KMK: Anderson .Paak

Drop everything and go see Anderson .Paak

I caught a couple of Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals shows this summer in London. Their set opened up Sunday, the final day, of the Wireless Festival, which is essentially London’s only dedicated hip-hop festival—also on the bill that day were Action Bronson, Young Thug, and Vince Staples.

Consider the scene: it’s Sunday at 1pm and a thousand 19-year-old Englishmen and women are hungover in the sun. This is a common but lamentable state for many English, even in Korea, and not the most active part of the day. Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals get welcomed onstage to mild cheers but you get the feeling the cheerers are just happy that something has started. Paak (pronounced “pack”) bumps and gyrates over the stage as they open with “Bubblin”, but as he gets a better look at the crowd the hype on his face dies a little bit. Despite repeated requests, there aren’t many hands in the air. At another venue somewhere else, he might not have to ask, but most of the attendees have probably never been to a hip-hop show before—there just aren’t as many in London as in, say, New York. They start playing “Light Weight”, which has a disco vibe to it, and you hear a very blonde girl next to you whisper to her polo-clad boyfriend “it’s ok, you can dance,” to which he responds, “um, no, that’s ok” and then folds his arms.

“Wait wait wait, cut the track.”

.Paak isn’t having any of this, hangovers be damned. He carefully instructs the audience, who seem to all be fighting the urge to cut loose, to get low, get low, get low. And then, amazingly, they do. They get so low. Everyone ends up in an ajusshi-squat and looks around to make sure their splayed knees aren’t knocking anyone else’s—if they are, they mime embarrassment and apology and gesture towards the stage like “I mean, he told me to.” Then he tells you to get back up and everyone does and smiles at each other like “well, look at us, we got proper low, didn’t we?”

Then “Come Down” starts and people are ready to bump in earnest. Sons and daughters of England will understand this is a feat, considering that the drunkest people could be is 1:15pm drunk and that’s not very.

So, that same act will be in Hongdae this Thursday at V-Hall. Anyone who laments the lack of the most relevant live acts from the West touring in Korea, you definitely want to be shut up by this show.

So how come he’s here? Where’s Bronsolino and Staples?

Take a look at his name and face and maybe you can figure that the dude is half-Korean. In an interview with NPR .Paak reveals that his mother is one of the first wave of transnational Korean adoptees—that’s pretty cool for me, personally.

Of course there’s also the world tour supporting this year’s release of Malibu, his sophomore studio album as Anderson .Paak. After the slow but notable build of his career from his first album under the name Breezy Lovejoy, to the 6 tracks he appears on Dre’s Compton, to being named as one of XXL’s Freshman class of 2016, the critical acclaim Malibu has received is no surprise. His first studio album, Venice, also had the impossibly charming single “Luh You”, which is required listening before the show.

Yeah, the ticket price, at 89,000KRW at the door, (tickets here) is steep. Yeah, V-Hall is a sweaty shoebox.

BUT.

It will be worth it, I guarantee it. Not only are there great live acts supporting in Soulscape, Beenzino, and Part Time Cooks, but .Paak has proven (to me, anyway) that he will rip you from your delicate sensibilities and get you movin. Be prepared to sweat, and listen for the audible cooing from the audience during “Heart Don’t Stand A Chance”, and then it’s your turn to make someone else listen and dance.

Have I convinced you yet?

I think you’ll luh it.

F**k that, I know you will, I know you will, I know you will.