Top 25 Anderson Paak Quotes

I’d been watching documentaries about early rock where white artists took ‘race records’ from blues and soul musicians to achieve mass appeal. I wanted to flip that and do an EP covering only white artists.

My mom eventually got out to Oxnard and started a produce company and was in the strawberry business. My pops was out of the picture by the time I was 7.

There’s quite a few artists that didn’t pop off until they were a little older – Rick James being one.

If you grow up playing in church, it removes a lot of the boundaries that other musicians might have, growing up with sheet music or whatever.

I don’t know many artists who’ve come out of Beverly Hills, y’know? You need that struggle.

My mom was born in Korea – Seoul, Korea, during the ’50s, ’51. She was abandoned; her and my uncle were abandoned. My grandfather was a Seabee and adopted my mom and my uncle, and brought them to Compton in the ’50s. That’s where she was raised.

The dot stands for ‘detail’ – always be paying attention to detail. I feel that people take you as serious as you take yourself. I spent a lot of time working on my craft, developing my style, and after I came out of my little incubation, I promised that I would pay attention to detail.

Life got very good – we went from living in a one-bedroom apartment to a five-bedroom mansion by the time I was in high school. I had everything I wanted growing up, though all I wanted was music stuff – drums, a PC, turntables.

I’m part of the generation that grew up with great rappers like 2Pac and Biggie and people like Amy Winehouse. We’ve seen a lot of different artists come and go. Even people who are still here, they seem consumed and blinded by fame. It may not have taken them out physically, but they have been taken out.

I got invited to work on Dre’s ‘Compton’ project.

I’m at my best when I’m talking about relationships, talking about women, talking about situations and stories.

I didn’t start playing drums until I was 12, for school band; they didn’t have any saxophones left. My step-pops had a kit at the house, and I had never done anything that I understood so quick. It was so natural. It was the most fun and consistent thing in my life.

Nothing I do is ever void of melody. I know it might seem like I’m doing a lot of rapping, but I’m always utilizing tone and trying to find a key signature. So, I don’t look at myself as a rapper.

It would feel like a smack in the face to sign with any label outside of Dre’s. He took a risk on me, and that means everything.

My story as an artist has been about trial and error. It’s been about artist development, character building, struggle, happiness and failure, family, and music.

If you’re doing black music, you should have a core understanding of where that comes from, and the fundamentals – so you’re not some bozo thinking you’re doing something new.

I tell people a lot of times, if you want to be a part of something, you never know, you kind of just have to be around. A lot of people don’t really have the patience for it, and they don’t stick around. Dre and I are still working together, and we have plenty of music for the future.

I just want people to be affected by the music. I’m really affected by my surroundings and put everything in my music – what I’m not getting and what I desire. I want it to be uncompromised… almost a spiritual thing.

I think there’s a void for some authentic soul music with an edge. I think there’s some people who grew up with Motown and Stevie Wonder that still can appreciate Future, Drake, and all these different things, too, but there shouldn’t be a void for those people, as well.

A lot of people who work with Dre, you’re lucky if anything sees the light of day.

I don’t think there’s anybody that has such a keen sense of vocal production and attention to detail as Dre.

I had a project called ‘Cover Art,’ which was the first project I did under the new name Anderson .Paak. I went through this process where I was recording new music for about six months straight.

I wanna do a song with Adele! Nobody gets Adele as a feature, so maybe I can. I hope she knows who I am!

I didn’t always take myself that seriously. Image-wise, I was somewhat of a jokester.

My wife was born in Korea, and we met in music college; she was there for vocal, and I was there for drums.