3. Beyoncé that includes André 3000: “Get together”
On this verse, featured on a single from Beyoncé’s 2011 album “4,” André indulges in some mild braggadocio, makes up his personal memorable pronunciation of “gyro,” and, approaching his late 30s, expresses ambivalence about his evolving standing as an elder statesman of hip-hop: “Kiddo say he appears to be like as much as me, this simply makes me really feel outdated.” (Listen on YouTube)
4. Rick Ross that includes André 3000: “Sixteen”
This eight-minute monitor from Rick Ross’s 2012 album “God Forgives, I Don’t” is a meta-meditation on what occurs when “16 ain’t sufficient” — or how tough it’s to condense one’s life into a typical, 16-bar rap verse. Each Ross and 3000 handle to cram multitudes into their rhymes right here. André’s characteristic particularly is an absolute tour de drive, starting with a vivid flashback to his youth (when he was simply “drawin’ LL Cool J album covers with Crayolas on development paper”) and in some way shifting into one other gear towards the top, as he affords some clear-eyed reportage from the opposite aspect of 1’s childhood dream coming true. (Listen on YouTube)
5. Drake that includes Lil Wayne and André 3000: “The Actual Her”
From manner again in 2011, when Drake was nonetheless making an attempt to sound like a real romantic, André 3000 slid onto this “Take Care” monitor to indicate him the way it was achieved, name-dropping Adele and laying his soul naked. “All people has an dependancy,” he raps with arresting simplicity. “Mine occurs to be you.” (Listen on YouTube)
6. Devin the Dude: “What a Job”
One other meta-ode to a musician’s artistic course of, this track from Devin the Dude’s gloriously named 2007 album “Waitin’ to Inhale” finds the Houston rapper — together with Snoop Dogg and André 3000 — providing perspective on and gratitude for his chosen career. André makes use of a part of his verse to make an argument in opposition to then-rampant piracy: “If I come to your job, take your corn on the cob,” he asks, “and take a pair kernels off it, that will be all proper with you?” (Listen on YouTube)
7. Killer Mike and André 3000 that includes Future and Eryn Allen Kane, “Scientists & Engineers”
André proves he’s nonetheless acquired bars within the current tense on this monitor from Killer Mike’s 2023 album “Michael,” which simply final week scored Grammy nominations for greatest rap efficiency and greatest rap track. Amid some evocative bleeps and bloops, André seems like an alien customer beaming in from one other galaxy, although his verse can be imbued with loads of human vulnerability: “An excessive amount of that I can’t talk with all of them,” he raps. “I do want I had scientists to engineer buddies.” In a while, although, he’s extra optimistic when contemplating the longer term: “Hope I’m 80 after I get my second wind.” We should always all hope so, too. (Listen on YouTube)
Preserve your coronary heart, Three Stacks, preserve your coronary heart,
Lindsay
