André 3000 reacts to Grammy nominations for flute album ‘New Blue Sun’: “I was totally surprised by this”

nme.com:

André 3000 has reacted to his Grammy nominations for jazz album ‘New Blue Sun’, which was notably picked to compete in the album of the year category.In an interview with The New York Times, the Outkast member – real name André Benjamin – said that he had just woken up while on tour when the nominations were announced last Friday (November 8).“We were trying to be nominated in some type of way for alternative jazz or ambient, possibly,” he admitted. “But I was totally surprised by this.

So yeah, it was super, super, super duper cool.”‘New Blue Sun’ – an instrumental jazz album that sees Benjamin perform the flute – has been nominated for album of the year, best alternative jazz album, and best instrumental composition for the album’s opening track, ‘I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a “Rap” Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time’.The interviewer also mentioned to Benjamin about how Outkast’s 2004 mega-hit album ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ was the last rap album to win album of the year, to which he surmised that “rap may not be important” to the voters.“I must say that even though ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ was the last rap album, it was half a rap album.

So even in that, it’s saying, well, we enjoyed something more than rap.”Benjamin is nominated for the awards ceremony’s top album prize alongside Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Jacob Collier, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift.