Malibu
Rapper/singer Anderson .Paak’s third album—and first since his star turn on Dr. Dre’s *Compton*—is a warm, wide-angle look at the sweep of his life. A former church drummer trained in gospel music, Paak is as expressive a singer as he is a rapper, sliding effortlessly between the reportorial grit of hip-hop (“Come Down”) and the emotional catharsis of soul and R&B (“The Season/Carry Me”), live-instrument grooves and studio production—a blend that puts him in league with other roots-conscious artists like Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar.
The West Coast-based rapper and singer/songwriter Anderson .Paak showed up frequently on Dr. Dre’s Compton. His third album, his most assured and most personal project yet, is informed by voices from the past and full of guests (the Game, ScHoolboy Q, Talib Kweli) who are given ample space to do their best work. Malibu is an expansive opus that flows in multiple directions like a classic '70s double album.
Malibu, California might be defined by shorelines and sunshine, but where's there's light, there's always a shadow. For 29-year-old Oxnard a...