Anderson .Paak’s ‘Venice’ To Get A U.K Release

After his standout performance on ‘Animals’ on Dre’s ‘Compton’, all eyes are now firmly on Anderson .Paak.

‘Animals’ was initially a collaboration between DJ Premier by way of BMB Spacekid from Russia, but when it came to Dre’s attention it had to make the ‘Compton’ album. DJ Premier tells us the story behind the making of animals in his interview with DJ Semtex.

Anderson .Paak, unknown to some until his performance on 6 tracks on ‘Compton’, had already released his debut album one year ago, and it could easily have been slept on but then Dre introduced .Paak onto the world stage. It’s clear now that no one will be overlooking the talents of Anderson .Paak, and starting in the UK, ‘Venice’ will now see a U.K release of the album on the 28th August 2015 to also co-incide with the opening of the film ‘Straight Outta Compton’ here.

Firmly recognised on the LA scene, .Paak’s origins and mixed bag of influences are part of his upbringing in a black/Korean family in Oxnard, Southern California in 1986. .Paak began producing music in his bedroom as a teenager, while gaining his stripes on the live circuit as a drummer. By 2012 he had begun getting the recognition on the Los Angeles music scene and dropped his first mixtape ‘O.B.E. Vol 1’ under the pseudonym ‘Breezy Lovejoy’.

Anderson .Paak’s subsequent release under his own name came with ‘Cover Art’, an all-covers EP, which was driven by his observation that the white artists of the 1950’s had achieved commercial success by remaking songs written by black Blues and R&B singers while hardly ever compensating the original artists. ‘Cover Art’ reversed the process and transformed folk and rock classics by white musicians into a meld of soul, jazz, hip hop, electronic funk and R&B.

His full length studio album, ‘Venice’ utilises an electronic edge adding a hard and fast sound to the R&B laced tracks, letting the marching hi-hats and microwaved vocals dominate nightclub sets along both US coasts.

Amongst his notable features on ‘Compton’, .Paak is no stranger to collaboration and has prominent features and production credits with artists including Watsky, Dumbfoundead, Shafiq Husayn, Tiron & Ayomari and Wax, plus collaborations with The Free Nationals and Nxworries (alongside Beat Construction alum Knxwledge).