We're not sure if or when the next OutKast album will be released, but at least we can take comfort in knowing that one-half of the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo is keeping his music skills sharp. André 3000 was spotted at Los Angeles International Airport Friday by NPR Latino producer Antonia Cereijido, serenading bystanders in their shared terminal playing a flute that looking nothing like the ones we learned to play in grade school.

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

"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," Cereijido now-viral tweet read.

Several skeptics weren't necessarily convinced three stacks was indeed playing the flute, causing Cereijido to follow her first tweet with confirmation from the "Hey Ya!" artist himself that it is in fact an indigenous double flute handmade by Guillermo Martinez.

I just got off the phone with Guillermo Martinez the man who made Andres's beautiful flute. It's a Mayan double flute. He and his shop are doing incredible work by keeping the music if indigenous North American communities alive. Here is his website: https://t.co/Jgb9lbGsqh
pic.twitter.com/33PESaDu9C

— Antonia Cereijido (@antoniacere) June 15, 2019

Fearing she had breached the musician's privacy, Cereijido approached André 3000 for a second time when they both arrived to their final destination to apologize. The producer tells Slate not only was Andre okay with the viral encounter, but he actually found it funny.

"He gave me a hug, which was really nice," Cereijido said, "And then he said, 'I think it's so funny people keep arguing about whether it's a flute.'"

Slate also caught up with the manufacturer of the instrument in question, who has been constructing the ancient Mayan tool for years. According to Martinez, the flute's origin is somewhat fascinating.

"When the Spanish came in the 1500s, when they realized people used these instruments as part of their spirituality, they passed a law prohibiting traditional instruments, music, and dance, and also language," Martinez explained. "Everybody was forced to speak Spanish and take on a European religion as part of the colonization. So these were kept secret. And were practiced in secret until Mexico achieved independence, but by then, it was just preserved in very isolated areas."

André 3000 emailed asking Martinez for a flute, adding specific details like a black finish in his request, which Martinez doesn't typically honor. When asked his thoughts regarding the 44-year-old's use for the instrument, Martinez tells Slate its not uncommon for those to bring the flute with them while traveling.

"There are a lot of people that take their flutes when they travel and use it to ground themselves," he revealed.

A celebrity sighting and a history lesson in one interaction, it truly is a world full of surprises.

Guillermo-Martinez

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