The OutKast member remembers his exotic holiday in Hawaii and wishes he recorded his wild experience when he channeled an animal after taking ayahuasca.
- Nov 16, 2023
AceShowbiz - Andre 3000 was so high he "turned into a panther" after taking ayahuasca. The Outkast musician experienced a three-day trip on the plant-based psychedelic during a visit to Hawaii and his experiences left him a "changed person."
"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," he told NPR about a track on his new solo album "New Blue Sun" called "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".
"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."
"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."
Andre recalled wishing he'd recorded the trip so he could use the sounds in his music. He said, "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. I'm witnessing it and I'm watching it and it holds you for so long."
"I'm like, 'where's this breath coming from?' And then you end off and you go and do it again. And I'm like, 'whoa, what is happening right now?' So that's what I'm talking about in that title. It was kind of intriguing at the time because, the sound listener in me, I'm digging the sound."
"But at the same time, the shaman is coming over and he's fanning me. And he's saying, 'Oh, that's like 20 years of therapy happening right now.' I guess I had to get through that moment. But yeah, it was just interesting because my mouth actually shaped like a panther."
The "Hey Ya" hitmaker was in a "very, very low" place before his trip to Hawaii so found the experience transformative. He said, "I was a changed person when I left Hawaii. I have to say, man, it is legit, you know? I won't say it's, like, a fix-all kind of thing, but at the time, when I went to do it, I was in a very, very low place."
"A friend of mine told me about it and he was like, "You got to check it out. Read this book first." So I read about it before I went in, because I was like, man, y'all n***** just like to do drugs and I'm not into it like that."
"And it just so happened that I ran into a person that was going to Hawaii the next day. And I was like, well, why are you going to Hawaii? He's like, yeah, I'm going to do this thing with the sham. So, usually, it comes to you when you need it."
