Ben: Malibu by Anderson .Paak

What a week!

First of all, happy MLB opening day (except to those in Cleveland)! Congratulations to Kirkley on getting into Scripps! And congratulations to all of us for being at the same place at the same time! This last one I expect to occur a lot more now that we’ll all be on the same coast.

So, I know I got a little antsy and told you guys about this guy the other weekend, but it’s still my Mac Monday so deal with it. I found out about this guy from watching one of those Snoop Dogg interviews (Mac Monday coming full circle). While one of those weather/stripper girls named Stormy Fronts was showing everyone her Doppler radar I had to Shazam the song and it turned out to be “Come Down” (one of the faster, funkier, harder tracks on the album).

I listened to a few more songs and was hooked so did some research and the guy kept getting more interesting. He hails from Oxnard, Ca. A town that was described to me as the shittiest beach town on the PCH by someone who grew up there. He started making music as a teenager producing beats and playing the drums. Now he plays keyboard, drums, and performs vocals in a wide variety of ways. Before he became successful as a musician with his first album, Venice, in 2014, he worked on a weed farm in Santa Barbara and was living out of his car part of the time. He got the concept for that first album by poking fun at the history of white people stealing black music before artists owned their own records. Like a mural down the street from me says, “Imitation is the whitest form of flattery” with Elvis, Macklemore, etc. in the background.Paak flipped it on its head and took folk/Rock/white peoples music and made a soul/hip-hop/black person album out of it.

He had a child and realized it was time to stop fucking around and got his music career together. In the last few years he was recognized and taken in by Dr Dre who has served as a mentor to him. He helped produce and record tracks for Dre’s last album Compton and also for another Dre project with the LA rapper, Game, called Documentary 2. Both albums are good, but in my humble opinion the songs where you can hear his influence are the strongest.

Tim said his music reminded him of a male-Janelle Monae-living in Cali. Malibu is a similar soulful, hip-hop vibe with wavy, sunny, beachy samples in between tracks like his first album. After listening to other interviews with him, his unique sound began to make more sense. He constantly cites Jimi as a huge influence and after listening to Malibu, I listened to Are You Experienced? all the way through and was able to hear the subtle samples that Paak had plucked for Malibu as well as past projects. He can get as tight and funky and loud as James Brown, but then as cool and mellow as a Leon Bridges with a raspy filter.

So without further ado, here’s Malibu by Anderson Paak which you can find on Spotify, iTunes, etc.

Favorite Songs (the whole album)

The Dreamer, Celebrate, Come Down, Parking Lot, Silicon Valley, and the list goes on.

One bonus track that’s not on the album, but might be my favorite song of his is “Suede.”