André 3000 has finally announced his first-ever solo album, New Blue Sun, and it’s coming this Friday (11/17)! He broke the news in an interview for NPR with Rodney Carmichael, and according to his description, it may not be exactly what you were expecting:

For the first time in over 17 years, André 3000 is releasing an album of new music. New Blue Sun – announced today and set to be released this Friday, Nov. 17 – is a stunning 87-minute mind-bender, minimalist and experimental, tribal and transcendent.

One thing it is not, however, is a rap record: No bars, no beats, no sub-bass. André doesn’t sing on this joint, either. What he does do is play flute, and plenty of it — contrabass flute, Mayan flutes, bamboo flutes — along with other digital wind instruments. In place of lyrics, he offers eight provocative song titles, the first of which almost reads like a lowkey apology, with a wink of irony: “I swear, 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,” André says. “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.’”

“As a rapper, I associated jazz music with old people and elevator music — because it had become that,” André added later on. “And once I started really getting into it, I’m like, hold up: Jazz was the rap of that time. These dudes, they were smoking. They were doing heroin. They were in clubs. We trade verses; they [were] trading solos. [When] you really get into it and you really understand what they were doing — and how rebellious what they were doing [was] — you’re like, man, this is the ultimate.”

The album features Carlos Niño on percussion; Nate Mercereau on guitar, and Surya Botofasina on keyboards. André also talks about playing it for Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean, and much, much, much more in the lengthy interview. Read the full thing at NPR. Tracklist below.

—

Tracklist
1. I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time

2. The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off The Tongue With Far Better Ease Than The Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?

3. That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild

4. BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears A 3000™ Button Down Embroidered

5. Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé

6. Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy

7. Ants To You, Gods To Who ?

8. Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens