The song that convinced Dr Dre to sign Anderson Paak: “Hooked on it”
Anderson Paak‘s life changed dramatically in 2016. Born and raised in Oxnard, California, the singer/rapper has been making music since 2009 and worked for years without much recognition. He put himself on the map in 2014 with his debut album, Venice, before enjoying one of his biggest years yet a couple of years later.
In early 2015, Paak released ‘Suede’, a collaborative song with Knxwledge as NxWorries. The track went viral, now boasting over 10 million YouTube views and 83 million streams on Spotify. 10 years later, the song sounds just as refreshing as it did then. Dr Dre saw the vision because the track led to him signing Paak to his Aftermath label.
The journey started when Paak received a call from Ty Cannon, the lead A&R at Aftermath, who invited him to the studio with Dre, DJ Dahi, and DJ Khalil. Paak instantly accepted the invitation, as he was a fan of each producer.
“I didn’t know how the Dr Dre thing would pan out, because being around the city for so long, everybody says they have connects to Dre, Detox this-and-that,” he told Cuepoint. “I didn’t know anything about the Compton album. We went over there and the first two people I met were Dre and the D.O.C. They were real cool, super chill.
“We shook hands and I went into the studio and met some of the other producers and they said, “We’ve been listening to your song ‘Suede’ and have been hooked on it for the last two or three weeks. We got some music and want to know if you hear anything in it and want to get you on it.’ I was all about it.”
Paak was the final piece of the puzzle in the Compton album. Released in August 2015, the project included appearances from Paak on six songs: ‘All in a Day’s Work’, ‘Issues’, ‘Deep Water’, ‘For the Love of Money’, ‘Animals’ and ‘Medicine Man’. In the same vein as Hittman and Six Two on Dre 2001‘s album, Paak was a mainstay throughout the project.
“They played the first beat, for ‘All in a Day’s Work’, and I was just hooked,” he said. “I already had ideas in my head. Before I laid anything, they called Dre back in and wanted him to listen to my song because he hadn’t heard anything yet, so I was kind of nervous. They played the song for him and he was like ‘OK. Run that back. OK, run that back again.’ They played it three times and after the third time he was like ‘Let’s work.’ It was on after that.”
In 2016, Paak released his Malibu album, featuring The Game, ScHoolboy Q, Rapsody, Talib Kweli, and BJ the Chicago Kid, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album, which was his last LP before signing to Aftermath. That same year, the debut NxWorries album, which ‘Suede’ appeared on, was also released on Stones Throw.
Through Aftermath, Paak has released several albums, including Oxnard, Ventura, and his Silk Sonic project with Bruno Mars, An Evening with Silk Sonic. He remains signed to the label and continues to work with Dre, forming a creative partnership that will live on forever.