Dr. Dre has a knack for finding talented acts and propelling them to superstardom. Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, Kendrick Lamar and most recently, Anderson .Paak.
As the latest signee to Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, the California-based singer/songwriter infuses rapping, live instrumentation and soulful harmony in his music that breeds a warm sound and old-school vibe.
My excitement to see .Paak, real name Brandon Park Anderson, perform stems from an understanding of the now 30-year-old rapper’s slow grind up the music ladder. He stylizes his name with a dot due to that fact,referencing it in “The Season/Carry Me”, “And don’t forget that dot, ***** you paid for it/I spent years being called out my name.”
.Paak, has been criminally underrated for a long time, but he uses it as fuel and it is evident in his performance. Having experience as a backing drummer for larger acts such as Haley Reinhart, .Paak has garnered a reputation for being one of the better live acts in contemporary music as highlighted by his SXSW performance.
The clock had just struck 9:30 Tuesday night at The National and the beat for the “The Dreamer” proceeded to play and the energy of the crowd started to ramp up. At least three DJ’s performed a set prior to that and the crowd was starting to get anxious.
Suddenly, .Paak came running out on stage with a glow that radiated amongst the crowd. Backed by his band, The Free Nationals, .Paak immediately went into cuts from Malibu, NxWorries and Dr. Dre’s Compton from 2015.
I was instantly nodding my head as he bounced around stage and engaged with the crowd as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. As much of a comedian as a musician, .Paak would interject with a funny story before he launched into his next song.
The crowd ate it up too. When he said wave, we waved, when he said bounce, we bounced, when he said silence, we hushed. .Paak commanded the stage with a presence that was gravitating and inviting.
Perhaps it’s because of his artistry and outright talent. .Paak can sing with soul that rivals any current singer, he raps as vividly and playfully as Chance the Rapper and he can actually play an instrument. For most of the show, the audience seemed in awe of him.
The crowd went into a frenzy when .Paak bounced up to his drum set up and was simultaneously singing, rapping, and playing drums.
He went from playing the drums to running back down to center stage and switched off about three times without breaking a major sweat.
That stage energy is contagious and sooner or later everyone in the crowd was in the palm of his hand. He ran off most of his most recent album, Malibu, a testament to the post-album tour.
He hardly performed any of his major collaborations from Compton which speaks volumes that .Paak has arrived as a fully capable stand alone artist despite the co-sign.
.Paak did a great job of flipping back and forth between his up-tempo cuts and his slower soulful songs. “Heart Don’t Stand a Chance”, a warm ode to the beginning of relationships was followed by “Glowed Up”, an absolute dance-party track off of Kaytranada’s newest album.
His range allowed the show to never stagnate and kept the audience on their toes. As the concert winded down, .Paak went into “The Bird” and left as swiftly as he entered.
Confused, the crowd went into a frenzy as they demanded one more song. Suddenly, .Paak burst back on stage with his band for a much-desired encore and said, “I had to perform one more, you know I wasn’t gonna do y’all like that,” to the delight of the audience.
This time, as he performed the popular cut, “Am I Wrong”, .Paak took pictures with the crowd and left triumphant as he complimented the crowd for helping him put on a great show.
He’s brimming with excitement to finally be on this stage, a long overdue accomplishment but one that might’ve been necessary for him to be this polished. Regardless, .Paak knows how to put on a show and gained a new diehard fan that’ll be excited to see him again soon.
