Still, he’s now a full-time flute player and released an all-flute album called New Blue Sun last year.
André was heavily criticized for quitting rap and his group OutKast, which he said caught him off guard.
“It’s kind of funny,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “The backlash is actually not from the rap community, or the jazz and spiritual jazz community. There’s actually more support, surprising support, from both sides … I think it’s more [OutKast] fans, which I understand. I always try to put myself in their shoes. If my favorite rapper said, ‘I’m not rapping’ [I’d be upset] … I think some people take it as blasphemy or something.”
“The ridicule that I get from it is the thing I did not expect,” Andre continued. “If I’m a fan of anybody, I’m not waiting 17 years for this great rap album to come out. I’m thinking, ‘Well, that ship has sailed.'”