André 3000 Declined Playing His Flute At Virgil Abloh's Funeral

André 3000 – Source: Tommaso Boddi / Getty

André 3000 recently revealed that he declined an invitation to play his flute during Virgil Abloh’s funeral because he felt it would have been a “distraction.”

As previously reported, rapper André 3000 returned from his oasis to announce that he’s dropping a new album. His instrumental yet experimental album New Blue Sun is set to arrive Friday, Nov. 17.

While speaking with NPR about the project, 3 Stacks had a lot to get off his chest about his musical journey and shared that he was invited to play one of his beloved flutes at Virgil Abloh’s funeral but declined because he didn’t want to be a distraction.

“When Virgil [Abloh] passed, his family asked would I play at the funeral and I denied it, but only because I felt like I would be a distraction,” said 3000.

“I don’t know, I just felt like it would have taken away from the moment and I only knew Virgil through texts and a few conversations. So I couldn’t pretend like I knew him that well. I was honored that the family asked me to play at the funeral, but I couldn’t. And so when I told Guillermo, he was like, ‘Yeah, sometimes you have to look at it now as a responsibility to play. They asked you to play for a reason.'”

In November of 2021, Abloh died after a private battle with a rare cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma.

His funeral was attended by celebs far and wide in fashion and hip-hop and brought Drake and Kanye West under the same roof amid their feud. Ironically, the last time we heard music from André 3000 was on a track with Kanye that caused a ruckus.

Drake leaked André 3000’s verse without an explanation and the OutKast rapper issued a statement essentially telling everyone to “leave him out” of the drama. Now, the drama-free emcee is preparing to release his first solo album, and fans are anticipating the 87-minute instrumental project.

Will YOU be listening?