André 3000’s New Piano Album Gets Slammed by Jazz Pianist Matthew Shipp

André 3000 recently dropped an improvisational piano EP, titled 7 Piano Sketches, but not everyone is a fan, it seems. In fact, jazz pianist Matthew Shipp took to social media to fire off some harsh criticism, describing the album as “complete and utter crap.”

The former OutKast rapper/singer dropped the surprise EP earlier this week as a follow-up to his Grammy-nominated 2023 avant-garde flute album, New Blue Sun. While it certainly hasn’t been heralded the same, the short record also hadn’t faced much ridicule, until Shipp, an American jazz pianist and composer, blasted it in a Facebook post.

“So a friend called me up and mentioned that Andre 3000 has a piano album out,” Shipp wrote, as reported by NME. “I was like, what? I checked it out on YouTube – my impression of it. I think it is complete and utter crap–horrific, god-awful insipidly wretched nothing.”

Matthew Shipp Refers to André 3000 as a “fucking asshole” for making music

“Oh my fucking god this is some atrocious shite – is he some type of fucking asshole? Is he a complete and utter dilettante? I could go into detail about why each cut is stillborn – but why bother – it does not even deserve the attention of a critique, it is so dreadful,” he continued. “The guy is not a pianist – that is the beginning and the end of it – what an ugly piano sound.”

“This sounds to me like pure fraud,” Shipp later added. “What a lack of respect for the discipline by someone who in my opinion is a complete asshole for doing this – it is depressing that this garbage will get any attention because he has a name and fame – there is nothing refreshing about the naivety of it – it is just downright dreadful and awful – true fucking crap – insipidly wretched nothing.”

For context, NME also noted that André previously explained that “these piano pieces weren’t recorded with the intention of presenting them in any formal way to the public.” He clarified that “they were personal, at-home recordings” that he “would sometimes text…to my family and friends.”

So… here’s the thing… after a scan of Shipp’s Facebook page, it’s clear that he’s been following the backlash surrounding his post, and he has since softened his tone toward the situation.

To boil it down as best I can understand, Shipp’s indignation is rooted in the idea of someone who is not a jazz pianist making an album of jazz piano music. You can replace “jazz piano” there with anything, because he’s argued this point from the perspective of tuba players. (And he’s almost certainly not gonna like that a guy who knows literally nothing about jazz piano is writing this article, lol).

Maybe it comes across as too apathic… but this is all “much ado about nothing.” There’s this weird notion that inside of a genre, or community of musicianship, that anything considered subpar is going to water down the collective and create a negative perception of that group, which is clearly most irksome to those who consider themselves the most valuable. The gatekeepers, if you will.

It feels like counterproductive behavior. Just because someone drops a collection of unfinished mediocre jazz piano tracks they worked on in their downtime, somehow your acclaimed jazz piano career is lessened? That makes zero sense. Like, it’s wild to me when artists behave as if other artists shouldn’t make art. And look, I get it, I’m barely a journalist, so who am I to talk? I am to journalism what André 3000 is to Matt Shipp, apparently.

André 3000 Has Yet to comment on the situation

I grew up on OutKast. I have tons of memories that André 3000’s music is tied to. I had “Hey Ya” as an 8-bit ringtone back in the day, and for way longer than anyone should have. So, I listened to André 3000’s project a couple of times, and I also listened to a lot of Matt Shipp’s music while writing this. Guess who is a better jazz pianist… It’s still Matt Shipp, and it’s not even close.

Thankfully, André 3000’s “insipidly wretched nothing” music didn’t poison the well.

Also, André 3000 has yet to comment on this manufactured controversy.