Through great effort, I finally have a post published. It was especially significant to get a feature of the very talented Anderson .Paak to my readers. I have literally been sitting on this for weeks. Here we are after a lot of technical issues delayed Weekly Music Commentary. Rarely do I come upon an artist with a combination of extreme talent, great personality and a truly compelling story. Anderson .Paak delivers all three wrapped into one post. I promise this one will be interesting.
As you speak about a person finding his voice, there can be several meanings. If speaking literally, we might be discussing a singer, writer or other finding a way to communicate effectively through a chosen mode. If we are speaking metaphorically, then we might be thinking of a person finding their true calling in life. When speaking of Anderson .Paak in this context, we are speaking both literally and metaphorically. Without more introduction, let’s get started.
Brandon Paak Anderson was born February 8, 1986 in Oxnard, California. He is better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak. His father is African-American, whereas his mother is of mixed Korean and African American background. Anderson’s mother was born in South Korea during the Korean War to an American soldier and a Korean woman. She was initially raised by her Korean grandparents, before being placed in an orphanage and then later adopted by an American family who lived in Los Angeles.
I recently had a conversation with a friend about the children of Korean soldiers left behind after the soldiers discharged. Looking back at the life of Paak’s mother, we can easily see that those children were not looked upon favorably. In fact, many ended up in orphanages or worse. Their families in most cases were not interested in raising the children. Following the adoption, she was subject to violence after the birth of young Brandon and his sister.
At the age of seven, Paak witnessed his estranged father attack his mother: “My little sister and I went out front and my pops was on top of my mom. There was blood in the street. He was arrested and that was the last time I saw him. I think he did 14 years. That was a rough start for the youngster, but still left him time to find his voice, or his place in life.
Paak began producing music from his bedroom as a teenager, while attending Foothill Technology High School. His first experiences performing were as a drummer at his family’s church where he met and married his first wife. After a few years, they divorced, and when Paak was teaching at a music school, he met his second wife, a music student from South Korea. Paak and his wife, Jaylyn, now have a son named Soul Rasheed. In 2011, Paak was working at a marijuana farm in Santa Barbara. He was let go without warning, becoming homeless together with his wife and infant son.
A few months ago I listened to an interview with Anderson .Paak about his life before musical success. Even though I had decided to feature him before hearing the interview, I was moved by his story to learn more. Interestingly, Paak found his love for music, and found the grounding of his family church early in life. Nevertheless, life has a way of throwing us a curve now and then. From his fairly stable family life to growing marijuana and then homelessness. He went through quite a lot in life, but it got better.
Later in that same year 2011, Paak had started earning acceptance in the Los Angeles music world as he worked on his debut album. Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra helped Paak recover financially from losing his job in Santa Barbara by employing him as an assistant, videographer, editor, writer and producer. He completed O.B.E. Vol.1 and released the album in mid-2012. He became the drummer for American Idol contestant Haley Reinhart.
On November 27, 2013, Paak produced and recorded Cover Art, an all-covers EP. Paak was inspired by the white artists of the 1950s who achieved commercial success by remaking songs written by black blues and R&B singers, while hardly ever compensating the original artists. Cover Art reversed the process and transformed folk and rock classics from white musicians into a mold of soul, funk, jazz, left-field pop, hip-hop, and R&B. The album was released by the independent Hellfyre Club and OBE labels. Paak was the lead producer for Watsky’s 2014 album All You Can Do and is featured on three of its tracks.
With his background playing and teaching music, it did not take long for Anderson .Paak to find a place within the music industry. It appears his true voice was not far from him. As I listened to him speak about his time in the marijuana farm and his time without a home, he seemed to feel free discussing the hard times. In fact, he laughed and joked about the bad times. It proved how far he put the negative things behind him. There are several lessons we all can learn from his attitude and outlook on life. The young artist could also learn a lot about music from Paak.
Anderson .Paak has released four studio albums to date. All named after California cities: Venice, Malibu, Oxnard and Ventura. Paak released his second album, Malibu, on January 15, 2016, to critical acclaim, featuring contributions from 9th Wonder, Rapsody, and Kaytranada.
A few days later on January 30, 2016, Paak spoke with Scott Simon of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday about his tumultuous background as a child of mixed-race parents, that the “.” in his name stands for “detail”, his apprenticeship with Dr. Dre and how all of these influences shaped his music. On January 30, Paak announced via Twitter he has signed to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. He said he always sends his ideas to Dr. Dre and the two work very fast.
The title Ventura follows the theme of his previous albums, making his way up the California coast. Whereas Oxnard covered various snippets of Paak’s life in vivid detail, Ventura hones in on more personal details of the artist himself, returning to the mine of slick R&B and funk rap of his acclaimed debut Malibu. “Growing up in Oxnard gave me the grit and the church to find this voice of mine. One town over, I went further and found my depth.”
Like all of us, once Anderson .Paak found his voice he was able to develop more skill as an artist. The fan base then grew and continues to grow daily. Hopefully, more music fans will find Anderson .Paak’s voice and enjoy the music.