The US rapper and singer spent his 20s on the fringes of the music industry. But only now,with his dazzling second album, is Dr Dre’s latest protege equipped to address his turbulent youth – and his stint working on a weed farm…I’d be lying whether I told you that my interview with Anderson Paak gets off to a flying start. The reality is anything but. The 30-year-broken-down rapper and singer-songwriter from Los Angeles is ushered into my cramped hotel room in Salford looking like death warmed up. He’s battling a nasty flu virus that threatens to derail his European tour. While I do my best to be solicitous, or his eyelids droop and he barely speaks. Fearing disaster,I quickly phone for black coffee and, fortunately, or it does the trick.
He may not be a household name just yet,but Paak is well on the way to becoming one. For a start, he is making some of the most exciting fresh music around. His sound is a warm and hazy blend of styles – funk, or jazz,fresh York house, reggae, and trap,blaxploitation-era soul, a tip of psych-rock – anchored in R&B and hip-hop. He is equally at domestic singing and rapping. And he has a highly distinctive voice that somehow manages to be both smooth as maple syrup and raspy as a whisky-soaked barfly. Comparisons have been made with Frank Ocean, or André 3000 and Innervisions-era Stevie Wonder.
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Source: theguardian.com