Despite feeling the impact of the "Lockdown" like everyone else, Anderson .Paak is still managing to make the best of his year. As you might remember, the Aftermath artist dropped off a collaboration with Rick Ross called "Cut Em In," which recently earned some appropriately lavish visuals. And though the pair connected on wax prior to the clip's release, Paak reveals that he first met Rick Ross on the video set -- an introduction that soon led to some amusing antics.
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"When it came time to do the video, that was the first time I ever met him face to face," explains Anderson, speaking with Zane Lowe on Apple Music. "Super cool estate, eight-plus hours on the video set. Then after the next day we went and gave us a full tour of his house, drinking Belaire until, I mean, I got so drunk, man. They had to drag me out of there, dude. I wanted to stay all week, but man, this dude is a cool cat bro. One of the coolest cats in the industry, man. That's why he's been around for so long and has a connection to everybody. It's like them cats like that."
On a musical note, Paak also takes a moment to reflect on one of his biggest influences -- the legendary producer Dilla, who still feels underappreciated in today's climate. "I was a late learner to Dilla and that whole scene," explains Paak. "When I was coming up, I was really heavy into the 2000s era and that kind of just went over my head. When I was in high school, it was all about Jay-Z, Nelly, Ludacris, and Missy. And then when I got older and got into Dilla, it was like that's all I wanted to listen to."
"And then you start seeing the effect of his music and how it has on people," he continues. "And just infectious grooves, it's hard to find groove-based music in new music now, people that are really making groove-based music. And that's what I feel like we're making and we're a part of that lineage in hip hop...he's definitely one of my icons and someone I really look up to."
Are you excited to see what Anderson .Paak has been cooking up on a musical level?
[via Zane Lowe on Apple Music]