André 3000 Joins James Blake on “Where’s The Catch?”

3 Stacks’ first verse in over a year.

There’s no other way to put it–André 3000 is an enigma. A man who catapulted to fame thanks to his legendary work as one-half of the iconic duo, Outkast, André has managed to remain relevant–well, in-demand, actually–despite being frugal with his releases. He’ll sparingly drop featured verses when he feels inspired or whatever, but it seems like that inspiration is waning more than waxing recently–it’s been over one-year since André’s last verse. Thanks to James Blake, that has finally changed.

Blake’s fourth studio album, Assume Form, hit DSPs and shelves today, featuring his staple style of merging varying genres to create a uniformed aesthetic that ironically finds consonance in its dissonance. A frequent cousin of the hip-hop community, Blake’s album features Metro Boomin on two songs, Travis Scott, and–drumroll, please–André 3000 on the project’s eighth track, “Where’s The Catch?”

A four-and-a-half-minute offering, “Where’s The Catch?” gains traction through its ominous instrumental, produced by Blake himself, and hauntingly trances the listener into a borderline unconscious state, only to be beautifully awakened by 3 stacks’ interlude and song’s successive second verse.

The production shifts from eery melodies to captivating bass drum kicks as André enlists his unmistakable flow, facilitating his raps surrounding his begrudging ingestion of outside voices and opinions.

André’s presence on “Where’s The Catch?” confirms his transcendent status and why he has  complete liberty in dictating how often he makes vocal appearances. He can take as much time as he needs–fans will always be there to listen. André is a musical commodity.

Listen to “Where’s The Catch?” below: