Anderson .Paak Discusses The meaning Behind Some Lyrics From "Malibu"

[CEITEDMOFO]

I posted his responses in green

We see the same things
Oh-oh-oh
We sing the same songs
Oh-oh-oh
We feel the same grief
Oh-oh-oh
Bleed the same blood
You grew up in the home beside me
I always had a friend to call
How could I make it here without you? Mmm Anderson .Paak – The Bird

I had a close friend growing up named Trevor that was in the same neighborhood as me. I was a bit younger than him and he took me under his wing. We experienced a lot of stuff together—smoking my first little bit of weed, ditching school, going on dates with girls, even him tryna hook me up with girls that were my age. I really looked up to him and thought he was the coolest person in the world.

If I didn’t have that bestfriend around it might’ve been rough for me in that neighborhood. We were in the middle of the suburbs and he’s the other random black kid coming from L.A. visiting. We used to go to football games and get into a lot of trouble, but I built a lot of my identity around that.

He ended up going in a completely different direction and I went mine. I feel like having that musical outlet was probably the only reason I didn’t go the same direction as him. That’s where I was getting at—keeping it broad but having that one theme like, I don’t know where I would have been if I didn’t have that person.

My little sister was one of my best friends growing up too. My little sister is two years younger, but we used to share beds and have bunk beds. We had a good connection and we still do. When my family was going through different things, my folks were gone a lot. That was sometimes the only friend I had in the house. We would just act a fool. So it’s both of them. Sometimes it’s that one person that keeps you sane, that makes all the difference.

[Produced by Hi-Tek]
Anderson .Paak – Come Down

Hi-Tek hit me up on Twitter saying he was a big fan and I immediately hit him back. I was a huge fan—came up on a lot of his stuff. I knew he could give me some funky, greasy stuff, but still hip-hop bass. I was so excited to work with him.

I said, “Dude, I just want an infectious groove, a nasty bass line.” And that’s exactly what he sent. At first I was like, This is too open. I sat with it a little bit and then I came back to it once I had more of the album done. It was one of the last songs we did for the album—probably why we didn’t put a bridge on it.

I heard a Parliament Funk party element, that’s what I was going for. There’s so much space where I feel like the vocal shines and that grit really gets to stand out. We went back and forth with things we wanted to add, subtle things like guitar collapse, the sequencing. In the end we came up with a nice funk track.

Can't see her with this pitch black Gucci frames on
Let me take these bytches off
Let me get the full scope, hold up
Huh, full screen, HD, let me take another picture
Anderson .Paak – Come Down

I’m like, Let me put away my swag for a little bit so I could get the bigger picture real quick. He comes in the scene on his high horse. And then, “Hold up, let me put that to the side real quick and see what’s really going on around here.”

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

You nikkas got me high
nikkas, tell me how?Anderson .Paak – Come Down

I like to keep it vague. I’m talking about the party element—being with someone and being in a position where it’s like, if we get into this situation we can’t go back from here. Then there’s the other part—you’re on the come up and you don’t want that moment to cease. Then there’s the element where you might have a bad trip—you might be on acid like, “Nah, get me down from here.” I’ve had that before, where you eat edibles and get the spins.

I like doing that as opposed to making it directly about one thing. Essentially everybody feels what the song is about—they just wanna groove. I keep it vague and keep people guessing. I like that about it, all these different elements embodying one feeling.

Now you, drank up all my liquor, come on
What I'm 'posed to do now?
And you talkin' all that shyt, now come on
You gonna have to back it up
If I get too high now, sugar, come on
I might never come down
You know I might never come down
Let me get down
You might not never come down
Now let me come down
You might not never come down
Let me get down!Anderson .Paak – Come Down

It’s like I’m being antagonized by this group of people. I wanna come down and they’re like, “No way!” Kinda like Parliament or Funkadelic, where they have a little character with this high-pitched voice and he’s like “I can’t swim, put me down!” That’s what the theme was and it came together so easily in the studio. I wrote it on the road when I was on tour.

What I was getting at on the hook is a play on the whole James Brown element where he’s like, “I wanna get down.” It’s like a duality of they’re taunting him, like, “You ain’t gonna get down” and he’s like, “Nah, I’m gonna show you. I wanna bust a move in this bytch.”

Tried to tell nikkas, in 2012, nikka
Working hand to hand and no avail
Volume one was too heavy for you frail nikkas
Anderson .Paak (Ft. BJ The Chicago Kid) – The Waters

These soul records that were more personal and had more instrumentation—“Celebrate,” “The Bird,” “Put Me Through,” “Parking Lot,”—I had maybe three or four years already that I was holding onto. I wasn’t really ready to expose that side yet. I was really tired of putting out music to deaf ears and I didn’t want to do that again. I see the value of waiting til the right time.

I didn’t imagine that we’d be working with people like Dr. Dre, 9th Wonder, Hi-Tek, or Kaytra, but I did think we’d have more attention on us, and I’ll be ready to share my story with the world when people were listening.

I want you by my lonesome, above this crowded space
It's easier to hold some, when no one's in the way
Well if no one's in the running for the part
I'd love to pick a day
Anderson .Paak (Ft. The Game) – Room In Here

I like to be very honest and direct. I pay attention to what she’s saying to ignite some good conversation, as opposed to waiting for my time to talk or just being infatuated with her shell. Honesty is the best thing. Even if I’m slightly intimidated by how beautiful she is, I try to muster up that confidence and be assertive.

I pay attention to every detail that she’s saying because that’s what’s going to get you far. If nothing’s registering or you’re not retaining anything she’s saying, you can’t really have a tennis game. You’re kinda like a dunce. Make sure you look her in the eye without being too creepy. Maybe crack a few jokes.

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

And that's the problem, she a good girl
Maybe it's too much smoke in the room
And she don't want that Mary Jane in her Vidal Sassoon
Anderson .Paak (Ft. The Game) – Room In Here

When Game saw what he liked, he had to change his approach a little bit. He couldn’t really smoke around her. He had to do it a little different in order to take advantage of his time and shoot his shot. We kinda took a similar approach and thought of different ways to say it.

[Verse 3: The Game]Anderson .Paak (Ft. The Game) – Room In Here

Game told me to pick one of the women in the studio for him to write about. There were about 10 or 15 women in there, all beautiful. He had the tall white one from Sweden, the Latina one, the Afrocentric one, the thick one, the skinny one, the Asian one.

I picked the one that I thought was awesome. She looked like she might’ve been in her last year of college. She had a cute little Adidas tee on. She was lowkey, but beautiful. She didn’t have to try hard to be beautiful. Kinda unassuming, but still bad as fukk.

He’s like, “alright bet.” He wrote his verse in less than five minutes and went in the booth, knocked it out in one shot. It’s interesting, because when you hear the lyrics, it seems like he actually really likes this one. He kept it real clean. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a verse like that from him.

The cards will fall where they may
And what about me?
I believe in fate
Anderson .Paak (Ft. ScHoolboy Q) – Am I Wrong

There was a time when I thought because I was talented and handsome that everything would just come to me. I wouldn’t have to develop a work ethic and I could just chill and things would just fall on my lap. That wasn’t the case. It took a while for things to really register and for me to get some recognition for my art.

Now I’m more on the side of the universe got a plan for me and the more that I’m prepared, the better I can execute in these opportunites that the universe is sending to me. When I’m not prepared, it can get a little haywire and I could go different ways. Not to say I won’t find where I’m supposed to be, but it can take a little longer. I believe in fate.

 

[GoldenGlove]

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

dude is ill as fukk to me.

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

[Verse 2: ScHoolboy Q]Anderson .Paak (Ft. ScHoolboy Q) – Am I Wrong
I actually didn’t expect him to even want to get on this record. I was working with him on his project having a blast in the studio. I played him some of my album. I actually had another record that I thought he would’ve been good on—it actually didn’t make the cut, maybe for the next one. He heard “Am I Wrong” and was like, “I love this one, I gotta get on this.”

He did his verse and sent it back that night. I told Pomo, the producer, that I thought we could do something with the production to fit his verse a little bit better. He sent back the arrangement where he dropped it to a half-time groove and I thought it was so perfect. It made his verse that much better.

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

there is more on his account on rapgenius

 

[We Major]

Malibu will take some beating this year.