Above the Paak: An introduction to Anderson Paak (@breezylovehat)

His real name is Brandon Anderson Paak. Born into a Black/Korean family in Oxnard, California in 1986. Anderson Paak is a singer, rapper & producer who recently this year performed six songs on Dr. Dre's Compton album and two songs on the Game's Documentary 2 album. He started in his teeens producing music from his bedroom. His first solo album was released in 2010 called Violets Are Blue. In 2011, prior to being a successful working musician, Paak was working at a marijuana growing farm in Santa Barbara. He was let go without warning, becoming homeless together with his wife and infant son. In that same year, Paak had started earning acceptance in the Los Angeles music world, and had begun working on his debut album. Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra helped Paak recover financially from losing his job in Santa Barbara by employing him as an assistant, videographer, editor, writer, and producer.

In 2012, Paak put out his second album Lovejoy and later that year he completed O.B.E. Vol.1 (his third album) in this time period, and released the album in mid-2012. At this time, he became the drummer for American Idol contestant Haley Reinhart, and was able to further grow as a musician and performer.





In November 27, 2013, Paak produced and recorded Cover Art, an all-covers EP. Paak was inspired by the white artists of the 1950s who 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 from white musicians into a mold of Soul, Jazz, Hip Hop, and R&B. The album was released by the independent Hellfyre Club, and OBE labels.

Paak produced 14 of the 16 Tracks from George Watsky's album All You Can Do which released in August 2014.





On October 28, 2014, Paak released Venice, his debut album as Anderson Paak, on OBE and Steel Wool. In October 2015, he announced that he has recorded material with TED rapper ScHoolboy Q and legendary producer 9th Wonder. Paak plans to release his next album, Malibu before the end of this year