Abiola Oke is a global media strategist and the managing director of ADISA, a global advisory firm focused on entertainment, culture, and brand development. He was previously CEO and publisher of Okayplayer.

When Andre “3000” Benjamin released an ambient, flute-forward — and Grammy-nominated — work last year as his first-ever full-length solo album, some 18 years after OutKast’s final LP, many wondered what the iconic rapper was chasing. And with the release of a new EP, “7 Piano Sketches” — earnest, unrefined, and entirely instrumental, showing an untrained approach on the piano similar to its predecessor’s with the flute — those questions have returned, with even sharper criticism.

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Veteran jazz pianist Matthew Shipp has been vocal in his disapproval. In a sharply worded statement shared on social media, Shipp wrote: “What a lack of respect for the discipline by someone who in my opinion is a complete asshole for doing this – it is depressing that this garbage will get any attention because he has a name and fame – there is nothing refreshing about the naivety of it – it is just downright dreadful and awful – true fucking crap – insipidly wretched nothing.”

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From one perspective, his frustration is understandable: Shipp has trained on the piano for decades with the intensity and discipline of an Olympic athlete, while Andre 3000 approaches the instrument with more curiosity than........

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