André 3000’s long-awaited debut solo album took fans by shock. Due to it being an instrumental project, New Blue Sun wasn’t quite what they’d imagine. Still, it managed to secure an Album Of The Year nomination for the 2025 Grammys.

During a recent interview, André 3000 revealed another surprising fact about the project. While chatting with Touré on his podcast, The Touré Show, André 3000 claimed that his New Blue Sun album will not be credited towards his solo record deal obligations.

“They congratulated me on the process, they congratulated me on what the work was, but contractually, it’s very interesting,” he said. “My label will not count this album against my contract — this is as a solo artist. I didn’t understand it at first, and we tried to find ways around it, but I understand it in a way, too.”

André 3000 went on to explain why his label (Epic) won’t consider it. “In the ’70s artists were trying to get out of their deals so they were just pretty much turning in anything,” he said. “And so you have to have some type of legal stipulation that stops you from doing that…It stops you from turning in 10 tracks of handclaps and saying, ‘This is my album.’ And I get it! But Sylvia and the team, they’ve been so supportive. They know I’m not turning in an a handclap back — they get it. But as a business, this is the stance that they took.”

To listen to The Touré Show‘s full episode featuring André 3000, click here.