#AlbumReview, Anderson .Paak – Oxnard (Video)

Anderson .Paak’s third studio album, Oxnard, is an upbeat, jazzy tour through his hometown by the same name. Sleek production and unique hooks make up the bulk of this album’s sound. This is the first project that fans of Paak have received since his tandem effort with producer Knxwledge on ‘Yes Lawd!,’ half of the hip hop combo NxWorries.

First Impressions:

Fans have awaited a true successor to Malibu for two years, and by the look of the track list, it’s clear that this album is going to be a wild trip from start to finish. A star-studded cast is nothing without the substance to back it up. If an album is .Paak’d (pun intended) with names like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and J. Cole just to name a few, you should know that this isn’t just another two-week snapchat lip sync playlist. This album definitely has replay value, and is certainly going to be one that we speak highly of in the years to come when we look back at Anderson’s body of work.

Highlights:

“Tints” – This was a great single with a catchy hook. From time to time I still catch myself humming the chorus to myself and I can never really get it out of my head. A funky beat mixed in with a high energy performance from .Paak keeps this one going. The flow of Kendrick’s verse was a great addition even though he didn’t say much of anything. Overall this was a fun track.

“Anywhere” is my favorite track on the album. This one opens up a smooth guitar rift over a boom bap beat, and Snoop taking a walk down memory lane. I thought it was dope that his late 80’s callback leads right into Anderson’s verse that’s full of references to 80’s – 90’s culture icons like Xscape, Ready for the World, DeBarge, 112, and more. In a time full of artists who dumb down their sound in favor of a newer audience, it’s great to see an artist pay homage to a different time where I’m sure that critics said the same thing about the artists who came up then too.

Low Points:

My main critique of this album is that when it tries to be more mainstream it seems to fall flat. There are a few moments like on tracks “Mansa Musa” or “Brothers Keeper” where Anderson seems to become a part of the background, for what seems like a weird amount of time for it to be his own album. I also had a huge issue with “Left to Right.” As bonus tracks go, this wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t really fit well with the rest of the album to me. It sort of left me feeling uninspired to even mention it in this review.

Video Review

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