Anderson .Paak’s Malibu album is one of the best albums that has come out in the last 5 years. I was familiar with some of Paak’s early work as Breezy Lovejoy through some of the LA hip hop artists I listened to back in the early early 2000’s but when I first heard Malibu it was a breath of fresh air. His voice was very unique and the beats he was signing/rapping over were some good ole jazzy hip hop and neo-soul type beats which were right up my alley. The producers he paired with (Madlib, 9th Wonder, Kaytranada, Hi-Tek, DJ Khalil, The Free Nationals) and the collaborations on the album (ScHoolboy Q, Rapsody, Kweli, The Game, BJ the Chicago Kid) were on point. Add in .Paak’s vocals shining through the album and you had all of the puzzle pieces for a classic album. And the album cover itself is a thing of beauty. I can stare at that album artwork for hours!
There are so many songs on that album that made me press rewind. This is just one of those albums that you play from front to back without skipping. You can’t do that with many albums anymore! Anderson Paak was a musician (singer, rapper, drummer, producer) who my wife and I could both enjoy together which is a rarity. Do you know how often we fight over the music in the car? No matter how hard I try to sell her on rappers like Freddie Gibbs I get no play! Well with .Paak I was actually allowed to turn up the volume and maybe even roll the windows down. From there we would let the music play and both just smile and nod our heads to the beat. So to pick one favorite song off of the Malibu album I’m going to pick the one that is special to both me and Roxana. The song “Heart Don’t Stand a Chance” was a very serious contender for our wedding in 2018 as our song which we walked out as husband and wife for the first time. It is just one of those songs that makes you dance and want to sing. The track is still just as beautiful today as it was when it was released in 2016. This song makes me think of my beautiful wife Roxana so I get all of the feels whenever this piece of art is played out of my/our speakers.
For the video below, I included the live performance with The Free Nationals backing .Paak on NPR’s Tiny Desk video series. And if you didn’t know, yes, that is .Paak on the drums while crooning away. So talented!