the conversation, he also revealed why he declined to play his beloved flute at Virgil Abloh’s funeral.
“When Virgil [Abloh] passed, his family asked would I play at the funeral and I denied it, but only because I felt like I would be a distraction. I don’t know, I just felt like it would have taken away from the moment and I only knew Virgil through texts and a few conversations,” 3000 said. “So I couldn’t pretend like I knew him that well. I was honored that the family asked me to play at the funeral, but I couldn’t. And so when I told Guillermo, he was like, ‘Yeah, sometimes you have to look at it now as a responsibility to play. They asked you to play for a reason.’”
On November 28th, 2021 beloved designer and architect Virgil Abloh died after a private battle with the rare cancer cardiac angiosarcoma.
His funeral was attended by the highest ranks from every industry and even brought Drake and Kanye West under the same roof. Ironically, the last time we heard music from André 3000 was on a track with Kanye West which featured loads of drama. Drake leaked his verse in a smooth reverse chess move which we still have no explanation for. That move prompted 3stacks to appear and issue a statement essentially telling everyone to leave him out of the mess.
Furthermore, He has been open about his struggles with confidence in his art and the drama probably didn’t help.