{"id":6375,"date":"2018-11-22T13:59:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T13:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2018-11-22T13:59:33","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T13:59:33","slug":"review-anderson-paak-oxnard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/22\/review-anderson-paak-oxnard\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Anderson .Paak &#8211; Oxnard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>YES LAWD!!!!<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the past few years, one name has been leaving a unique print in music, and that name is Brandon Paak Anderson aka Anderson .Paak. The rapper\/singer\/artist has been making waves for the past few years, from being part of the XXL 2016 Freshman List (and easily the best out of them&#8230;well, him and Denzel Curry, too.), having two critically acclaimed albums with\u00a0<em>Malibu<\/em>\u00a0(earning him a Grammy nomination and a place on my best of list in 2016) and\u00a0<em>Yes Lawd!<\/em> under NxWorries, the collaboration between him and producer Knxwledge (also on my best of list in 2016), and even appearing on numerous tracks on Dr. Dre&#8217;s 2015 album\u00a0<i>Compton<\/i>. On top of all that, he signed him to Aftermath Entertainment following the release of\u00a0<em>Malibu,<\/em> and since then he&#8217;s been doing some features on tracks with artists like ScHoolboy Q, Mac Miller, Domo Genesis, Rapsody and various others.<\/p>\n<p>Now on his third studio album\u00a0<em>Oxnard,<\/em> (well, 3rd on his Paak moniker and final &#8220;beach&#8221; theme album following <em>Malibu <\/em>and\u00a0<em>Venice<\/em>; 5th total counting the 2 he released as Breezy Lovejoy and the first one to be released on Aftermath Entertainment and 12 Tone Music, a record company under Warner Music Group), I was eager to see how this album turned out, and while I was bummed that &#8220;Bubblin'&#8221; didn&#8217;t make the final tracklist (and that&#8217;s the first complaint out of of the way), I was good with the singles &#8220;Tints&#8221; and &#8220;Who R U?&#8221;. So, how did the album turn out?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u749Hi0gDVM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll say this: after giving this 6-7 listens and thinking on it for a while, I was definitely feeling it a lot. It starts off with &#8220;The Chase,&#8221; a track that&#8217;s got funky drums, guitar, and even violins kicking it up a notch on top of great vocals from Kadhja Bonet and Paak hitting it up with this verse:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hard to get up from this like Sonny Liston<br \/>\nFeel like it&#8217;s Ed and Laimbeer with the Pistons<br \/>\nBad Boys, but no Will Smith and, only real friction<br \/>\nGot to the fork in the road, a split decision<br \/>\nI could eat or split everything, my own decisions<br \/>\nThat would take a little more time and more wisdom<br \/>\nThat would take a little more grind and more vision<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then came the song &#8220;Headlow&#8221; where Paak talks about getting head on the freeway and&#8230; okay, the song sounds fine, but after a few listens I just didn&#8217;t gel with it that much, and also headroad may not be safe especially if you run over a pothole (and let&#8217;s not envision that scenario).\u00a0 We do get a little political and social with the track &#8220;6 Summers&#8221; as the song delves into gun violence, sex scandals surrounding one current president who shall remain nameless, and talking about how he got a lesbian love child among other things, and the track does bang along as it hits you with that content. However, there are some tracks that I wasn&#8217;t feeling all the way like &#8220;Mansa Musa&#8221; featuring Dr. Dre and Cocoa Sarai. I wasn&#8217;t feeling the feature with Cocoa Sarai since she sounds like a Nicki Minaj knockoff, and Dr. Dre&#8230; look, the man&#8217;s a great producer, but he isn&#8217;t known for being much of a lyricist.<\/p>\n<p>However, as soon as &#8220;Brother&#8217;s Keeper&#8221; with Pusha T came on, I was instantly back in my zone. This is my favorite track of the album at this point, and Pusha T killed his verse, especially talking about how his brother Malice of Clipse (well, now No Malice) turned down a half a million dollar deal and went on to be a born again Christian and how Pusha still loves his brother for doing what he wanted to do in his life. Oh and in case you&#8217;re confused by the following lyric:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a class=\"referent referent--yellow referent--highlighted\" href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Anderson-paak-brothers-keeper-lyrics#note-15808945\">Still an underground king, but the money&#8217;s Jason Derulo<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He meant that while he&#8217;s still lauded in underground circles of hip-hop (and he should,\u00a0<em>DAYTONA\u00a0<\/em>is still a damn good album), he&#8217;s making money like a pop star. Then again, he is the president of G.O.O.D. Music so that is also a reason. &#8220;Anywhere&#8221; has that G-Funk flavor, and of course you hear Snoop Dogg on his game, showing that he&#8217;s good at it when he&#8217;s not phoning it in.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bWBg_g43WB8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a class=\"referent referent--yellow referent--highlighted\" href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Anderson-paak-anywhere-lyrics#note-15806043\">On the East duckin&#8217; Feds from a peephole<br \/>\n1989, gangbangin&#8217; was at it&#8217;s peak<br \/>\nThis the beat that make me reminisce on G-Funk<br \/>\nThree summers before\u00a0<i>The Chronic<\/i>\u00a0hit the streets<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Whippin&#8217; over the stove and a nigga gotta eat<br \/>\nThrew my raps in the garbage, fuck bein&#8217; a MC<br \/>\n<a class=\"referent referent--yellow\" href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Anderson-paak-anywhere-lyrics#note-15806068\">Thank the Lord for Nate Dogg and thank God for Warren G<br \/>\nFunny how time flies when you&#8217;re high as me<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Trippy&#8221; was an alright track with a Rodney Dangerfield sample with the topic of love and intimacy with their respective partners, and while Paak&#8217;s verse was good, I was about to give J. Cole props for his verse, but with this&#8230;.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Used to have a honey that I loved when we was younger but<br \/>\nsomehow got disconnected before Facebook got so big<br \/>\nI used to search her name hopin&#8217; we could reconnect<br \/>\nBut if I sent the message, would she still be on my dick?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He sounded as thirsty as he did on that <em>KOD<\/em> track &#8220;Photograph&#8221; a few months back. But thankfully, the next track is another solid one, as &#8220;Cheers&#8221; has Paak and guest feature Q-Tip talk about the pitfalls of life in the fast lane and the loss of loved ones as well. With Paak, it&#8217;s this line that gripped me:<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"referent referent--yellow referent--highlighted\" href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Anderson-paak-cheers-lyrics#note-15829621\">How do you tell a nigga slow it down when you livin&#8217; just as fast as &#8217;em?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Who he is referencing is the late Mac Miller and how we could&#8217;ve told Mac to slow down a bit, but Paak is doing the same thing as he does. And with Q-Tip, he reminiscences about his times with late rapper and fellow A Tribe Called Quest emcee Phife Dawg, and it&#8217;s a really a touching way to end the album. However, before you say &#8220;WE GOT 2 MORE TRACKS LEFT!&#8221;,\u00a0<em>Oxnard\u00a0<\/em>has a couple of bonus tracks. Let&#8217;s just say both are silly as hell, but I can only vibe with one of them, that being &#8220;Sweet Chick&#8221; with BJ The Chicago Kid where they talk about the different women in their lives ,and damn does this track have some silly-ass lyrics like:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>She a gamer, gotta take her to arcades and shit<br \/>\nShe be watchin&#8217; Anime while I&#8217;m layin&#8217; dick<br \/>\nWanna go to Comic Con, I&#8217;m like &#8220;Come down a bit&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The ending of the track is hilarious when he&#8217;s talking about his yoga chick, and another girl walked in on him and threatened to shoot him. There&#8217;s also &#8220;Left to Right&#8221; where he raps about his newfound success in the music business and even uses a Jamaican patois in there as well, but I didn&#8217;t feel this track as much.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oEQlFNF8bQs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I heard most responses to this album were very lukewarm and people were disappointed in it, but while I do get why, personally I think this is still a good album. We still get Anderson&#8217;s great soulful singing and rapping along with production that greatly fits him alongside some newer sounds he&#8217;s going for. While the production of some songs didn&#8217;t work for me (Mainly &#8220;Mansa Musa&#8221; and &#8220;Left to Right&#8221;), that&#8217;s a small percentage as most of\u00a0<em>Oxnard<\/em> genuinely gels with me. I love the funky grooves and G-Funk sounds I got throughout it, and Dr. Dre did have some advantages and disadvantages on there. The songwriting is a bit weaker, mostly on tracks like &#8220;Headlow&#8221; and &#8220;Sweet Chick,&#8221; but I did like the latter more because of the groove and the ending.<\/p>\n<p>While this may not be\u00a0<em>Malibu<\/em>, this album is still one of the best projects I&#8217;ve heard this year, and it&#8217;s a great example of why I continue to like Anderson .Paak&#8217;s music. He&#8217;s definitely an example of someone who&#8217;s not just a rapper but more of an artist\u00a0 whose music you can vibe to. It&#8217;s a definite top 10 or 15 for me by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Final Verdict:\u00a0<em>Buy It.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em>Yes, this will still bang for 6 Summers!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Oxnard is available on Aftermath Entertainment &amp; 12 Tone Music on CD, Vinyl, Digital Download and Digital Streaming<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YES LAWD!!!! Throughout the past few years, one name has been leaving a unique print in music, and that name is Brandon Paak \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/22\/review-anderson-paak-oxnard\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[1245,1244,1066,1241,907,503,7,1242,294,18,1243],"class_list":["post-6375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-12-tone-music","tag-aftermath-entertainment","tag-album","tag-anderson-paak","tag-funk","tag-hip-hop","tag-music","tag-oxnard","tag-rb","tag-review","tag-soul"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/anderson-paak-oxnard-album-review.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-1EP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6375"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6395,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions\/6395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}