2018 Album Retrospective #7: Anderson .Paak - Oxnard
Any person attempting to trace the history of hip-hop back to its foundations could not ignore that genre's roots in the Afrocentric sounds of jazz, funk, and R&B. Though much of the rap music that has gotten popular since the '90s has been somewhat disconnected from this history, jazz rap artists from A Tribe Called Quest to Kendrick Lamar have managed to preserve a place for it in the mainstream of hip-hop, however niche it may be.
But rapping over jazz-inspired beats is not quite the same as mixing hip-hop with funk and soul, and no artist blends these sounds as coherently and effectively as Anderson .Paak. His previous venture, 2016's Malibu, carried an impeccable neo-soul vibe provided by The Free Nationals, Paak's incredibly talented live band. It pulsed with a youthful energy, and every instance of a relevant vocal snippet or oceanic sound effect felt like a sharp intake of salty air. None of its sounds were new, but nothing to come before sounds quite like it.
Oxnard, while named after Paak's hometown in California, seems at once more personal and yet less direct than Malibu. While he has linked the hip-hop stylings present here back to his high school days listening to artists such as Kanye West and Jay-Z, largely gone are the themes of adolescence and coming into one's own. Instead Paak is rapping over more varied instrumentals about everything from fame to women to politics.
Trading in coherence for variety does lend this album many advantages, surprisingly. It is still unmistakably West Coast in its sound, especially due to legendary beatmaker Dr. Dre being present as executive producer. Dre also provides a verse on the track Mansa Musa, one of a few songs he also deigned to help produce directly. Swapping from synth funk to soul to pop rap so rapidly might throw some listeners off, but Paak pulls each change off so well it never feels like he is outside his comfort zone.
The array of sounds also allows each of the many featured artists here to feel right at home in their performances. Snoop Dogg shows up on Anywhere, commenting on how the track's g-funk feel brings him back to his glory days on Long Beach. Q-Tip reminisces about friend and fellow Tribe member Phife Dawg on the upbeat song Cheers, after Paak lays down a tasteful and heartfelt tribute to Mac Miller.
Veteran artists share the spotlight here with some of modern hip-hop's most prominent figures, from Kendrick Lamar's slick contribution to the single Tints to J. Cole's continuation of a stellar string of features on Trippy. As amazing as it is to hear so many legends on one album, the fact that Paak is keeping up with all of them is maybe the strongest testament to this new direction's success.
Renowned and talented as all those artists are, easily the best verses here are found on Brother's Keeper, with Paak musing on the biblical meaning of the titular phrase: "If Jesus would've had a better lawyer would he have to see the cross". As the guitar keeps strumming and the beat gets even more epic, Pusha T comes in to deliver a stone-cold nod to his brother No Malice, the other half of Pusha's former group Clipse: "Am I my brother's keeper, they still asking 'bout the duo/Applaud his finding salvation/But I'm still rhyming 'bout the you know"
Who R U? is a chance for Paak to flex both his wealth and his lyrical talents, and he does so well enough, with lines like "I've been swimming through the process/And you can't see me, I'm the Loch Ness/You could proceed, but with caution/Give the proceeds to my god-kids". His flow as the beat pulls back and he raps "Ooh savage, that's a nice get-up/International, rocking Japanese denim" is perfectly sleek, and Dre's backing vocals help give the track even more groove.
Anderson .Paak's casual misogyny, while certainly not a barrier holding Oxnard back, is prevalent enough to be noted. From the casual womanizing on Sweet Chick to the framing of the political statement on 6 Summers being "Trump's got a love child and I hope that bitch is buckwild", this record feels almost socially regressive in some ways. Easily the oddest instance of this attitude, however, comes at the end of the aptly named Headlow, in the form of a sex skit (a '90s rap gimmick that should have stayed dead) which is as uncomfortable as it is off-putting.
Rarely does Oxnard ever fail thoroughly enough to mar itself too terribly. Saviers Road is both too short and too dull to truly leave a mark, even when the drum hits come in and start shoving the rest of the track forward. It's at least more bearable than the following track Smile/Petty, which transitions halfway through from incredibly boring to sounding like a bad Malibu leftover. Not all the tracks come together perfectly from front to back, but there's more than enough good material on here to not be too upset about it.
Despite all its fresh ideas and star-studded cast, many will likely evaluate Oxnard as 'worse than Malibu' and latch onto that opinion as a condemnation of this new direction. Ignoring the incredibly high bar that view sets, to judge this album on its own merits is to appreciate what is one of the most ambitious rap albums of the year. To meld his sound with so many hip-hop elements this effortlessly is a feat to behold, certainly, and Anderson .Paak proves once again why he is one of the most talented and exciting artists alive today.