André 3000 has gotten used to not having expectations over the years. Since rattling the mainstream music foundation as one-half of Outkast, the 49-year-old has consistently thrown wrenches into what the world had come to know and accept as popular music, from the runaway success of his outré pop single “Hey Ya!” in 2003 to the boundary-shattering body of work he created with Big Boi.

Which is why it came as a surprise earlier this morning that “New Blue Sun,” his spacey, experimental flute-forward record, ended up getting three nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards, including a coveted album of the year nod — up against Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet.” It’s the first time he’s been nominated in the category since Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” won in 2004, making it the second hip-hop album at the time to take home the prize.

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