André 3000 had to seek clearance from Beyoncé and Jay-Z to use her name on his new track, “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé.”
The OutKast star has just unveiled his first new music in 17 years, the instrumental project, “New Blue Sun,” which features lengthy, bizarre song titles. And he has revealed that the song with the “Crazy in Love” hitmaker’s name had to be cleared for use.
“So No. 5 is called ‘Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé.’ That was more when I was a youngster – Souls of Mischief was one of my favorite groups and ’93 ’til Infinity,’ everybody remembers that song. So it was kind of like a fun nod and you know, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, he always says, ‘To infinity and beyond!’ You know? So, it was kind of like, ‘Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé. So it was kind of just this fun thing,” he told NPR.
“I was being silly. And thank you, Beyoncé, for letting me use the name! I actually had to clear it. I had to call. And thanks Jay! I text him, I was like, ‘Hey man, can you ask Beyoncé? I know I got this clearance thing coming through for this song.’ And I explained to him how I used it. And I’m just happy they let me use it so thank y’all. I really appreciate that,” he said.
The “Hey Ya!” hitmaker also explained why he didn’t record a rap album for fans.
The opening tune is called “I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album, But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
“I don’t want to troll people. I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!’ And you play it and like, ‘Oh man, no verses.’ So even actually on the packaging, you’ll see it says, ‘Warning: no bars.’ It’s letting you know what it is off the top. But also, I love rap music because it was a part of my youth. So I would love to be out here with everybody rapping, because it’s almost like fun and being on the playground,” he said.
