Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
Anderson .Paak caught my attention when he made his TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with his band The Free Nationals in February. I was impressed by his charismatic performance and variety of talents – in the space of two songs, he sings, raps and plays drums, and I hadn’t even seen his groovy dancing yet. The same month, Anderson joined Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label, and since then he’s become one of the year’s most talked-about new artists, and one of the breakout stars of SXSW. His sound is a mix of neo-soul, funk and hip-hop, with an obvious comparison being Prince. He’s the type of artist the indie blogs and broadsheets will pounce on, as an opportunity to prove they appreciate black music, and I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t pop up soon on Later… with Jools Holland. He’s released two cool features (Kaytranada and Domo Genesis) in the past month, and it’s only a matter of time before the collaborations get much bigger.