I had a project called ‘Cover Art,’ which was the first project I did under the new name Anderson .Paak. I went through this process where I was recording new music for about six months straight. – Anderson Paak
A lot of Knxwledge’s instrumentals just brought out this tone and swagger that I had played with before but had never really pinpointed before on my Anderson .Paak stuff. But then it just came so easily. – Anderson Paak
The dot stands for ‘detail’ – always be paying attention to detail. I feel that people take you as serious as you take yourself. I spent a lot of time working on my craft, developing my style, and after I came out of my little incubation, I promised that I would pay attention to detail. – Anderson Paak
When the pastor’s up there, they do this thing called looping. They are literally riffing and spitting in the key of the organ. When looping, you’re in key, you’re in a rhythm, you’re in a pocket, and that’s where James Brown was pulling from, and so that’s where I’m pulling from. The only difference is I’m coming at it under hip-hop. – Anderson Paak
My mom had a produce business in in Oxnard, and we used to take these long trips to talk to farmers and different distributors. She’d take us with her after picking us up from school, and she’d be blasting all this old soul music and R&B. I knew all those O’Jays songs before I knew Snoop or Dre or Tupac. – Anderson Paak
I think there’s a void for some authentic soul music with an edge. I think there’s some people who grew up with Motown and Stevie Wonder that still can appreciate Future, Drake, and all these different things, too, but there shouldn’t be a void for those people, as well. – Anderson Paak
I didn’t start playing drums until I was 12, for school band; they didn’t have any saxophones left. My step-pops had a kit at the house, and I had never done anything that I understood so quick. It was so natural. It was the most fun and consistent thing in my life. – Anderson Paak
I’m at my best when I’m talking about relationships, talking about women, talking about situations and stories. – Anderson Paak
Growing up in a house where there was a lot of different musical influences – my mom listens to soul stuff and Top 40, my sisters would listen to hip-hop – and the church, I grew up listening to a lot of gospel stuff. So I think that plays a role in how I make music now because my music has a lot of range. I don’t just do one thing. – Anderson Paak
There’s quite a few artists that didn’t pop off until they were a little older – Rick James being one. – Anderson Paak
As an artist, you’re taking your experiences and placing them into your art. So the more experiences you have, the richer your art and more people can relate to it. – Anderson Paak
I grew up in Oxnard, CA, and I went to a church called St. Paul, where I was playing drums. My mom had a strawberry company. The whole town of Oxnard is basically built on produce, and more particularly, strawberries. – Anderson Paak
My mom was born in Korea – Seoul, Korea, during the ’50s, ’51. She was abandoned; her and my uncle were abandoned. My grandfather was a Seabee and adopted my mom and my uncle, and brought them to Compton in the ’50s. That’s where she was raised. – Anderson Paak
I learned a lot from working with and watching Knxwledge, seeing how he produces non-stop. He doesn’t dwell too long on stuff. He’s very simple, using only about two or three elements. I like that in production. Sometimes it doesn’t take more than three drums, a melody, the vocal, looping a sample or whatever, just as minimal as possible. – Anderson Paak
If you grow up playing in church, it removes a lot of the boundaries that other musicians might have, growing up with sheet music or whatever. – Anderson Paak
I didn’t always take myself that seriously. Image-wise, I was somewhat of a jokester. – Anderson Paak
I don’t know many artists who’ve come out of Beverly Hills, y’know? You need that struggle. – Anderson Paak
I tell people a lot of times, if you want to be a part of something, you never know, you kind of just have to be around. A lot of people don’t really have the patience for it, and they don’t stick around. Dre and I are still working together, and we have plenty of music for the future. – Anderson Paak
I used to work with mentally disabled people when I was 18 or 19, changing diapers and catheters. I was working, like, 16 hour night shifts, having to distribute meds and go capture people who would break out of the house. Sometimes they’d have seizures, and we’d have to rush them to the hospital. That was an interesting time, very humbling. – Anderson Paak
My mom eventually got out to Oxnard and started a produce company and was in the strawberry business. My pops was out of the picture by the time I was 7. – Anderson Paak
My story as an artist has been about trial and error. It’s been about artist development, character building, struggle, happiness and failure, family, and music. – Anderson Paak
Life got very good – we went from living in a one-bedroom apartment to a five-bedroom mansion by the time I was in high school. I had everything I wanted growing up, though all I wanted was music stuff – drums, a PC, turntables. – Anderson Paak
Nothing I do is ever void of melody. I know it might seem like I’m doing a lot of rapping, but I’m always utilizing tone and trying to find a key signature. So, I don’t look at myself as a rapper. – Anderson Paak
I don’t think there’s anybody that has such a keen sense of vocal production and attention to detail as Dre. – Anderson Paak
If you’re doing black music, you should have a core understanding of where that comes from, and the fundamentals – so you’re not some bozo thinking you’re doing something new. – Anderson Paak
My wife was born in Korea, and we met in music college; she was there for vocal, and I was there for drums. – Anderson Paak
