Andre 3000 says he once "turned into a panther" during an ayahuasca trip in Hawaii. He recalled the experience while speaking with NPR for a new interview ahead of the release of his upcoming album, New Blue Sun. The Outkast rapper plans to release the project on Friday, November 17.
He references the incident in the title of his song, "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." Speaking with NPR, he explained: “I was actually in Hawaii and it was my second night of the first time I’d ever taken ayahuasca. We did it like a three-night kind of phase. The first night was inviting and beautiful and the most powerful love and connection with all things I’ve ever felt in my life. The second night was different and everybody knows that aya will do you that way. The second night my stomach was hurting, my mouth contorted like a panther and I actually turned into a panther. And I was doing like, ‘GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR’ — like, that kind of thing."
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He continued: “I actually turned into a panther. It was doing this thing called toning. Toning is another way of purging. And toning is where you make these vibrational noises that you can’t control. It started playing me like an instrument. I started as a panther and then it would make me do these long kind of tones and started changing the notes.” He added that he used that purring noise as an inspiration for the aforementioned track on New Blue Sun.
“So, on the album I’m mimicking [it], but the funny thing in the aya session, I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I had my phone so I can record this ’cause, like, it’d be so dope,'” he explained. Be on the lookout for further updates on Andre 3000's New Blue Sun in the coming days on HotNewHipHop.
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