André 3000 - New Blue Sun

If anything, 3 Stacks could've pushed these sounds further.

André 3000- "Me&My (To Bury Your Parents)" / "Look Ma No Hands"

As a Mother’s Day surprise, André 3000 made his return to music with two songs that pay tribute to the life of his parents. Surprisingly, neither song features a rap verse.

“Me&My (To Bury Your Parents)” is a heartfelt ballad that finds André singing and reminiscing about the time he spent with his parents. André joined Instagram recently to announce the tracks and posted the handwritten lyrics to “Me&My” along with the caption, “Happy Mother’s Day I’m sure all the cards, dinners, flowers and last minute gifts are appreciated but I’ve learned the best gift a mother could get is to simply know their child is ok.” André also shared text messages from his mom from the day before she died in 2013.

While both songs feature André on the bass clarinet, the instrument plays a larger role in the 17-minute jazz instrumental “Look Ma No Hands.” The track is a duet, with James Blake on piano.

-Owen Murray

OutKast - ATliens

OutKast's seminal ATliens is a high-water mark for Southern hip hop.

T.I.- "Sorry" ft. Andre 3000

Georgia rapper T.I. has one of those album releases that are gonna land in the middle of December, making it difficult for critics to consider it for their year-end lists; however, he doesn't seem to put much into what people say on the internet. He makes it pretty obvious with a lyrical shot about caring what opinions bloggers are posting these days. Outkast's Andre 3000 actually follows through with similar sentiments, addressing negative comments his guest verses have received on the internet as of late: too fast, boring.

The tracks got a pretty smooth beat matched with a very prevalent Southern feel. The female vocal cut on the hook is pretty nice as well. Look for T.I.'s Trouble Man on December 18th via Atlantic.

Gorillaz- "DoYaThing” ft. James Murphy, Andre 3000

Gorillaz have released a new CG animated video to go along with their Converse-curated collaboration, "DoYaThing." The video is pretty much an average morning for the animated band's front man 2D. Every inch of this video has hidden visual gems that reference the band's bizarre reality. It also features a masked man popping up in random areas meant to resemble Andre 3000. The scene where he is introduced he is having his sweat collected for some fantastically weird unknown reason.  You’ll definitely want to watch it more than once just to see all the bizarre artwork and references hidden within the visuals. Jamie Hewlett and Gorillaz have produced yet another great video.

Check out a review of the 13-minute version of "DoYaThing" here.

Gorillaz- "DoYaThing" ft. Andre 3000, James Murphy (LOVED)

Gorillaz, James Murphy, and Andre 3000 go above and beyond in this 13-minute pop, rock, hip hop, and electronic epic.

WATCH THE REVIEW

Gorillaz- "DoYaThing" ft. Andre 3000 and James Murphy

As a part of the collaborative music series Converse throws together each year, we've got a new track featuring the minds of Andre 3000, James Murphy, and Gorillaz.

Not every spot in this series has been a bright one, but the usual blend of genres these 3 artist, 1 song deals bring together works really well this time around.

Gorillaz sound like they've got the instrumental side of things covered. The synths shoot for the same simple and "plastic" aesthetic that made Gorillaz last album so entertaining. It actually doesn't sound too far from the rigid, modern, and eccentric synth pop James Murphy has produced in LCD Soundsystem over the years. It's possible that, musically, he played a bigger role than I think, because it's a shame his voice seems to be lost in the chorus vocal mix a bit.

Who really steals the show is Andre 3000. He came hard with this flow. He was so great, it actually made me want to start screaming along with the angry New Zealander at the end of the track. "CAN WE GET AN OUTKAST ALBUM NOW!?!?"

Download the track here. Listen to the extended version here.

Apathy- "Check to Check" (Prod. Evidence)

MP3

On August 23rd, Connecticut MC Apathy will be dropping his latest album, Honkey Kong. "Check to Check," which gets some production credits from Evidence--yeah, from Dilated Peoples--is all about being broke as a joke. Seems Apathy is pretty open about his money problems whether they're because of overspending or how difficult it is to make money creating music these days.

Here's the cover. Well, what did you expect from an album titled "Honkey Kong"?

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