What hell hath Lizzo wrought? The flute had been mostly relegated to memories of high school band and that one scene in Anchorman, until Lizzo came along. With the rapid rise of the rapper and her trusty sidekick, Sasha Flute, she made the formerly frumpy woodwind instrument into a symbol of true individual cool.
But according to numerous fan accounts from across the country, there’s a new celeb flautist on the scene: hip-hop legend André 3000. The OutKast rapper was most recently spotted playing the flute around the city of Philadelphia, with “at least a dozen” sightings, per EW.
One Philly fan, Russ Jack, approached André when he caught sight of the artist playing on the steps of a church. “He really is like an urban legend, traveling the world playing a flute. He’s super nice too,” Jack shared on Twitter, adding that the rapper told him he’d picked up the instrument a couple years ago.
Other Philadelphia locales that have hosted impromptu André flute performances are the Liberty Bell and Whole Foods. He also ran into a group of Muslim activists in town for the 2019 Netroots Nation conference, who were excited to snap a pic with him.
So basically at #NN19 in Philly when me and a gang of Muslim activists were getting ice cream after dinner & chatting on sidewalk after the rain – good wholesome fun – when this guy was playing flute around us. And who else plays flute in public wholesome spaces?
ANDRE 3000. pic.twitter.com/dCk60tWtYq
— Taz (@TazzyStar) July 12, 2019
André 3000 flute sightings kicked off last month at LAX, where an incredulous Antonia Cereijido spied the Atlanta native: “I saw a man walking around my terminal playing a flute for 40 min and was losing my mind because I thought it was André 3000. And then it WAS André 3000!!!,” she shared on Twitter.
I saw a man walking around my terminal playing a flute for 40min and was losing my mind because I thought it was André 3000. And then it WAS André 3000!!! 😍😍😍😭😭 pic.twitter.com/tqQ4C8HBh1
— Antonia Cereijido (@antoniacere) June 14, 2019
Is this part of a bigger plan? Is André planning a forthcoming album of flute solos? Is there a Lizzo duet in his future? One can only hope. It seems inevitable that the two flautists will eventually cross paths—perhaps this is the inspiration André 3000 needs to get coaxed into a recording studio again.
