André 3000 formerly of Outkast joined forces with Ye also previously known as Kanye West in 2021 for the collaborative project titled "Life of the Party" that made its way on to the deluxe edition of West's Donda album. The track arrived on streaming services after an unconventional route that included Drake leaking the track first on his Sound 42 SiriusXM radio program. Andre 3000 recently clarified his near exit from project because of censorship disputes that almost altered final recording.
The New York Times Interview Reveals André 3000’s Reasoning Regarding “Life of the Party” With Ye
During an interview in The New York Times' Popcast on Saturday December 21 André 3000 not only performed live in NYT newsroom he additionally offered insight regarding his collaboration with Ye on “Life of the Party” in 2021 during his 90-minute session. Andre shared his thought process about this experience while detailing his frustrations in not releasing the original recording. Andre 3000 discussed what inspired this recording plus why he was almost excluded from project because of content concerns over song explicit lyrical content. He stated in the interview Ye initially created a structure of the project with no cursing in his Donda material which became a source of conflict.
André 3000 Credits Ye as Inspiration but Clashes over Cursing in the Emotional Song and Drake Disses
Both Ye and André 3000 lost their mothers prior to this record leading Ye to name his album Donda in tribute to his mother. Andre 3000 states this record helped to overcome personal loss allowing a new expression to communicate grief. He claims “That song opened me up to say things that I couldn’t have said without Kanye”. However Yeezy mandated no curse words on record this presented an issue with Andre as he preferred to completely remove his verse rather than alter his lyrical structure in a significant way. Andre further claimed "I was cool with beeped versions but you have to put the dirty version of it out too." because he wanted integrity to remain in his original musical output.
Andre 3000 did recognize that West would take some jabs toward Drake amid their ongoing feud though he had major misgivings about whether the emotional nature of the track provided the best arena for public disputes between musicians and the creative and personal impacts which resulted. Andre’s perspective stated "It's like going and shooting up your mom's funeral” in response to adding those negative comments and creating this juxtaposition during the track. He states there were conversations about using track in best way possible between Andre and Kanye discussing their individual perspectives.
Explicit Version Of 'Life of the Party' Eventually Lands On Streaming Charts with Notable Charting Success
An explicit version was eventually placed on streaming sites around November 2021. "Life of the Party” received notable commercial recognition reaching No. 3 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart plus No. 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. This song also gained huge momentum because of controversy and personal discussions on the recording creating an unusual approach to traditional release strategy which ultimately added to popularity among the fans of both music artists . Billboard tracked the music project on its popular charting service noting that the album performed above all expectations.