RZA Heard Some of André 3000's Flute Album Years Before Anyone Else

While most of the world had to wait until 2023 to hear André 3000’s flute album, New Blue Sun, hip-hop legend RZA has revealed that he got to preview it during the pandemic.

Speaking to People in a new interview, the legendary Wu-Tang Clan member explained that the two linked up during lockdown so they could hear each other’s latest music — André’s New Blue Sun and RZA’s first classical LP, A Ballet Through The Mud (that came out on Aug. 30).

"During COVID, we ran into each other and spent some time together, and we talked about what we were doing," said RZA. "I was writing this, and he was writing that. And we shared a piece of music together. He was like, 'Yeah, I'm doing this flute album,' and then he played me a piece."

The super producer explained how André’s album coming out prompted him to release his own as well. "We both talked about [our albums] and went on our way and, of course, he did it. He put [New Blue Sun] out," RZA added. "And I think the beauty of his is that it didn't take as many people to translate.”

“That's the glitch when you're dealing with an orchestra of 60 people,” he continued. “But when his album came out, it just inspired me to keep going. Like, 'Yo, I'm going to put mine out as well.'"

RZA’s new album A Ballet Through Mud started as an old notebook of lyrics, from growing up in Staten Island, New York, that he found in the middle of the pandemic.

"Every day I would go to school, I would make sure I write a lyric as my way of getting my art out, as well as kind of making a journal," he revealed to NPR in a recent interview. "Some of those lyrics, of course, was fantastical, some of them was dealing with your first experiences with love, alcohol, drugs, etc."

After finding this notebook full of lyrics, RZA was inspired to create a ballet out of the ideas expressed on paper. In 2023, he premiered the music with the Colorado Symphony. That experience has now become an album he just released.