The What Podcast
Anderson .Paak
Season 1, Episode 1
Published February 16, 2018
https://beta.thewhatpodcast.com/episode/anderson-paak

Don't I make it look easy?

Don't I make it look good?

Something we specialize in

Just don't drink all my liquor

Anderson Paak, more specifically Brandon Paak Anderson

Did you know that's not even his name, Anderson Paak?

Brandon Paak Anderson, that's like if I called myself Steinbrater

Is it Paak or Park?

It was originally Park, that's right

It's actually Park in there, yeah, yeah

The podcast, the what?

Hyper-focusing on the bands that matter

More precisely which bands that matter this year

Which bands this year that matter, something like that

This, that, and the other, this, that

I love we're starting with Anderson Paak

Really, do you?

I really do

That's a surprise to me, I didn't think that would be up your alley

Well, it wasn't, to be honest

But I think this year for me especially

The lineup is about discovery

And a little bit of trust

No

That we've gone, you and I

What, almost 30 times each

Yeah, I guess

It's combined

Oh my god

Combined

And so there is a little bit of trust in the guys that put it together

And Anderson is not somebody that was very familiar to me a couple weeks ago

Now I like it quite a bit

Now you like it a lot

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the live show

This is a podcast by Bonnarooians for Bonnarooians

We want to take a deep dive into the artists that are playing Bonnarooo

We want to do each and every week

Go through a specific artist's catalog

Go through their bio

Maybe introduce you to a new band

Maybe you could even introduce us to a new band

And you could do that at thewhatpodcast.com

We hope to catch some of that magic that these artists will bring to the farm

Bottle it and then expose it to you each week with a spotlight on the artists that will hopefully make 2018 special

And you talk about that trust that you have in the Bonnaroo people

Whether or not the lineup is for you or not for you

There's something probably you're going to discover

And it's really odd to me that you just now discovered Anderson Paak

Especially with all the two Grammy Awards last year

Yeah, well, to be honest, I've relied on maybe my kids or some other people

And they're all gone

Oh, they're still with us though

Well, I mean, yes, they're out of the house

Thank goodness

So yeah, I mean, there's so much music out there

I can't keep up with all of it

And I don't pretend that I do

I have learned over the many years of going to Bonnaroo

You're there

You really don't have much else to do

You don't have anything else to do

You might as well go discover a new great act

Sure

For those just joining us who don't know who we are

That's Barry Courter

He writes for the Times Street Press and has for since the inception of newspapers

From the beginning of newspapers, you were there

Pretty much

The first one rolled off with an ink press

I'm Brad Steiner

I do a radio show on a Top 40 station in Chattanooga

But our passion, no matter if Barry's writing about a recipe or if I'm playing Beyonce

Our passion is independent alternative music

And nobody showcases it better than the foremost festival

And that's Bonnaroo

So not only do we appreciate you

But we appreciate the Bonnaroo people for being so supportive in this

And because they're so supportive in this

They're giving us a pair of tickets to give away to a podcast listener

This, our inaugural version of the What Podcast

Somebody that listens to this podcast is going to win Bonnaroo tickets

I'll tell you how to do that coming up a little bit later on the podcast

But Anderson Paak, to me, I love him so much

Because everything that he writes, everything that he performs

The way that he performs it

It all starts with that bio of his

And that bio of his is not only inspiring, but it's heartbreaking

No question

And the other thing I love about him

That I'm learning to love about him is

You can hear so many influences

Not just in the lyrics like you're talking about

His storyline is one thing

But every time I hear it, I hear

Today I heard Curtis Mayfield

Then I hear a little James Brown

And then I hear a little Pharrell with the danceable part of it

And I think it's a good example

That's why I say I'm glad we started with this one

I think it's a good example of that sort of discovery, like I said

The kind of thing you might find at a Bonnarooo

You might think you knew what it was

You might have had a prejudice

Which I did

First of all, the name sounds like an accountant firm

Not to pick on him, it's a great name

But it does

It's not at all what I thought the name

Well, the name, essentially, Korean

He comes from a Korean mother who married a man who eventually tried to beat her to death

In the front yard with him what?

With Anderson watching his sister, I think, right?

This is a little bit of how Anderson describes his own biography

The family situation is

A lot of people go through torn families

But definitely I'm one of them

I had three generations of prison

Of parents go to prison

So my mom, my step-pops, and my biological pops all sent to prison

By the time I was 17, both my parents were in prison

My biological pops were sent to prison when I was 7

So I grew up in church

I grew up all sisters, two older sisters, one little sister

And my mom was a workaholic

So I was raised by the TV and just friends and my big sisters

And when he talks about his biological dad, he goes even further

He went from being there every day to

I only see him a few times a week

And then to the day where I saw him literally on top of my mom

Really trying to take my mom's life

So it was like tough, that was the last time I seen him

Imagine how that influences someone's entire catalog that they will write

Especially when you listen to the song, The Bird

Which sounds to me like a guy trying to expel some of the demons

Yeah, you couple that with

I mean you can just imagine a young person having that happen

And then locking themselves alone in a room with their music

You can hear it, I mean you hear it in what he does

I don't know what it is, but I guess the reason why I love him so much

is because he follows a lot of the same threads

that most of the artists that I like in my life

that they make lyrics that take you to a completely different life experience than my own

Whether it's depressing, whether it's jubilation

in his case, it's a life that I would never

in a million years be able to relate to

but oh my god, when he does it, when he writes it, when he tells the story

he picks me up right by the neck and drops me into his life experience

Yeah, there's a lot of things I like about that song

exactly what you just said, but then the line

I had to wake up to make it through

It could have gone a lot of ways in the environment that he was in

That line I can relate to no matter what

my life experience is

and it drove him to go to music school

couldn't make it because he couldn't afford it

became a TA, played drums on his own

He meets his wife at music school, which is like an ITT for musicians

goes on and has a child with his wife

They can't afford a life, they're basically homeless

they're squatting in foreclosed houses

and eventually writes a song that gets Dr. Dre's ear

Dr. Dre then invites him into the studio

and plays down a few tracks

This is basically what Dre had to say in the words of Anderson Paak

I didn't know anything about Compton or anything that was going on

I was like, I'll show up, you know

I pulled up and I met the DOC and Dre

first two people I meet in the studio

They start playing the tracks and they're like, yo, hold up

that joint you got swayed, we've been playing that for like three weeks straight

They played it again and they brought Dre in there to hear it

and every time he was ready to work

And that song is what got him into the studio

It's the song that changed his life and eventually became

the multi Grammy nominated superstar of the year today

What I would have given for my mother to have given me the advice

You might go broke chasing every chick with a tongue piercing

If only I got that advice when I was sixteen

You'd be in a different place

Right, all dad ever told me is don't keep your money in your mouth

When you listen to that song

Whether it's for you or not for you

What Dre heard was really interesting

This is what Anderson Paak said that Dre said once he heard Sway

This was fascinating to me

He told me he liked the pain in my voice

The pain?

Yeah, you got that pain in your voice

You got a story in your voice

When I hear it, it sounds like you, only you

He's got a story to tell, that's for sure

Yeah, that is, you hear the pain

And I like, you know, just cause it's the way I listen to music

The musicality of it

You know, he's a drummer

Sure

And that's where he starts from

That's when he's writing songs

He talked about an interview that I heard

Actually part of the Showtime Word is Bond documentary

That he's part of

He hears it, he hears the tone

And where he fits in the pocket before he writes

For some reason, lately I've done a lot of interviews with songwriters

And so the whole process fascinates me

So to hear his approach, they're all different

Nobody does it the same way and really no songs are the same way

But yeah, when you start with that pain

And you start with that voice

Pretty good foundation

And then you add the musicality that he has

It's interesting that you said playing the drums in the documentary

Because also in that documentary he reveals that

He originally thought he was going to be an MC

He thought he was going to be like a hardcore rapper

Gangster, he's going to be a gangster MC

And then he in the next breath mentions that radio head's a big influence

Right, right

The drums are a major part of it

And if you ever see him live, he goes

He's bouncing around the stage

He plays drums a little bit

And then he plays, he gets out in the middle of the crowd

And then the crowd surfs

I saw him in Okeechobee and it was the highlight of my year

It was my favorite live show that I saw

And the song that sticks out live is The Season

Because he's doing exactly that

When he does The Season in Carry Me

Not only is he adding the pain about talking about his mom

Trying to buy in the new sneakers

He's doing it with musicality, jumping from one instrument to the next to the next

Yeah, you don't see a lot of guys that are drummers

That are also rappers

I can't think of any

It was interesting to see video of him playing drums while singing, performing

Not really rapping, but more hip hop

It's just a different approach

The What Podcast

Starring Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times 3 Press

And myself, Brad Steiner from WDOD Hits 96 in Chattanooga

It's a deep dive into the artists that are playing Bonnarooo

The What Podcast, which bands that matter this year

You see what we did there?

What, which, that, this

It's funny

Yeah, I think so

It's clever

Yeah, it's available online anytime at thewhatpodcast.com

Thewhatpodcast.com

Hopefully you learned something

Hopefully you like it

If you do, comment

And when you comment, it could mean tickets to Bonnarooo for you

If you're listening to this podcast now, just check out thewhatpodcast.com

And you could scroll down to the bottom of the page there right before you see our names

Click when and put your name, your email address, maybe some feedback

Maybe something you like, something you don't like

And it could mean tickets for you to Bonnarooo with camping passes, by the way

That's a big deal

It is a big deal

Especially with all the camping upgrades and changes they're making this year to Bonnarooo

It's a different experience than when I camped in general admission 15 years ago

Which was what, a tarp and a couple of bungee cords?

It was the Wild West, man

It was the Wild West out there

There was absolutely no way to explain it

It wasn't just madness

It was a tad scary at times for somebody who had never been to a music festival before

I'm glad you said madness because I was thinking Mad Max

If you saw Mad Max, it was worse

Yes, some of the vehicles actually look like those

Mad Max was a day in the park, right?

Oh my God

I love it

It was rough

I think that's one of the things we'll get into later on in the series

Is a little bit more how that has changed

But every year they've made additions, they've made changes

They've made the camping experience better, I think, for most people

But I think you and I have agreed, we've talked about this over and over and over

The camping experience is what makes Bonnarooo

It's what makes it different, it makes it what it is

And I like how you said through the series, yes, we're probably going to do this every week

Every week spotlight a different band and artists that's playing Bonnarooo all the way up to the festival

And throughout the weeks, not only do we want to tell you about Bonnarooo

And tell you the do's, the don'ts, the good, the bad, the ugly

But we also want to hear what you have to say

And anything that you want to give us feedback on at thewhatpodcast.com

It is an experience unlike any other

It is something that not only you live with with all of your fellow Bonnarooians

But you live with with the artists as well

They bring a different show to the stage each and every time

Because they know it matters to you

That's right, and I think part of the reason we want to do this and can do this

Is because we've sort of gone through that transformation with it as it's grown

That's right

As fans, we probably have complained over the years as much as anybody else

We probably complain more than we've complimented, to be honest with you

Correct, about accommodations or the lineup or whatever

And I think last year we had an epiphany that we really enjoy that weekend

It's more than the lineup, it's more than the camping

It's a yearly get to do it again kind of thing with like-minded people

And that is such a huge part of it is that you're there because you want to be there

And you like music

Yeah, and it's not going to be just any Anderson Paak show that you get

You're going to get the best Anderson Paak show of the year

Because of that, because he knows that people have been camping for three days or however

Depending on when he performs and so they give a little more

I've done dozens of interviews over the years and that always comes up

Not just from me, but from other reporters that are in maybe the conference call or whatever

Is what makes Bonnarooo different

It's just everyone knows it, everyone feels it

You know, going back to the police when they were there

You remember the expectation was how's it going to be different

And it wasn't because Sting wouldn't do it

Right, he wouldn't do anything

But the expectation was that they're going to jam or they're going to do something

Anderson Paak, the focus of this week's The What podcast

Right up my alley

As a kid who does nothing but listen to 60s soul

And his favorite band is the Alabama Shakes

And still likes independent alternative music

It pretty much blends everything that I love into one sound

I think it's a perfect example of what you're talking about

That song has some OJs in it, little backstabber

But it's brand new

And you and I don't always agree on music

I like 60s soul like you do

But some of the new stuff that you might listen to

I think I commented to you once before

Why don't I just listen to the original stuff

Why don't I listen to Otis or Marvin or whatever

And this is what's different about Anderson for me is

That sounds totally fresh

Just because I hear a little OJs in there

I don't feel like it's a total ripoff that I have to go hear the OJs

I like that it's new

And he's been doing this for a while

When you look at Malibu

You think that this was something that just popped out of nowhere

Like oh my God, look what I just discovered

But no, he had an album that was doing some of the similar things

Just a few years before called Venice

So the point is for Malibu

It was insanely personal, right?

He wrote a lot about his personal struggles

His life with his parents

His life with his sisters

And the struggles that his life took on from age of 7 to 30

Well, Venice was a little bit different to me

Venice sounds a lot like a 25 year old who is being 25

If you know what that means

You know, a 25 year old good looking dude being 25

It was a little less personal

It was a little bit more, dare I say, drinking and drugs

But it's amazing that the core of him

The core sound of him still remains in that old school R&B

But with that Pharrell kick to it

You hear that youth, the pain from the youth

You hear the church

You hear all that

You hear him locked in the room listening to 60s soul

A song Anderson Paak recorded and released in 2014

La You from his album Venice

Which was his first album, his second album

Then was Malibu

He'll have a new third album coming up this year

You'll probably be hearing new music come Bonnarooo

Yeah, come Bonnarooo Weekend

I was just looking

He is Saturday night, head of Cascade, Bon Iver and Eminem

As you know, Saturday night, that's when everybody comes

It's packed, it's crazy

I have to imagine if I'm starting to put on my Bonnarooo scheduling hat for a second

Knowing is Bonnarooo the way that we know it

I've been to 13 Bonnarooo's, you've been to practically all of them

Knowing Bonnarooo the way that we know him

I can't imagine Bonnarooo putting Anderson Paak for his first time ever at Bonnarooo on the what stage, can you?

Especially when you have Bon Iver doing two sets that night

Right, right, yeah

Which we're going to get into one of our shows

We're trying to guess what he's going to do for two shows

It's the same day

What will Bon Iver do?

Pretty crazy

That's going to be the fun, that's a great day Saturday

That's a big day, what else is on Saturday?

Mavis Staples who I'm so excited about

A focus of another podcast coming up in the upcoming weeks

Niles Rodgers and Sheik, which will be the fun one

That's one of those

Well fun for your age people, that's the legacy act for Barry

I always go back to the Lionel Richie thing

Just stunned me when that was announced and it's still a lot of people's favorites

They figure out really strange things to pop in the lineup that always seem to work

That always seems to work, that's exactly right

Sylvan Esso is that day, Old Crowe Madison

So maybe are we thinking maybe could Anderson Paak be your Saturday night after Eminem?

Oh yeah, could be

On which?

Could be

Do you think that they would put Anderson Paak late night after?

Like they did with Kanye the year that was such a disaster

But it was a late after show

But you know they're going to put Cascade on the new EDM stage

That's going to be the headliner for the EDM

You gotta imagine that

But there could be, I can't find another artist that you just named that would go on after Eminem on which

That's a good thought

That's the R. Kelly slot from a few years ago

That would be a good show wouldn't it?

That would be a phenomenal late night show

I saw him in the middle of the afternoon at Okeechobee, it was great

But it ain't one o'clock in the morning

After Eminem, everybody, yeah that would be cool

I don't know, that's what we get to speculate in the coming weeks don't we

How the schedule's going to line up

Anderson Paak, the focus of this week's The What Podcast

Yes Lord

Yes Lord

Yeah, by the way do you know why he puts the dots right before Paak and Anderson Paak

I do not

Alright well

Cause they slept on me for so long so now they gotta pay attention to everything now

Every little detail they gotta pay attention to cause he got slept on for so long

Not getting slept on anymore, a headliner at his first ever Bonnarooo, that is a big big deal

You know I was thinking, funny you ask about the dot

I thought last year we should have had like a category that, or a contest

Is this act a one person act or a group? Is that a person's name or not?

Cause I couldn't tell

Cause you can't tell half the time

Anderson Paak, this week's focus on The What Podcast

As we go through the weeks that get closer to Bonnarooo 2018

We're going to try and focus on some of your favorites if you want to

Shoot us a suggestion

TheWhatPodcast.com also a place you can register for tickets for Bonnarooo 2018

Maybe focus on Bon Iver's two sets

Maybe Mavis Staples

Maybe we'll do a Sylvan Esso week

And Moon Taxi week

Maybe we'll do some themes

Give us your suggestions down to WhatPodcast.com

I'd like some questions too cause there'll be people like us that are veterans

And maybe some new people that want to know how to do this

Everyone I think has a perception of what they think Bonnarooo is

And if you've never been your perception is probably wrong

That's Barry Courter, I'm Brad Steiner

Thank you to our web developer Lord Taco

The Lord of tweeting and communicating online

Graphic genius Nick Turner

Who else? Do we need to thank anyone else?

Nicky T's the man

And thank you for listening this week to The What Podcast

See you next week