9 Things You Didn't Know About Anderson .Paak
How well do you know Breezy Lovejoy?
Image via Jonathan F
Hard work pays off. Anderson .Paak is living proof—the Oxnard native reached superstar status in 2016 with a couple of incredible albums (Malibu dropped in January, Yes Lawd! with producer Knxwledge arrived last month), but he's been on his grind for a minute. There are a lot of interesting stories in .Paak's past, from punk bands to working on weed farms. So get familiar with one of 2016's most exciting new stars and find out how well you really know Anderson .Paak.
He first wanted to make music after seeing 'Juice.'
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Tupac's seminal role as Bishop is quite possibly his greatest moment on film. And while his career as an actor was tragically cut short, we can take solace in knowing the late great Shakur inspired a whole generation to create, Anderson .Paak included.
He worked as a weed trimmer.
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With a baby on the way and no job prospects to speak of, .Paak got a job as a weed trimmer to make ends meet. He was living in California at the time, all of 24 years old—and it worked out. "That shit helped me tremendously," he said. "It was the most money I've ever had at one point."
But his time on the farm came to an end when seasons changed and jobs dried up—Anderson .Paak soon found himself homeless.
The nickname "Breezy Lovejoy" has gross origins.
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.Paak's brother-in-law gave him the nickname "Breezy" because he use to eat a lot of Cheetos. The resultant farts were like "gusts of wind," according to their maker. "Lovejoy" was added later, when music came into the picture.
Paak is his middle name.
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.Paak's mother is from Seoul, Korea—she was adopted in the '50s, and Park became Paak somewhere in the process. His government name is Brandon Paak Anderson, and his artist name can be pronounced "pack" or "pac" (like Tupac)—just don't forget the period before the P.
His first album was Snoop Dogg's 'Doggystyle.'
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But it was a fleeting encounter—after just a couple of days, .Paak's stepdad took it away from him because of the language. At least, that what he told the child at the time—young .Paak heard him playing it the next day while rolling up in his car.
It was Snoop's videos that originally caught his attention—.Paak was just seven or eight at the time, and Snoop was showing things he had never seen before.
He doesn't like to be in the studio alone.
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.Paak's studio habits require a lot of people—and Hendrick's gin. "I like a cool atmosphere in the studio," he said on Sway in the Morning. "I like there to be a handful of people, cool individuals, smart and sexy... we're talking, we're intellectualizing, and then we go make some music."
He played weddings with his band.
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.Paak was in a number of bands coming up—his hometown of Oxnard has a huge hardcore scene, he was a session musician, and he played drums in a cover band. "Weddings, christenings, anything," he told HOT 97.
He was his school's prom king.
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Bubba, as he was known then, won his high school's winter formal—.Paak was elected prom king, and took home a few senior superlatives to boot.
He originally wanted to play the saxophone instead of the drums.
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.Paak knows his way around the whole orchestra, but drums are his specialty. That almost wasn't the case—when music class started at age 12, .Paak asked for a saxophone. He was rebuffed.
"They didn’t have any saxophones left," .Paak told Pitchfork. So he went with the drums instead, and took to it. "I had never done anything that I understood so quick, it was so natural... I remember my mom coming inside, and she was like, 'Oh shit, you already know how to play!' and she was dancing. I never saw her dance before, and that really sparked something."
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