{"id":4673,"date":"2021-12-15T00:17:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T00:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4673"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:19:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:19:41","slug":"music-media-anderson-paak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4673","title":{"rendered":"MUSiC\/MEDiA: Anderson .Paak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"789\" height=\"526\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3849.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3849.jpg 789w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3849-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3849-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Paak doin\u2019 his thang: drumming and singing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This guy has been around a while. But he\u2019s only just snuck up on me recently. I think it\u2019s about a year since I first encountered him, via the NPR Tiny Desk video on YouTube (below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That video has racked up over 80 million views (and counting!). And I can see why. It\u2019s truly and sublimely joyful. And off the back of it, I\u2019m checking him out more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ferZnZ0_rSM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This is the video that taught me to love AP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As I type this I\u2019m watching (for the first time) another NPR Paak performance with The Free Nationals. I\u2019m not a massive fan of the modern hip-hop and rap scene, esp\u2019 as far it\u2019s such a big and obvious part of the contemporary dumbing down and ultra-capitalist commodification of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, as Paak is coming at it from being a drummer, it might really change things. And if the whole hip-hop chip shop flip flop allows him and others &#8211; he\u2019s now done the whole Silk Sonic thang with Bruno Mars (which I\u2019m looking into as well) &#8211; to smuggle \u2018real\u2019 live organic music back in to the mainstream. So be Obi Wan Ben Kenobi it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s interesting that Paak seems to be such a charismatic force of nature and culture in happy synthesis\/balance, that he carries all before him, on a toothy pearly white tidal wave of sonic positivity. And drums &#8211; oh, and singing, rapping, dancing, music, producing (one could go on!) &#8211; are his \u2018happy place\u2019! How cool is that!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"558\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3868.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4674\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3868.jpg 400w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3868-215x300.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Karen Carpenter, another fabulous singing drummer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If only \u2018the biz\u2019 had let Karen Carpenter stay behind the drums. Perhaps she\u2019d still be wowing us, alongside her goofy bro\u2019? The biz is a cruel capitalist monster machine. A robot of death, selling the appearance of life, a thin mask over the rotting corpse of consumer culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I digress. So\u2026 Anderson Paak? Hmmm\u2026 there\u2019s the undeniable authenticity of a colourful and troubled back story. But alongside this there are aspects of modern pop trash culture &#8211; and I\u2019ve got to be careful here, as I might be going \u2018full Partridge\u2019 &#8211; the cuss-words, the whole \u2018money, niggaz, bitches\u2019 thing, that do trouble me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I kind of want to say that none of that really touches a deep nerve. But that\u2019d be disingenuous. Of course it does. However much it annoys me in how it connects Paak to a lot of pop culture I really loathe, the \u2018other side of the coin\u2019, if you will, is not the hipster vibin\u2019 with us, but the wounded little boy, channelling his damage and pain into a joyful affirmation of life through music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And not just any music, either. But music that flows from the same deep wells of Afro-American (we\u2019ll get back to this vexed issue later) soul, funk and R\u2019n\u2019B. And here I am, whitey in The Fens. It\u2019s strange, and I\u2019m not entirely sure why &#8211; or am I? Isn\u2019t it just \u2018the truth\u2019? Authenticity? &#8211; but this tradition has always been one of several that just connects with my \u2018soul\u2019, like a dentist hitting an un-anaesthetised nerve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3871.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4676\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3871.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3871-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3871-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3871-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Just ordered this off Amazon\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So, having touched very superficially and tanned-genitally on the musical river that flows from front porches of the Deep South via N\u2019Awleanz dives to the litter-strewn city hoodz, where Caddy fins bespoke the Jaws of crime, to Herbie at Carnegie, or even Beyonc\u00e9 and Bruno Mars\u2026 (again I digress!), where does Paak fit in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that last verbal flight, where history and myth meet collide-oscopically, in that matrix, embedded in all that, one can\u2019t deny the \u2018black America\u2019 angle. But I want to counter that with the spirit of The Free Nationals; like Santana\u2019s band, breaking out so joyfully at Woodstock\u2026 there\u2019s a nice multi-culti angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if the jazz tradition can happily embrace the angry yet all encompassing Miles, or the studiously geeky Mr Magoo Kung-fu mastery of Joe Morello\u2026 well. \u2018Nuff said!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"693\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-693x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4677\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-693x1024.jpg 693w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-203x300.jpg 203w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-768x1135.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-1039x1536.jpg 1039w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-1385x2048.jpg 1385w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3872-scaled.jpg 1731w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Do big shades\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3876.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4678\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3876.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3876-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_3876-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u2026 maketh the music or the man?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, this post goes around the houses just to talk about both Paak, the musical and other cultures that he emerges from, and my own troubled relation with all this, basically because I\u2019m very happy to have found the man and his music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like everyone from Louis Cole and Vulfpeck, to, I dunno, King Gizzard and co, or Glasper, and ultra musos like Chris \u2018Daddy\u2019 Dave, the mere existence, never mind success, of Paak helps maintain my fragile belief in hope for humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this juncture Paak and The Free Nationals and co are tearing up the stage, doing a concert for the Grammy awards (I\u2019m still groovin\u2019 on YouTube). And the joyful energy is great. Starting the set with slick, sleek hyper-produced pop product style rap, contemporary pop karaoke style, the music builds to a Dionysian climax of gospel chops, and explodes out of the restrictive context of head nodding laptop wielding MCs and producers, into a world of <em>real<\/em> organic live music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paak behind his kit. His happy place. \u2018Don\u2019t I make it look easy. Don\u2019t I make it look good.\u2019, he sings on Come Down, one of the best tracks on <em>Malibu<\/em> (which I\u2019ve just ordered!). \u2018What could be more special than Andy behind the kit?\u2019 beams Bruno Mars in their Silk Sonic promo interview. That interview (below) is worth watching, for its bizarre but compelling mixture of hipster gloss and truthful authenticity. What strange times we live in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ARkilRbdkR8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ebro Darden interviews Paak and Mars, on their Silk Sonic collab\u2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This guy has been around a while. But he\u2019s only just snuck up on me recently. I think it\u2019s about a year since I first encountered him, via the NPR Tiny Desk video on YouTube (below). That video has racked up over 80 million views (and counting!). And I can see why. It\u2019s truly and &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4673\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;MUSiC\/MEDiA: Anderson .Paak&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1dn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4673"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11480,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions\/11480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}