André 3000 at Berklee: 'Respect Your Taste—That's All You Got'

Any time André 3000 shows up, you know you're in for a treat. Whether a classic Outkast song drops at a party, or the artist lends a perfect cameo to a Beyoncé or Frank Ocean track, or he delivers a killer portrayal of Jimi Hendrix in a 2014 biopic, or he plays a flute in a café while he waits for his coffee, or he releases an ambient jazz opus called New Blue Sun, André Benjamin's appearance commands—and rewards—our full attention.

Students at Berklee got to relearn this basic fact of modern life this week when André 3000 stopped by the Berklee Performance Center on Tuesday before his performance at the Wang Theatre on Wednesday. He and his band sat down with moderator Lil' John Roberts for a wide-ranging conversation sponsored by the Berklee Career Center.

Much of the conversation centered on this latest act in Benjamin's musical career, in which he's picked up the flute (or, well, many tens of different flutes, wooden and digital), and turned to atmospheric soundscapes—"diving headfirst into the ethereal, spiritual, and avant garde," as Berklee student Fulano Librizzi put it in his introduction before the band took the stage.

Listen to the first track from New Blue Sun:

"The world needed [this kind of record]," said Roberts in his opening remarks. "The world needs healing. They need the positivity, the high vibrations, with all that's going on right now."

Benjamin credited those bandmates—producer and percussionist Carlos Niño, keyboardist Surya Botofasina, and drummer Deantoni Parks BM ’03—for collaborating with him to bring about his new sound. "These people here on stage are really responsible for helping me to get to that place," he said. "It's the first time that I've been in a serious collective where everybody was popping at the same time."

During the hourlong panel, André 3000 and his band answered student-submitted questions about Benjamin's artistic journey and the production of New Blue Sun, their approach to creativity and originality, the band's practice of spontaneous composition, and much more. Read on for highlights from their conversation.

On the Evolution from Rap to New Blue Sun

In response to the notion that this new album was a "reinvention" of his artistic image, Benjamin clarified, "It was 17 years since the last time people really caught a full body of work [from me]. So what may appear to be a reinvention is really just a continuation for me."

"I'm just happy to be a part of it," he said about the new album. "I think it just came at a perfect time. Of course I selfishly just enjoyed it—just the way it sounded. It wasn't a big plan or anything. It was just what was happening in my life, just the same way Speakerboxxx or Stankonia or ATLiens, any of those things . . . they were never planned-out situations. So I'm just sticking with the same formula I've always stuck with, and it happened to take me in this direction . . . where I was able to meet individuals that pushed me in a certain way, invited me into worlds they created."

At the same time, the compositional method for the album was in sharp contrast to some of Benjamin's earlier work. "I started producing for Outkast at the ATLiens album. I would sit down and go through records, I would go through playing instruments, sampling myself, and it was more constructed. And I'm an only child, so I would spend a lot of time by myself with the drum machine, or with the ideas first, and then I would bring it to the studio for Big Boi to check out. . . . When I met Carlos Niño, he introduced me to a way of recording that was completely in-the-moment. There was no other way to think outside of that. And that opened up a whole new world of things. . . . That's how we recorded this album."

How André 3000 Fell in Love with the Flute

The continuation—not reinvention—of Benjamin's artistic identity was spurred, in large part, by the discovery of his love for the flute. "From the very first day that I got my first flute [a wooden Maya flute made by the craftsman Guillermo Martinez], I just found myself never putting it down, and waking up really getting excited to play," he said. He would wander around and play, hearing the way the sound moved through his surroundings—"it sounds so great in nature, or in spaces where you get reverberation off the hallway, so it was always kind of a quest to walk around and play. . . . I would do it daily for years."

However: New Blue Sun is not a flute album. "We do so many other things on the album besides play the flute. I think because I'm not rapping on it, they say, 'Well this is a flute thing.' . . . People lean into the 'flute' thing a lot more than they should, because it's a vast array of sounds."

To Stay Original, Stay Excited

When asked how he keeps his music "original and unique at a time where making music feels formulaic" Benjamin's response was simple: "I have to enjoy what I'm doing. Plain and simple. I just try to keep myself excited with what I'm doing. And that leads to exploration, trying to find new ways to do it, trying to find new things to keep yourself excited."

"If it's coming from your heart," added Niño, "if you're feeling it—whatever form it takes—if you love it, that's it."

Botofasina also commented on the value of dispelling a negative, critical outlook on others' music: "A great way to not become formulaic is not to be a critic of others who are trying . . . Be a fan of music who happens to be at an instrument; or use your own personal instrument, your voice."

And Parks, who has played with acts from Flying Lotus to the Mars Volta, emphasized the importance of a kind of embodied attention to what his fellow players are doing during a performance. "Every night, it's not improv, what we're doing. We're just deep listening to each other," he said, referencing the musical practice developed by composer Pauline Oliveros. "It's more about biological tendencies and traits that have gotten us this far in evolution—the ability to hear, and have empathy for others."

I have to enjoy what I'm doing. Plain and simple. I just try to keep myself excited with what I'm doing. And that leads to exploration.

— André 3000

On Respecting Your Own Taste

A running theme of the conversation was the idea of developing one's own artistic voice, and the balance between drawing from our influences and moving beyond them. "We're influenced by everything," Benjamin said. "You have to soak it all in. And I think what makes it new or fresh is your own personal filter, your own experiences. No one can be me. I can't be you. So whatever impulses or instincts, whatever you're attracted to, go towards it, because your combination of tastes will make you original. . . . Respect your taste—that's all you got."

Benjamin offered, as an example, an exercise he gives himself when he's writing: "A lot of times I would work on music and I'll be like, 'What would Hendrix sound like if he were in a punk band and it was being produced by Kraftwerk?'"

"You make these fake bands, because it pushes you, because these are all your tastes."

Botofasina reiterated the importance of trusting yourself, and bringing your whole self into the artistic process: "The best songwriting process that I've ever experienced is one that starts with an intention of whole self. Now, if you're playing an instrument, it's good to have some fundamentals . . . but for me, I feel like having the deepest belief that you belong in the song is the biggest thing."

Don't Discredit What You Don't Know

"One thing I have learned from making music early on is: take what you already have, and make it work as long as you can," said Benjamin, who described how being a self-taught musician has given him a different way of conceptualizing his own music. "Keep building, but don't discredit what you don't know, ’cause what you don't know sometimes helps you make decisions that a trained person would never make."

"You have to take everything you know at every moment and use it, because it is for you. These are your tools. You can teach somebody something by not knowing."

The first flute sounds you hear on New Blue Sun, for instance, come from a Roland Aerophone—a kind of digital wind instrument that controls synth tones with the user's breath. Benjamin had just started testing the instrument out in the hour before the band started recording. "What you're hearing is me learning," he said. "We recorded the discovery of it, which I think is a precious thing to do, because you don't get that back. You can't fake hearing something for the first time."

You can teach somebody something by not knowing.

— André 3000

The point was not that Benjamin didn't know how to play the instrument—he'd spent years playing woodwinds of all kinds at that point. Rather, as Niño put it: "This is a person who's always discovering, always interested in what's going to be new, what's going to be right in my hands, what can I experiment with."

"Discovery is another gear that people fail to use a lot of times. You know, you're like, 'Oh, I have to wait till I learn this perfectly.' But a lot of times that first initial thing that you get from something is so valuable," Benjamin said.

Give Yourself Obtainable Goals (Ones in Your Control)

Benjamin also took a moment to stress the importance of not allowing your musical goals to be shaped by a desire for approval or acclaim. "Give yourself obtainable goals," he said. 

"You can only set goals that you can control yourself. 'I want to be as open as I can. I really love this music and I want to see how far I can take it.' Those are real goals that you can actually reach. All the other stuff, that comes later. So actually the work is done after you recorded it. None of that other stuff matters. It really doesn't if you've reached your goals after you've packaged it, put it together."

Look Out for More Music

Benjamin mentioned that fans can look forward to more from his current project. "We do have so much music to come," he said. "So stay tuned. You'll see."

Get to Yourself Faster

When asked what advice he'd give to aspiring musicians in the early stages of their careers, Benjamin returned to the idea of taste and influences. "Just listen to yourself—and get to yourself faster," he said.

"We do a thing as humans where we mimic what we love first. And I think getting to yourself faster is probably the best way to go, because that's when you start to take off. . . . I've been there in my career, where you start and you sound like everyone you love.

"But the greats did it too. . . . Coltrane sounded like Lester Young when he first started. Hendrix sounded like B. B. King when he first started. Young Thug sounded like Lil' Wayne on his first album," he said.

"And then, in a moment's notice, you transcend whatever you thought you could be. And that's because you're beyond what you grew up listening to."