Transcript

Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

From Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 38 min · 22,027 words · 491 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard", an episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard published February 2, 2026 (1 h 38 min, about 22,027 words). It mentions 35 people, works and ideas, including Andre (Dre), Tiny Desk, Mac Miller, Malibu, K-pops.

What this episode is about

Anderson .Paak discusses his upbringing in Las Vegas, revealing how his parents' gambling habits influenced his connection to the city. He also reflects on his experiences with drinking during interviews and the playful banter around his interactions with Dax Shepard, highlighting the dynamics of celebrity culture and personal relationships.

Key takeaways

  • Vegas roots run deep: the city can be a home away from home for the right high-rolling family.
  • Forget October; January is when the real resolutions emerge—especially dry ones during January.
  • Restaurants are an industry battleground where gluten-free truly refers to bad service at vegan spots.
  • Live music + food = dance therapy; rare venues are the unexpected cure for the weekend blues.
  • When you collaborate, you don't just connect with artists; you build a musical fanbase united by curiosity.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Mac Miller, Andre (Dre), Bruno Mars, WeHo
  2. – 20:00: Compton, Super Bowl, Snoop Dogg, Korean War
  3. – 30:00: Philly, Oxnard, HubSpot, Ventura County
  4. – 40:00: Oxnard, HubSpot
  5. – 50:00: Venice, Malibu, Taku
  6. – 1:00:00: Venice, Knowledge
  7. – 1:10:00: Tiny Desk, Malibu, Compton, Andre (Dre)
  8. – 1:20:00: Andre (Dre), Bruno Mars, Super Bowl, Snoop Dogg
  9. – 1:30:00: K-pop, K-pops, Ktown, SiriusXM
  10. – 1:38:08: Trust Your Gut, K-pops, K-pop, Hollywood Boulevard

Notable quotes from "Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard"

  • Me or I think they're better for other people and so people will some people know me from that song some people know me from working with Bruno Mars some people know me from…
    about Bruno Mars · at
  • And he that's how you guys got connected he heard me through Dre Hey, cuz I was on the Dr. Dre's album when he was putting out the Straight Out of Compton soundtrack and I was all over that album.
    about Andre (Dre) · at
  • And then you hear these songs or you see the Super Bowl thing and you're Oh yeah, these are the [ __ ] they hated.
    about Super Bowl · at
  • So, how'd she end up in Oxnard and what age did she go up there?
    about Oxnard · at
  • Before we I think we should start with Venice.
    about Venice · at
  • Of sound system and that's what very much what Venice was. I was like I had songs like Mal for Malibu had the bird.
    about Malibu · at
  • How powerful that is. Then this other magical thing happens, which is you in promotion of Malibu, you do Tiny Desk.
    about Tiny Desk · at
  • Stampede, who gave me the initial funding for this idea I had called K-pops, where I'm a washed up musician that finds out his son could be the next K-pop star. Oh, fun.
    about K-pops · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Andre (Dre) — Person · Referenced collaborator / career catalyst · 5 mentions · first at
    Discussed as the pivotal co-sign that accelerated Anderson .Paak’s career (Compton soundtrack, six tracks) and later as the Super Bowl halftime show architect who invited Paak to drum for Eminem.
  • Mac Miller — Person · Referenced collaborator / origin story trigger · 3 mentions · first at
    Central to the episode’s discovery narrative: the host finds Paak via Mac Miller’s “Dang!”; Paak recounts connecting with Mac via Twitter and collaborating remotely, highlighting Mac’s musicianship and generosity.
    And he that's how you guys got connected he heard me through Dre Hey, cuz I was on the Dr. Dre's album when he was putting out the Straight Out of Compton soundtrack and I was all over that album.
  • Bruno Mars — Person · Referenced collaborator / touring partner · 4 mentions · first at
    Paak describes working with Bruno (including a Vegas residency and stadium touring) and their creative process ethos (labor-intensive, in-room collaboration).
  • Dumbfoundead — Person · Referenced early-career mentor/collaborator · 5 mentions
    Paak credits Dumbfoundead as an early champion who modeled independent artistry and provided studio resources; Paak also did videography work for him while building his own career.
    And he sent me like 100 beats. And Suede was one of those beats. And I was recording at Dumbfounded Studio that he let me use. And that's when I wrote that song. I remember after I wrote it, it was like the.
  • Snoop Dogg — Person · Referenced collaborator / Super Bowl anecdote figure · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as one of Paak’s collaboration touchpoints (alongside Dre/The Game) and appears in a behind-the-scenes Super Bowl story where Snoop asks Dre about lyric phrasing seconds before showtime.
    Snoop was going to do bar mitzvah probably that same day.
  • Knowledge — Person · Guest discussing personal experiences and collaborations · 3 mentions · first at
    Knowledge is a key figure in the music industry, known for collaborations with various artists.
    Yeah. I think that's something that's special to me and that I hold near and dear. like the way I grew up, my family values, my story. I think that those are things that are universal.
  • The Game — Person · Referenced collaborator (name-drop) · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as part of Paak’s broad collaboration network—an example of how audiences may know him through features/associations.
    People know me from that song some people know me from working with Bruno Mars some people know me from songs I've done with like the game or Snoop or Dre and some people know…
  • Tibi — Person · Referenced connector (host’s discovery path) · 1 mention · first at
    The host says a post by friend Tibi about Mac Miller triggered the host’s Mac Miller deep dive, which led to discovering Anderson .Paak via “Dang!”.
    I'm friends with Tibi and I saw a post of his that's like I'm going to miss this man so much. Working with him was incredible. Mac Miller and I'm like oh well who's Tib think is this magical?
  • Taku — Person · Referenced producer (beat scene collaborator) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited among producers from the LA beat scene/SoundCloud era who contributed to the ecosystem around Paak’s early album era (Venice) and helped shape that sound pocket.
    Could get go viral on Soundcloud. I want like And then that's how I met with like the producer Low Death and I met with people like Taku and other the Toki Monsters, a bunch of…

Companies & orgs

  • Andes — Company · 1 mention · first at
    It's in WeHo, right next to Dantana's.
  • HubSpot — Company · 2 mentions · first at
    Conditions, and availability. All State North America Insurance Co. and affiliates, North Brook, Illinois. We are supported by HubSpot. Did you know that most businesses, Monica, only use 20% of their data?
  • Allstate — Company · 2 mentions
  • Caesars Palace — Company · 1 mention · first at
    They were big Caesar's Palace people.
  • Dantana's — Company · 1 mention · first at
    It's in WeHo, right next to Dantana's.
  • SiriusXM — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Know, we wanted to do film and I was I want to do narratives music videos because I wanted eventually I want to do a movie. So, stories. This is all to help me get experience…

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

  • K-pop — Concept · 4 mentions · first at
    Know, we wanted to do film and I was I want to do narratives music videos because I wanted eventually I want to do a movie. So, stories. This is all to help me get experience…
  • Trust Your Gut — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    So on your stomach now, some personal curiosities. trust your gut.
  • Dry January — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, I'm on dry January actually, so I drink like a fish as you can see. I can put them down. And yeah, that particular show I was like I knew that was their whole thing and they.
  • Gluten House — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    We did. And then I looked at the menu. I was I can't eat one [ __ ] thing over there. It's just a glue. You should name the restaurant Gluten House.

Places & events

  • Tiny Desk — Event · 4 mentions · first at
  • Oxnard — Place · 4 mentions · first at
  • Super Bowl — Event · 3 mentions · first at
  • WeHo — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    I live in WeHo and I just got a place in Vegas, too. So, I'm going back and forth.
  • Compton — Place · 5 mentions · first at
    Heard me through Dre Hey, cuz I was on the Dr. Dre's album when he was putting out the Straight Out of Compton soundtrack and I was all over that album.
  • Las Vegas — Place · 1 mention · first at
    I live in WeHo and I just got a place in Vegas, too. So, I'm going back and forth.
  • Ventura County — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. in the circumstance in like the environments that they were under. Like I grew up like in Ventura County and my pops is in like North Philly and like the trenches of…
  • Philly — Place · 3 mentions · first at
    There's like a big article on my pops and his twin brother. They were twins from Philly. crazy twins and they used to do stuff like well they they snuck into the military.
  • Korean War — Event · 1 mention · first at
    Your mom, what a [ __ ] beginning, right? It starts in Korea during the Korean War. Yeah.
  • Ktown — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Where did you shoot? You were in I shot everywhere. I shot in Rafford. I shot in, Ktown. I shot in Korea.
  • Hollywood Boulevard — Place · 1 mention · first at
    The we did it in the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood Boulevard and we're we're renting it out for a certain time and I got extras and I got them and they're like one of my biggest idols and I'm just like I got cameras and I got to do.

Media & podcasts

Full transcript with timestamps

Hold on. What did you just introduce yourself as? Andy. Oh, I like Andy. I do too.

Brandon's gone. We never [ __ ] with Brandon again. It's long gone. Where do you live?

I I live in WeHo and I just I just got a place in Vegas, too. So, I'm going back and forth.

And are you a Vegas person by nature? Are you going to adopt? I can dig it. I kind of lowkey like grew up there. My My parents were big gamblers, so I was there all the time when I was younger and getting the comped rooms and stuff. And then I did the Vegas residency with Bruno. So, I'm there quite often. It's not bad.

What was their casino? Mom and stepdad. Yeah, they were um What did they do? Caesars. They were big Caesar's Palace people.

Classic. Yeah. They treat you nice there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I watched you on Revolt.

Mhm. This podcast, Revolt. Is that what it's called? Uh I think is it? The point is you had like 13 shots.

Oh. Oh, yeah. Drink champs. It's called Drink Champs. Yeah. Nori. Drink champs. Oh, we should have provided

smoking weed and I'm like, listen, I don't have that at my disposal. So, I'm going to have to intoxicate you with my charm to get the walls down.

I'm down. I'm drunk off it already. Yeah, I I'm on dry January actually, so I drink like a fish as you can see. I I can put them down. And um yeah, that particular show I was I was like I knew that that was their whole thing and they drink and stuff. So, I was like, you know what? I'm going to just drink more than anybody in case I say something crazy and I'll be like I was obviously drunk.

I was blacked out. Yeah. What do you want from me? Yeah. Okay. So, as you know, I've been How long I've been courting you?

Yeah. Long time. Hard press, right? Yeah. In the DMs, commenting on your [ __ ]

posting videos, just declaring my love for you, dancing to one of your songs publicly.

We almost met for lunch one time. We did. And then I looked at the menu. I was like, I can't eat one [ __ ] thing over there. It's just a glue. You you should name the restaurant Gluten House.

You're like, I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. I can't make it. I was like, oh [ __ ] Was it one of yours?

No, it was it was it was a I had a a vegan spot for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So, no meat and then all gluten. It was pizza.

And that's why I hardly ever went too. Yeah. I usually try to do Yeah. protein and veggie kind of.

Are you you were vegan? No. No. I just I got a bunch of spots, you know. I tell everybody I'm not I'm not Mexican, but I'll [ __ ] a taco up anytime. I have I have I have a Japanese spot and um I just opened a like a supper club. It's like live music. It's called Andes.

We got food there, too. Where's that? It's in WeHo, right next to Dantana's. Oh, I actually got you guys a gift. You got those gifts?

Oh, I like gifts. I love gifts. Yeah. Come on. I mean, this customarily we would do this at the end, I think, but I there's no reason to not start with gifts.

Couple Andy's hats. Oh, amazing. Thank you. Yeah, that's my clip. Oh, check it out. What's the um what's the entertainment at Andes?

I got live music. Okay. Like a house band or it's Revolving Door? Yeah, I got um I got several bands that play through the week. I auditioned them all.

Oh, nice. Um really talented um musicians and we got food and uh there's you know every it's like a place where people actually dance.

Oh, those are rare. And yeah, it's 70s inspired stuff. I forgot to do a disclaimer.

Oh no. What? Monica, this is going to be the hardest episode for you. I'm going to embarrass you so much through embarrassing myself,

right? Hates if I sing to people. She hates when I repeat people's lyrics. She's, you know, I'm her 51-year-old dad who's constantly embar embarrassing himself. And this is going to be the apex. And I just wanted you to be like prepared,

okay? Cuz you know, Yeah. You know the I know what to Okay. As long as I have the right expectations.

That's what I thought it might be helpful cuz if you think that I'm only going to drop one or two lyrics on them, you're crazy. Yeah.

Are you okay with that? I'm fine. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I want to talk about just first how I found you is I was really like trying to figure out when did I become obsessed with you and I traced it back to September 2017. I'm friends with Tibi and I saw a post of his that's like I'm going to miss this man so much. Working with him was incredible. Mac Miller and I'm like oh well who's Tib think is this magical? I'm going to go listen to Mac Miller.

So then I both of us go in a Mac Miller rabbit hole and then Dang, I fall in love with Dang

and I'm like, who's this soulful voice I'm hearing? Yeah. And then that takes me to you and then I'm off to the races and then I don't ever look back at anybody.

Wow. Yeah. So that's how I got there. How do you think people generally have gotten to you? So many ways, I bet.

So many ways. I it I mean I'm a big collaborator so um and I do a lot of things and Mac was one of those where I have songs that I just give to people and um I have so many songs and I don't necessarily think that they're right for me or um I think they're better for other people and so people will some people know me from that song some people know me from working with Bruno Mars some people know me from songs I've done with like the game or Snoop

or Dre and some people know me as a DJ with the wig on, you know, like it's just like so many different things. Um cuz I do a lot of different I'm big on collaboration. It's a big way that how I've gotten this far and it's a big part of my artistry and uh Mac was no different. Like I had that song that we were working for the producers's album, Pomo. He wanted to to work on his album and we did that song I think the day that David Bowie died.

Oh, no kidding. and we were just all like bummed out and I was like I feel like that was like the second or third like legend we had lost and I was like

man I can't keep on losing you over complications you know I was just like it just kind of flowed and we were like in this random studio I don't think it was a studio was like an office space and I we just started writing that and I laid it down and that was I just laid the chorus and um I a a few months later I I got hit up by by Mac through Twitter and he

that's how you guys got connected he heard me through Dre Hey, cuz I I was on the Dr. Dre's album when he was putting out the Straight Out of Compton soundtrack and um I was all over that album.

Six tracks. Yeah. Six track. Six track pack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. 2015. I was blowing up. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, you know, a little Snoop and like Yeah.

So, when he hit you on Twitter, what was the message? He basically me like uh he was like, "Hey."

Yeah. He was like, "Yo, what's going on? How does it feel?" you know, it's like right after the Dre stuff. And I was like, man, you you know, you know how it is, blah blah. He's like, no, I don't know how it is. I don't know how it is to be on Six Tracks with Dr. Dre. And I was like, I'm going to like this guy. Yeah. I was like, I'm just chilling, man. I was kind of starruck like, you know, Mac was just like huge. And um just the fact that he was just hitting me direct. I was like, whoa, man. And we just started chopping up from there.

Yeah. Do you become friends first before you decide to start working together or do you go like let's work together and then a friendship ensues? when he hit me up, we were talking through Twitter and then um he was like, "Yo, I would love to work with you if even if you have stuff that's, you know, ideas or anything like that, you could send it my way." And I was like, "Cool." But yeah, I had just did that song, Dang. Or just the chorus of it. And I was I was like, "Como, you think we should send him this?" And you know, um he was like, "Cool." And I sent him a few joints and that was the first one he he gravitated towards. He's like, "This is the one."

And uh he he sat with it for like a couple weeks and sent it back. He had his verse. He had put horns on it and that's when I realized, oh, he's like a producer, too. He's a real musician.

Yeah. That's why I fell in love with Mac. Miller is the music. So many of these people, weirdly. Yeah. I'm coming in through the music and he had whether he was creating it or it was I think um his bar or his vibe that he insisted on, whatever it was, it's the music that's so special first in the Mag Miller stuff.

He was a big musicer, big musician. He loved kicking it with musicians, Thundercats and uh you know the the um the internet. He was always taking in rappers, taking in musicians that were coming in that didn't have anything and offering everything. He had his his audience, his studio and everything. And I was this he did the same thing with me right when we we worked on that project. Um we were just kind of talking online and like on the phone and then the first time I think we met in person was to shoot the video. Oh no. Wait, you had done the entire song and it was done and you met for the f That seems bizarre to me.

Just sending it back and we're just giving notes and then he he was like this is going to be the first single.

So is that the shitty part or the cool part of the time we live in? Cuz obviously you think about the collaborations that happened in uh you know 50s and 60s Mottown or any of these genres and now everything is still we're in that

that genre still. Yeah. for it to change that much. What do you think you lose and what do you think you gain?

I think it's just on all on the artists. It's some of the songs that I've done, big songs, great songs I did through email and I did I I just I just did it because I knew that

this is going to be great and if it doesn't sound good, then I don't have to put it out. Some stuff can be feel a little transactional, you know. Um but

uh I think it's all dependent, you know. It's it's I think there's more than one ways to do things and as long as you is the song is great is like who cares how it's done and some people don't want to do the email thing. I totally respect that and that's fine. And

um but I I'm not into like you know losing opportunity to make something like you know like Dang is probably one of my biggest tunes and I had no clue it was going to be would do what it did and people would discover me.

To this day when I play it it's just like one of those tunes that's it's a heavy tune for me and you know so much history behind it. So Mac was the same way. We just we're not the type to wait, you know, we just we're just going.

Well, that's what feels like would the the huge benefit is is the efficiency of the process. So you can be working on the Mac song for 2 hours in the afternoon, shift gears and answer an email and then start working on that song. You're not traveling to all the these different places. So that's a huge upside. But what do you think is lost as far as sitting in a room together

and in and the the [ __ ] neurons connecting and all this [ __ ] we don't know and the pherommones and all that kind of stuff?

Obviously nothing. There's no but then there is like then you have cases like Dre's not working on email, right? You got to go.

He's not working on email. You got to go in there. Same thing with like Bruno like working on a song like Lead the Door Open which was like a number one smash hit like a song that I played and like

they might not know any other song but they know that like grandma's everybody and it was never

my father-in-law finally and I we had it. We got to sit down together. A grocery store.

That's that dude next to Bruno. You're that dude, right? Yeah, that's me. And like so to have one of those is crazy. And that was like going through hell. like we we were in there every day working just like on one section and some days we would just work and talk about stuff and we wouldn't even work on the song. we just talk [ __ ] and then have a drink and all right, we'll be back tomorrow. I'll try to work on this. And um Bruno's very much one of those guys that's like it doesn't feel right unless you gone through a little bit of hell. Like he doesn't trust it,

right? That's a specific type of creative. Yeah. Well, that's also from childhood.

Yeah. Totally. Trauma based. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. I got to suffer and then I'll get a little ray of light will be the reward.

It doesn't feel good unless you've worked hard. Yeah. It's almost like, you know, you don't trust it. Like, should it been this easy? And so, there's those, too. And and I think that there's something really special about sitting in a room um person like me that produces, we we work with instruments and we're doing stuff out of the box and we're creating and producing the song from scratch with no loops and everything. We're in there really playing it. And then we're having to to replay it and figure out, okay, now we want to get horns, all this stuff, and mixing process and all this stuff. And a lot of people don't have the patience to do that. And I think uh sometimes you cut yourself short and um you think you have something, but it could be just the tip of the iceberg.

You keep digging and seeing how you can make it better. Uh I really enjoy that, especially with my own project. And as I get older and and do more albums, I think that's really what what I want to do.

Well, don't you think as well like now you have safety? Mhm. Time is now on your side. Like you can afford time. I imagine in the past it's just like go go go I got to put so many [ __ ] pokers in the fire hoping one of them hits.

Yeah. Yeah. Whereas I'd hope and imagine now it's it's stable enough that you're not panicked you're missing out on something if you take that time.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's definitely it's a blessing. You know, you get to I'm just going to chill. I don't have to do every little thing. But when I was coming up like with Mac, like I was like I want to kill everything.

I want to do every feature. I want to do everything. I want to make they want to I want them to be upset that they put me on the song cuz it's going to be my song now,

you know? Like that was my whole I had the dog in me, you know, cuz I was like I got this opportunity Dre's [ __ ] with me like everyone's going to know like I'm the dude because I I was riding the bus before that and I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to go back to doing like open mics and stuff. I'm like I got the slap. I'm I'mma really like

take advantage of it. Yeah. And I think a part of me still has that, but like you said, I I almost forget like, you know, you don't got to do every little thing. And I really still I my my team, my management, everything like, "Did you just take an offer for cash for like 10k?" He said he's booking you at the Yeah. I'm like, "Yeah, classic cars. I got to I got to get all broken."

Yeah. Yeah. Cash. That's just personality. I think I feel like I'm learning that more and more. It doesn't matter how much you have. Like that's that's just part of people. I don't think it can fully go away.

Yeah. Almost all your songs I love, but the ones that crush me are these ones that have a theme to me. And the theme is um like dreamers.

Mhm. Uh it's all my little dreamers and the ones who didn't give a [ __ ] I'm a product of the tube and the free lunch. Right. Yeah,

this owning the challenging background and finding the joy and the pride in it.

This theme pops up in so many songs that BJ uh song uh close the door. What is it? We got macaroni and cheese. Yeah. Yeah. But that song too is like Yeah. It's not fancy close the screen door, but the food is here and the vibe is here.

There's a pride in that. And I think when you think about this stuff being black white, I think so much more of it is like socioeconomic. Like if you come if if you if you're me, you're eating government cheese.

Yeah. And then you hear these songs or you see the Super Bowl thing and you're like, "Oh yeah, these are the [ __ ] they hated."

Yeah. And now they own in the world. Yeah. That theme is just through and through all your music. And I guess are you like aware of that?

Yeah. I think that that's something that's special to me and that I hold near and dear. like the way I grew up, my family values, um my story. I think that those are things that are universal and I try to when I write, I think, uh I try to cling to those things. I try to

to find something that can tie us all together. And whether it's the struggle or if it's something witty,

um I really enjoy that. And I really enjoy um you know taking bits of my story and and going back and you know being able to put them on wax and and explore it because I feel like every people can also relate to it.

Who cares your daddy couldn't be there? Mom always kept the cable on but for all of us without a dad it's like Uh-huh.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's fine. Mhm. It's all good. You know, um I think that that's that's just some people are you know

they they see things differently. to deal with trauma differently. I've always I don't know why I've just been an optimist and I've had a lot of trauma traumatizing things happen but the way I coped was always with music. I always could escape through through television. And

don't you think it's it's body regulation? Yeah. It's like you can regulate this mood

with this [ __ ] tool which is music. I feel like this. I start making these sounds and I'm I'm I'm elevated and I'm Yeah.

Yeah. You're somewhere else. the drug of all drugs to be creative when you're struggling.

Absolutely. And I've, you know, I was around so much where they didn't know how to to cope and do that and escape. And I was able to do that and I had a family that was very supportive and that kind of like kept me in this incubation where it was like he's special like just let him do his thing over here. And um yeah, it was all bunch of chaos. And so uh yeah, I think that's something I'm aware of and getting more aware of and and tapping into. I'm I'm also very like with my music and with everything I'm just like I'm random. I'm very affected, you know? So, uh it's really the production and the surroundings and where I'm at. A lot of it has to do with the production, the chords that kind of bring me to these places.

Uhhuh. I think I'm music first. I will always put lyrics or like things I think are slick or just, you know, I was eating lunch today and this this girl was like, "Oh yeah, I like stones and black obsidian." She was talking about a stone. I was like, "That sounds sick." You know, like I don't know what it is, but I'mma write it.

Yeah. Black obsidian. Now you got to live up to that weird Yeah. Yeah. You know, I looked it up and it's like, you know, it deflects negativity and all this stuff. I was like, "Oh, this is a cool cool tune you can make." But I very much like words and phrases. I always write it, but I'm very moved by the music first and I can like, oh, this makes me feel like struggle or this makes me feel like I want to say something romantic or this is like I want to get I want I want I want the homies to ride this in and six or I think Dre will like this or I think Paul McCartney, you know, I'm always like a I want to get in that zone.

Well, to the trauma, I mean, it's multigenerational. Mhm. Your mom, what a [ __ ] beginning, right? It starts in Korea during the Korean War. Yeah.

Your grand your assumed grandfather was like uh a black service man, right? Yeah. Yeah.

But we don't know. No one really knows. Yeah. So your mother's born in Korea right after the Korean War and then she's quickly then in an orphanage. Her and her brother.

Yeah. So yeah, born in the Korean War and pretty much was raised in Korea during the war up until maybe about six or seven.

Uh-huh. Six, seven. And then um we have to cut that out. That's the clip that's going to get pulled. back to my adopted mom. Um, I digress. Um,

so yeah, she was an abandoned kid. Her and my uncle were found like by a dumpster and they were doing a lot of like racial purification, whatever you call it, but they were getting rid of a lot of the kids back then with like the mixed race and all that stuff in Korea. So, there was a guy back then that was collecting all these abandoned kids and got my mom and my uncle to an orphanage and then she was adopted by African-American military parents who were also like high up in ranks and everything.

Were they in Korea? They were in Korea just traveling around. Okay. And they were in the military too and you know they were around and so they got my mom and my uncle and moved into LA. So my mom grew up my mom and uncle grew up in Compton during the 50s which was like a suburb.

It was a nice suburb. It was a farm. Yeah. Yeah. There was horses and [ __ ] Horses like completely like uh they didn't weren't connected to the water system in LA. All kinds of stuff.

You know who was living there? Then we interviewed him. Um Yellowstone. Not Kevin.

Kevin. Yeah. Cost was like living in Compton then riding horses around. 805 native too. Yeah. He's he's from my town too.

Yeah. Yeah. So they grew up there. She grew up in LA. How did she do? Cuz generally when you start like that you're gonna have someough, you know, I ask her and I think she kind of blacked it out. She said she doesn't remember anything from that until really until she got to LA

and then that's pretty much where her memory starts. She doesn't remember being in Korea.

You don't remember the specific memories but I think you do hold a I have a family situation a little bit similar and there they hold on to an abandonment

though and like you see you just see it continue to show up. Yeah. Well, it hardwires your brain in those six years. So whether you remember it or not, the brain has been hardwired to deal with that.

Exactly. My mom's real different. She's a hustler. Like it's definitely that's where I got the dog in me. Like I watched her just be her own boss and be real survival first and like taking care of her fam, but just always working and always just like no excuses. just like and the biggest crit my biggest critic, you know, and just like no fluff

and um yeah, I just from the music to everything is she's was just like my biggest like heroes.

How did Well, did you know your grandma and grandpa? I didn't. They passed away like when I was really young.

Oh, that's a bummer. They were probably pretty great if they were willing to adopt the kid from Korea.

Yeah. My my grandpa was a pastor and he was also in the military and my grandma was like a big lieutenant high ranking. Yeah. in in in the military as well.

So, how'd she end up in Oxnard and what age did she go up there? Oxnard has a big military base, Port Point Magcoo. Yeah. So, that my grandparents were out there. Um and they they did travel around in they were in LA for mostly most of the part and then my grandpa um retired in Oxnard and that's where she moved and that's where she pretty much did her 20s and and ended up having um my two older sisters and eventually having me and my younger sister.

And when did she meet your dad and how long were they together? Yeah, she met my dad uh sometime in the 80s and my dad was also in the military. He was in the Air Force. My pops has his own crazy story I'm pretty sure you're aware of. Uh there's like a big big article on my pops and his twin brother. They were twins from Philly. Uh crazy twins and they used to do stuff like well they they they they snuck into the military. They used to go to prison for each other like switch identities. Talk about like Freaky Friday. It was like that but like the hood version.

by the way like the worst like how you figure out who's serving time for another crazy my dad got in trouble like aren't you supposed to be in jail already and it's like no my brother's in there and like it was some crazy stuff

yeah yeah craziness but they grew up in Philly they just different type mentality and like a house full of kids and their their dad just kicked them out once they were like a teenagers he's like I can't afford this you guys figure it out and then they grew up in the streets and then they they join the military and he met my mom in Oxnar cuz he was stationed at the uh at the base and they met at some club and my my dad was actually in the process of being discharged for drugs. I think he he had weed or something. So they he was getting discharged from the military and she was like going on the stand trying to like help him and you know do stuff but it didn't work and um yeah he he got kicked out the military and and uh but they had me and my little sister and um in Oxnard

and he was an addict. Here's where we talk. My dad's an addict, single mom, stepdads. I saw some gnarly [ __ ]

um but what's interesting as I was thinking about your story is like I was seeing a stranger hurt my mom

and which was its own terribleness but at the same time I feel like it'd be more complex if I was seeing my dad hurt my mom who I love.

Yeah. Like I hated this [ __ ] so that was fine. Right. Right. I was in denial as a kid.

Yeah. I remember like I I seen, you know, my mom getting beat, blood in the street. And

I didn't want to believe that it was my dad. I was like, "No, it was my uncle, you know, and he had a twin." And I remember being like, "No, it's not him." And to my sisters, and we were all there. And we had to, you know, get out the house. And that was the last time I saw my pops uh cuz he got sent to prison after that. But I remember just being like, "No way." You know, my pops, the memories I do have, and I was like seven when he got locked up, but I I really do remember him being around and he had like classic cars and he was working on him. And my mom Yeah, he was really cool. My My mom always says she never down talked to him or anything. He was the perfect dad until he got caught up with the drugs. He just

he couldn't beat it. What was his drug of choice? I think he he I think it was like crack, you know, which was so many people back then in the ' 80s. He was also alcoholic and

um just just a rough life and my mom tried to do everything she could with like AA and all this stuff but uh he just couldn't beat it and he had a lot of a lot of issues with that. So he went to prison for like 14 years, something like that. And when he got out, I was like in my early 20s. And I was, you know, trying to I was a struggling musician, trying to make it happen. And um he he started reaching out again. And at first I was like, I don't want to talk. I had kind of like a grudge with him. Last time I seen him, he was like beating my mom to death. And I was like, I don't know. I don't want to I don't want to do it. And then my sister was like, just do it. You know, talk to him.

and you might want to talk to him cuz I don't think he has too long. And and um he would leave messages on my voicemail singing and and uh he could tell he was like dealing with that the time and and having less of it and he was getting real religious and

he was just telling me like I'm really proud of you and I know you're being your a musician and everything and

I was like all right I'm going to talk to him and I'm glad I did. We got to talk and he was telling me things like I really wanted to be a musician too and I had a group as well and

with my brothers and we used to sing and I I I found out he he had a little singing group and he was on the the gong show and they won.

Did they blast the gong on him? Yeah. No, they actually won. Yeah. And um I was in my early 20s, but now I'm 40.

Aren't you glad you got that? Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm really glad I got to talk to him and you kind of get an understanding especially as a man like and you realize that you when you're young you see your parents as your parents and they just can't do no wrong but then you get older and like oh they were adults like trying to navigate through life.

Yeah. You expect them to have done it right. Yeah. I did a ton of repair with my dad before he died

and at the time I don't even know what was forcing me to do it because I didn't want to do all that. And um now that I'm 12 years out from that or whatever, I tell people all the time like you got to do that for you because for the rest of your life you did the right thing.

Yeah. Like you get that's the reward of it. Like you had the opportunity. You maybe do it cuz and you don't want to but [ __ ] then for for eternity you did the right thing. And then your kids get older and you're flawed and you go like oh and the and the lens I was judging him through was so unfair. That's what I wrestle with now. I was just like,

man, I [ __ ] was so judgmental of him and now I'm like, oh, I'm over that. Come back.

Yeah. Yeah. Straight up. Yeah. Yeah. Let me try again. Exactly. It's hard though. Anger is an easier feeling than like sadness or heartbreak. So, like I think it's one thing when you're that age, it's easier to just be mad at him and like put him in this box and like, "Yeah, that guy's [ __ ] up and he blah blah blah." And then when you get the truth and really it's sadness, it's he couldn't do this and that's sad for all of us. That's like a harder thing to sit with, I think.

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. When you realize like, oh, yeah, they were little boys, too. They're just all little boys. We're all little boys and we're trying to act like

Yeah. in the circumstance in like the environments that they were under. Like I grew up like in Ventura County and my pops is in like North Philly and like the trenches of North Philly in the in the 70s, you know, with crack and and heroin, all this stuff. And just talking about the epitome of just trying to survive.

Yeah. And my mom, all this stuff, you know, so like each generation, you know, because of what they've been through, you're blessed because they they got to they had to go through a lot of stuff that you didn't have to go through. Yeah.

And you know, me young in my 20s, I'm just like I don't give a [ __ ] I was like trying to do my own

pave my own way. And I was like later for this guy. He wasn't there. But now I'm 40 and I got my own kids and I'm like wow I can't get that time back. I'm glad I got to

get a little bit of repair with him and and just talk to him, hear him out. The thing that hit me recently is I was thinking you I was thinking of my dad as this individual person and then I'm this individual person and then I have these kids and I'm like we're not individual. We are like we're still one thing. I can feel the one thing and then I have to acknowledge

I'm like I don't know if it ever stops. I think it's just this weird line and I think my dad was an iteration and I got to improve a bit and then hopefully this next iteration but it's just iterations. It's this thing the iPhone.

Yes. Some some of them are shady, some of them are better cameras, but they're all up there.

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But mom's a hustler, right? So mom got kind of gifted a fruit a strawberry stand.

Yes. Yeah. That's bizarre. Tell and then she she ground and she she made it something. Yeah.

Yeah. So we're in Oxnard and it's all agriculture. It's ran off of strawberries and you can grow everything out there. But uh my mom was really she tells me she was a pie head. She was going to community college. She didn't really know what she was going to do. She had two older kids, my two older sisters and one failed marriage with their dad. I had a stepdad after my pops went to prison. I had a stepdad.

We're going to thank him for the drum set. We're going to thank him for the drum set. Thank him for being around. It was great. I mean, honestly, like he he came in. I was like 7 years old and he was my pops. Um but he was also an addict.

Yeah. We're a good time till we're not. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You either love him or you don't. AND IF YOU DO

YEAH. YEAH. They're easy to fall for, aren't they? Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, they had a good time. And

was the first husband also an addict? Yeah. Okay. Sure. My mom married four addicts. Yeah, it's crazy, too, cuz the first two husbands, they have the same name, too.

I got two Dave, my dad and Yeah, it's insane. She's like, my mom says if she met a Dave who's an addict, the next step was the [ __ ] chapel.

Yeah, she says, "Yeah, my mom has a type." Um, so yeah, he was cool. He he did get me the drum set and everything. Um, he had his own issues. Yeah. to go back. My mom did get gifted a a um a strawberry stand from like another entrepreneur that was in the city. His name was Buster and he had like restaurants and strawberry, you know, stands, all the stuff. And he's like, "You're not doing nothing. Run this." And he was her friend. And she just took it over and she turned that into like multi-million dollar business.

Wow. And so yeah, um she was pretty much Yeah. just a farmer. She she started small and was like delivering to local restaurants and everything and then eventually got big and got investors and then got in over her head and then that's how she ended up in prison.

Well, here's the sad part, right? It's like, yeah, you're like, "Wow, great." You know prison.

I didn't know there was going to be that. Don't get too happy. You didn't know either. Probably

the shoe will drop. Well, here's what's the sad part though, right? is like here's where the unfairness of this place is, which is like you can have that hustle and you can grow and you can be so entrepreneurial, but if you don't have the parents that teach you about a tax lawyer and this and that, that's ultimately it, right? Tax, tax evasion,

tax. Yeah, that was it. And you were a senior. I was a senior. Yeah. And so her and my stepdad were in the business together and you know, just stuff piled on piled on piled and they were gambling and all this money owed.

Was she addicty at all or no? No. Mom didn't smoke, didn't drink, doesn't curse.

Yeah. Yeah. But she just Yeah. She opposite attracts. Diet Coke. She's But but she just quit. We both quit. I quit smoking. She quit Diet Coke. We're both hanging in there.

She didn't need to quit Diet Coke. Go back on Diet Coke. Something. She was on my top about the smoking. Look at you.

You go a week without that crack. I can do it. And then she did it. And I was like, oh [ __ ]

Weed or cigarettes? Both. I was a spliff guy. Oh, okay. You were singing. Yeah.

How long you been off that? Uh, couple hours. October. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Since noon.

You're doing it. Since it's lunch with the girl I discovered a black obsidian. Yeah, I'm in the stones now.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. I I think I think I'm I kicked that finally. I've been How's the sleep?

Sleep's been great. The dreams have been real. Real dreams dreams come back, right?

The dreams are vivid. Yeah. And now no booze. You're really just taking out all the fun.

Yeah. Okay. Wait. Prison. Yeah. So mom goes away. It's senior year. Yeah. Senior year I get called in office. They're like, it's all over the newspaper, everything. My, you know, Ventur County, not much happens. And so this was like big big news for the whole city. Like, you know, we took down the is the uh she owed millions. You know, she owed a lot of people. Oh. So, uh, well, hold on, though. It sounds like maybe gambling might be would have been her advice.

Yeah. Oh, that was it. That was big vice. Gambling. Yeah. Um, they were good at it. They would go, they would go every weekend and um,

every weekend. Yeah. We would just I would take my friends like, "You guys want to go Caesar Palace?" And

we'd be like 12 and like have own room buffet bar. They give us little cards. Go to like go see Carrot Top.

Sure. Yeah. We saw Carrot Top five. Carrot Top. Yeah. Come on. See, Kat, you should probably incorporate Keratop into a song.

That's my That's my boy Ker. You got to be doing something right having been that long in Vegas.

Couple million smiles. He's Don't underestimate it. Okay. So, then you you're making music in your room. You're you're a drummer first, right? That's what brings you to the party. You start in sixth grade, but then this kid arrives. Your your stepdad's he wants to be a drummer, but he doesn't really [ __ ] with it. And then you you get into it. Yeah.

And then when do we start adding like I don't know what you get next, some equipment.

Yes. So what happens is my my oldest sister is 10 years older. So they're like already out of college and so um I start playing in church. There's not a lot of black people in in the county, but that's where all of them are at. And a lot of people come from the military, so they find churches. So I grew up playing there and it's like fullon gospel. I learned how to play gospel like from 12 all the way till I mean till I could. I mean that's was my first job. I was getting paid. I played all all the way to almost my 30s like playing in church.

Um and I learned so much uh just playing with me and organist. Jerice Mitchell was the one that played organ. He taught me so much just about musicality and

in church you know you're not it's not supposed to be about you. You know it's like

you're playing for as a vessel and to to provide a service. It's different than when you know I'm playing Coachella and it's like come on. It's like yeah we're like playing for church and you're playing for the choir and you have it's like humility and like you know people are catching the spirit and stuff and I had to learn how to play behind

play pocket is what they call it you know it's like nothing flashy play you play the the groove

you play straight you know or you found you're going to yeah foundation if you slow down you get embarrassed like it was very very strict. Um, but it's the best musicians come out of church, a singer as you as you know. So that was like my schooling and um I I started there and then my sister uh started dating this guy from New York, Willie, and he he was the first first real person I met from like Brooklyn and he we came in and he had dreams of being a rapper. So he he came out to LA to be a rapper and he met my sister and she was dating him and I just thought he was the coolest dude cuz I was like into hip-hop. He was like, "You don't know about Jay-Z? You don't know about Nas."

Like what the hell you doing? Ghost Face. Were you like into Guru and Jasmat and all the music stuff?

I listen to like Snoop Pop, like Ice Cube, Lil Wayne, um you know, Nelly, stuff like that. Um very very West Coast cuz like we're from the West Coast and I grew up like

like listening to Tupac and everything. It was very serious like when he when he died and everything was like very much like West Coast, you know, uh Big E, all that stuff. So when he came, we were kind of I was we were still kind of dealing with the shock waves of like losing like Tupac and all these rappers. So he came and um I was like just started high school and um I was playing drums and I I was like super Christian too. I was I was like cuz I didn't grow up in church and I was

also add and this not to embarrass you. Um Brandon was chubby. No, he was Brandon then.

Brandon was chubby and had braces. Yeah, he was bubble of joy and he had braces. It was 200 plus.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you needed a glow up. I needed a glow up. I needed something. And I needed something fast.

Yeah. You needed like a mentor to help years before it was Olympic. Yeah. So, um Yeah. I needed something. He was definitely there. He dude like

you were all girls all around. You didn't have a dude in your life that was like

Yeah. I had two older sisters, one little sister, sister, god sisters. It was a house full of women all the time.

Estrogen fest. Yeah. Estrogen fest. Yeah. I have boobs, too. I was Yeah. So, I was fitting right in.

Also, the 10year-old older sister. That's a very specific dynamic. I have a little brother who's 8 years younger than me and he he just had two moms and like one was meaner than the other or meaner than the like they're just all mean to you and like

everyone's fighting. I'm breaking up stuff. It was crazy. So, he came through and he was like, "Yo." And I was playing drums. I was like, I want to get into other stuff. I I think I want to DJ. And and um you know, back then you could they you look at magazines, hit Source and all this stuff. And I was like, I want to DJ. I want to DJ my my high school parties stuff. And he knew how to DJ. Like it's like everything I brought up, he's like, "Oh, I know how to do that. Teach you how to do that." And so I was playing drums and I would save up.

I get my check from church and my my parents will always be like, "Whatever you want, if you save half of it, we'll match it." And so boom. So I was like, "I want turntables." and and I got turntables and that was when that kind of sparked everything. I got the turntables and I started getting records and like crates and he and my brother-in-law was like showing me how to like,

you know, scratch and and and mix and everything. Then I started DJing like at the Boys and Girls Club and I started DJing on my house parties and uh high school and then after that I was like now I want to make beats. I want to make these stuff this stuff that I'm spinning.

You get the 808. Yeah. So I got the NPC. So, I asked my brother-in-law like, "What should I do?" And he's like, "You gotta get an NPC." I'm like, "What the hell is that?" And we go in the Guitar Center book and it's like right there. And he's like, "This is what like Kanye, Timberland, Dre, this is what they all use."

How empowering to see that. Wait, I can have the thing they're all using. It's not like

it's only three grand, which should have been like 300,000 back then. I was like, "Yeah." Yeah.

And these guys were really using it. And I was like, "Oh my god." And this it was like a brick of a machine. And I was like, I didn't know how I was going to use, but I was I was going to learn. and he he knew how to do it. He's like, "Yeah, you you chop up the samples like this." And so I saved and they they they met me halfway. I got the MP I got the NPC 2000 and that's when I started making beats and my mom had a bunch of like CD collection of like old school stuff and I would take her CDs and I would just be that was it. I had I had my own studio in my room from high school on and I had my my mixer and my my MPC and I started making beats and that's when I was like okay I want to write I want to do this.

Yeah. I want to add not to get corny but like the democratization of sampling for musicians like I can't remember who was it Ronson that made that like multi-art history and it like goes into just sampling the power of sampling like these kids that can be in a bedroom and they don't have to have access to these instruments they don't have access to all these like

you can have the whole world right there it's so powerful that that that breakthrough

it's how a genre is created hip-hop is was created off that and isn't it Crazy. If you open the gates and let everyone in, how much [ __ ] explodes out of it.

Yeah. It's It's insane. It's that that that just like blows my mind that out of necessity, a whole genre, a whole culture is born with with kids that had nothing and they just want to party. They want some sort of release.

They want to regulate. Yeah. We want to cope with all this [ __ ] that's going on. And let's just go to the park and just vibe out. and and taking ingenuity where you taking we don't want this beat to ever stop so how do we do that? Okay, let's take two of the records and make a loop.

Like it doesn't have to end, you know? Like that's insane to me. We rarely feel good. So when we do, we don't want it to end.

We don't want this to ever stop. We don't want the party to stop. And so that these things were not made to do that. And that's pure ingenuity. Like we're going to do something that has, you know, never been done. And from there is birth a whole It bursts me, you know, that's that's totally where I come from is like watching the hip-hop and I wanted to be that. Like I just like Yeah.

You know, you've got the like out in the woods section of your life, right? You got the like graduate to trimming weed in Santa Barbara to getting fired to a married child.

Mhm. Before we I think we we should start with um Venice. You decide I'm going to do a whole album. That's first.

Yep. And so how do you come to put that whole thing because that predates Dre discovering you? Right. So you do Venice first.

Yeah. Do Venice. You're just a hustler, right? You you became a videographer and did all this work for Dumbled.

Dumbfounded. Yes. He was uh one of the guys that really just like championed me early on coming into I was moved to LA and I was trying to support my family and really make it and he was already doing it. He was doing taking his YouTube following and was killing it like and transitioned over to being his own artist and was showing me how to be an independent artist. He was like, "You don't need a label. Like, I got the platform. I'm making my own merch. I'm doing all this stuff. This is I'm going viral." Like all these new things to me.

I bring up that point in your life because I think a lot of people want to be a genius and get discovered, but like Monica started as a babysitter at our house and now she has the house across the street, right?

Yes. like you got to figure out, you got to see whatever thing can be done for someone who can help and [ __ ] humble yourself and do it. And that that's why I want people to know that little part of the story.

And that's that's an awesome trait for you, too. And I've I've heard like Isa talk about this like just instead of like looking up like just look to the side of you. Sometimes it's like the people right there.

Yeah. There's geniuses all around you. Geniuses. They just haven't been anointed yet.

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I very much, you know, as I get older, I'm very much into that, too. And just like reach, you know, I'm always a huge part of my content and everything and like, you know, my my trouble player, everybody. So, um, yeah, that's that's that's awesome.

Sometimes I'm like looking around at people who are just like so they're so like upset with their life like I don't have a job. I don't like you do have a get get that. There's a job right there. Just go do it.

Yeah. I think the step is like obscurity and then and then massive success like there's no in between.

But I was thinking that too though. I come from like when I when my parents got put to prison. I was 17. Before that I was like I'm getting signed. I was on that that kind of trajectory. I was like I'm making beats. I'm doing this. I'm going to be signed to Jay-Z. I'm going to like there's no reason why I'm not like this. I'm killing it. I'm the young I'm young and yeah. Look at the smile. You know what I'm saying? Who's going to deny this? and the whole world turned upside down. And I and like people were like,

"Get a job, kid." And um I was like, "Oh [ __ ] I'm not signed and I'm 18. I guess I didn't make it, you know?

It's over. It's over for me. I'm going get a job." And that's what I did. I just like I like sold my [ __ ] and was like, "I'm just going to I'm just going to work." And so when I by the time I met Dumbfound, I had been so I was had a kid. I was like 21 or something. And I had, you know, so much going on, but I was had been just, you know, stomped, humbled so much

that I was like, "Hey, this guy is so cool. He's giving me a chance. I want to work with them. I want to I'm be his hype man." I was like his flavor flave

to his audience. And he would he just did shows for like thousands of Asian kids. And I had never really even paid attention to Asian people before that. Like I'm Korean, but we didn't grow up Korean. I grew up black. Like, you know, I didn't know what biracial was, none of that stuff. I was like

when the cops see me, they see black. Like that was always what my parents said. So when I met him, he introduced me to like all this stuff and I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm Korean, too." Like it became exotic, you know?

I'm Korean as [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. I'm Korean. Yeah. And now we're trending hard. So I'm like, "Yeah, they're claiming me and everything. I'm getting awards."

He brought me into all that that world. And um he was like just like, you know, Dax say, he just reached out. And that's when I started uh I went from the transition from Breezy Love Joy, which is that's what I was all through high school and everything to okay, I'm going to go by Anderson Pack, which is just my last name and my middle name.

And your middle name is really Pac. Yes. Yes. So people will be mad at me. They'll be in the comments going, "You're saying his name wrong." It's like, well, we can go both ways. Let's clear that up.

My old manager, that was his whole shtick. He was like, "Go say it's pack, but people will argue and you want people to talk."

Oh my god. They don't know if it's pack and all this stuff and it'll be like they want to group or blah blah. You just want you want the you want the conversation to flow. And I was like, "What the hell?"

Humans are so obvious. I know. And yet no one capitalizes on it. Yeah, they are. Yeah, there's people that Yeah. They study them. They're like, "Yeah, this is going to work.

This is what they do." And then we do. Well, look, that's what AI can do, right? It can dispassionately just look at us and go like, "Well, here's a pattern. It it doesn't get bogged down in your own. Yeah.

Yeah. So, well, I guess what I want to say about Venice, though, is what's obvious is you're already somehow comfortable. You have to be comfortable with you're availing yourself to help a lot, right? Cuz you're getting a ton of people to work with you, but maybe you had you didn't warrant yet,

right? Like, would you say that you assembled a lot of people for that on Venice? Yes. Yeah. But honestly, like everybody was coming up back then and it was like just just timing. Um, I was I didn't have no no buzz or anything, but some of the people that were buzzier and that were working on that project, it was a good time because a lot of the people were coming out of the beat scene, the SoundCloud scene,

and there wasn't really a vocalist to pair with these kind of beats that were going on. All we wanted was like, yeah, get some views on Soundcloud. We weren't there was Spotify, none of that [ __ ] mattered to us. And we there back then there was a place called Lowen Theory where they had the best sound system. People like uh Gas Lamp and and and Flying Lotus like they would all be there DJing. And so every at the airliner and every night that would be the spot. And so if they played your [ __ ] that would be like

the epitome of getting a Grammy and it was like the sound system. So we were making music to be played on that kind of sound system and that's what very much what Venice was. I was like I had songs like Mal for Malibu had the bird. I had all that stuff.

But when I was hanging in this scene, I was like, damn, I want some I want bangers, you know? I want something that could get go viral on Soundcloud. I want like And then that's how I met with like the producer Low Death and um I met with people like Taku and um you know, other the Toki Monsters, a bunch of people on there that were big in the beat scene and that's where I was headed towards. And one of the songs uh that we did the first songs for that was was a song called drugs where I'm like experimenting with like autotune and 808 songs.

Well, and I had I had a question about drugs. It seems to me that it's about that false intimacy of MDMA.

Yeah. Is that the what we're talking about? She don't give a [ __ ] She don't like when we have drugs she can be my wifey. Like it is. It's funny too cuz you go like Yeah, it's fake. But then now I'm also older and I'm like, but nothing's fake.

Ignorance is bliss. Yeah. Nothing's fake. It can be real for five hours. That's real.

It was very much real. Yeah. Yeah. But also the drug of fame could be replaced in in that too. It's like the exact same. Absolutely.

Yeah. I was having a lot of fun with that. And that was like one of the first time I ever like got in a studio and like played with autotune. It was like by mistake the the producer like left it on. I was like this is hil this is great. At that moment, had you figured out yet what you were going to bet on? Because you have a lot of things you could be doubling down on, right? You don't know if it's going to be your voice. You don't know if it's your drumming and musicality. You don't know if it's your beats and creativity, if it's your lyrics.

I mean, I think now, like I was watching you and Quest Love Talk, and the way he described your voice had to be so [ __ ] flattering.

Yeah. Right. He's just like, "It is the voice we have. It has the most texture and the most everything in it." the whole story, the whole black story is in this rasp.

And so now we know that. But then did you know that? What did you think then? What was

I was trying to find it. Yeah. I was just exploring. I was very much just doing any and everything. Me playing drums and performing. I didn't even know like that was a going to be

say that's the second thing that's most appealing about you. Yeah. All these things. We were just trying to find it. We were playing all over LA and people didn't give a [ __ ] It was like we were just trying to

get something to stick and um we like I said we found this little scene and this pocket with like the beat scene and stuff and it was like hey they're [ __ ] with us.

I'm going to compliment you and say that's that's how [ __ ] talented and versatile you are is like even if you find this little pocket for five minutes you figure out how to make it work in that pocket and then

Yep. And I was always a person that was kind of thinking like like few years ahead and I so I was always saving songs. I was like these are good. I know these are good, but I know we don't have the audience yet. So, I'm not gonna blow it. So, let's do V. Actually, I'm gonna make like my albums like locations because I want to be able to put this kind these batch of songs over here.

Compartmentalized. Compartmentalize. I'm very much like that. Like still even like with my all my like side quests and all this stuff. It's because I want a place to put all these like songs and stuff. So, I need to posture them right.

Well, all the facets to you. Yeah. There's like a hund facets. So like that's this facet, that's this.

And I need I want it like there's a guy that wants to like do like the the deep, you know, folky stuff and there's also the guy that wants to do MDMA and like have something for that too. And I hate not having it, you know? It's like I got I want a banger too and but I also want the deep stuff and the sad. So I was very much like that. But on Venice, I was I was trying to find it. And um yeah, it really wasn't until a few years later when I met Knowledge uh and and started working with that I found that kind of raspier tone.

Smooth as a [ __ ] Swayed on the inside. Do you remember I sent you a video of my nine eight then 8-year-old daughter singing that in the back seat? Do you remember that? I sent you a video. She knows it [ __ ] beginning to end.

That's so cute. That's it. I call you a [ __ ] It's cuz you're my [ __ ] As long as you ain't no one else call you [ __ ] then there won't be no problem. And walk with me now.

Was your mental over there? I'm trying to GET A QUESTION. CALL YOU A TRICK CUZ YOU PAY RENT.

CALL YOU A TRICK. And as long as you don't come up short, then there won't be no problem.

Switch to my mental state. No. How? Okay. You just seem very happy. Like you have like a happy um disposition and it's really lovely. It might be the smile.

I have It's the smile. Is that your disposition or like during that time were you struggling? Yeah. Is it a mess?

I think I think I part of it is is probably like a like a a tick like you know it's just like growing up how

it was survival where you at. It was cuz if you tried to be hard you were going to get tested.

Exactly. I want people to feel I'm a pleaser. I'm a people pleaser. I'm like a host. I want people I get really like I can feel it. And so it it it hurts me when people are embarrassed or like something don't feel right. It's like I wish I could be one of those dudes that give don't give a [ __ ]

Show her your hard face. You did your hard face. Look at his hard face. Yeah, that's

He goes, "I can't even do it cuz my teeth don't fit in my mouth." Just the way the way physical it just doesn't work.

Yeah. But like Yeah. And I always tend to hang with people that just don't give a [ __ ] cuz I really admire that. But I'm very much like don't sit. Come on. Why are you going to say that? You know?

And so I think a lot of that is that. And like Yeah. Also too, you know those big ass teeth, they're hard to keep away. But um Nory actually said something too. It's like someone that smiles like that, they must be trying to protect their peace.

And I think that's probably like a big part of it too. In the time when your your mom had to go to prison and you're struggling and you're having all these jobs like I imagine I mean I don't know maybe you are just like a really optimistic person. Maybe you looked at all that as just like oh it's fine it's going to be fine. Or were you like [ __ ]

I went into Yeah. I went into a completely I don't know if it was depression or whatnot but yeah I definitely went completely left and I I quit everything I was doing. I was before that I was like real optimistic. I thought I was going to get signed all stuff and I went completely I was like punk like I I was stopped listening to hip-hop. I was like, I don't want to listen to cuz I I I did try to get signed and stuff and got really like discouraged because uh the the like the meetings I did have, they were they were like, "Yeah, cool, but we want sound more like this and all this stuff." And I was just like, "Oh, it's not what I thought it was going to be." And I got rejected and

well, your lane didn't really exist in their defense. They didn't like I don't know how we're marketing this. Is he R&B? Is he soul?

What do you do? And yeah, I was just like, "Ah, this isn't what I thought." So, I was like, "Okay, whatever. I'm I'm done with this and yeah, my parents locked up. It was

Did you feel guilty about So when you said earlier your parents like matched your money, which I think is like a beautiful thing. I can imagine that if then they had to go to prison because of money stuff,

I would be like, "What? Why' you give me all this money if you didn't have any?"

Like, did you have any guilt around that? Yeah, it was just like Yeah. I mean, we were all really spoiled coming up. Even my older sisters, we didn't

we didn't know what was going on until it happened and our our world got turned upside down. Before that, we were like living in mansions and all this stuff. And my my folks took care of my my older sisters and their husband, everything. And everybody was taken care of. And then everything just got the rug got swept up under us. And so um it was a rude awakening for us. And I I was just like, why God? Why us? And like my mom wasn't like a criminal. And that's more I was like and I was just thinking like the worst things could be happening to her in in prison and stuff and I was just like

ah this is this is terrible and I so yeah there was that I was just like dealing with that and then on top of that like

I was so broke like I couldn't pay attention and I was like trying to get stuff my my license would get suspended because I couldn't pay for parking tickets and all stuff then I couldn't go visit my mom cuz they you need a license all this stuff and

it was just like Yeah. A lot of a lot of the guilt and shame and I wanted to be doing better when I when I go see and visit her. She's like, "So, what's new?" And I was like, "I'm selling weed. I don't

I'm doing about as much as you're doing sitting here in prison. We got about the same productivity level."

I know. But I got no excuse. We made about the same amount of money this year. Oh, no. It's so sad.

Holy [ __ ] Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. So you're promoting uh Venice and you're on Sway and that's where Dre hears you. Is that apocryphal or is that how it works?

So I'm promot I'm doing Venice and Venice is like got a bunch of different styles on it. Um, we were trying to get to Draier when I had Venice, but he wasn't feeling it at the time. Uh, and I did go on Sway and and do some stuff like I I was very much my style was it wasn't cohesive back then. It was like I would have a song with Autoune, then I would have a future funk song, then I would have house. It was all over the place. And then I met Knowledge, this producer, through Twitter again

and he had remixed one of the songs that I had out uh it was actually like a Breezy Love Joy song that I had out before Venice, like for my mixtape, Py uh PYP, and he uh had that remix. He was another kid that was in the beat scene and was doing remixes and all this stuff. And I was a big fan of him. He was big on Band Camp. So he was like, again, another indie thing. Wasn't doing the whole streaming thing. He was like straight direct to his fans, making money that way. And I was buying all his stuff from Band Camp. And then he reached out and I was like, "Oh, sick."

And that back then it was like the equivalent of like getting hit up by Dre. Like I was a big fan of him as well. And uh he was like, "Let's work." And he sent me like 100 beats. And uh Suede was one of those beats. And I was recording at Dumbfounded Studio that he let me use. And that's when I I wrote that song. I remember um after I wrote it, it was like the course is like if I call you a [ __ ] it's cuz you're my [ __ ] And as long as someone else call you [ __ ] then it won't be no problems. And if I call you a trick, it's cuz you're my cuz you paid rent. And then you need me to remind you where Sorry, it's been a minute.

Yeah, but I was I was like a little on the fence about this song. I was like, is this is this too much? His music put me in this like pimp like from Mississippi and like this black exploitation kind of feel and it it brought out that gritty tone

that I had that had been kind of flirting with. Do you know Van Hunt? Yeah. Yeah.

So I was a huge Van Hunt fan and to me when I heard that I was like oh it's got that Van

and people used to always be like you and Van you know. Yeah. Yeah. I really leaned into that with his with his production and uh we we got signed to Stones Throw as a duo and they put Suede out. That was the first single and then that was like making its rounds and everyone was like that kid that does Suede and I was like cool this is happening and that was my first deal you know and it was with a group but I was like hey at least I'm signed

and that made its way to Dre. So that song uh got to Dre's ears through his writers that he was working with at the time, which ended up being Compton, but he was working with these writers, Mez and JT. And they were like, "Come to the studio. Dre wants to meet you." Blah blah blah. And I almost didn't go cuz I didn't think it was legit back then. Everybody would be saying Dre wants to work cuz it was detox. And

for years, you know, this mythical album that never came out was like a thing that everyone was working on. So at at that time, I was like, I'm doing my own thing. I don't I don't want to I'm not a writer for other people. Like I'm not going to do it. Like

all the fear talking. Yeah. All the fear talk. Well, you can create a really compelling reason. You can buy into it.

Yes. But you buy it. It's like it's it's logically sound. Yeah. You can trick yourself

and you're just scared as [ __ ] Cuz your hero just invited you over. Like top of the tops number one. That's the top. So I I had put it out my mind that I would even meet him. And then when they said he's going to he wants to meet you this and that, I was like no. And then they begged me and I went and I met him and I was like, "Whoa, he's like he's just 10 foot tall."

For the listener, he just pointed at me. I was just like you a giant am. Yeah. He met me and then, you know, met him in DLC and they're just chilling. And I go I go in the studio. I meet the writers. They're like, "We love Suede." And like I'm like, "Cool. Um, let's work." And they're like, "We want Dre to hear the song." I'm like, "He hasn't heard it yet?" And they're like, "No." I'm like, "Okay, well maybe get kicked out." Like it can imagine the anxiety of the situation when now when you're in the room while he's listening to it, do you look at him or do you look somewhere else and try to peep him out the corner of your eye?

I was looking at his feet. I looked at his feet and that's when I realized he wears the same shoes every day. We white Air Force ones. I was like, "Yeah, that's crazy. That's Dre's fit." Yeah. And he's like blasting it and I look up and he's like, "Play it again." You know,

then he goes like this, like this double thumbs up. Double thumbs up. He's like, "Let's work.

Let's gangster." Amazing. Do you really play that ever in your mind that you do? Yeah.

All the time. Just Yeah. There's these little moments, right, and they're generally, I think, before you quote made it. And they don't really get better.

Yeah, they do. And I got to imagine that. That's got to be I mean, close to the pinnacle. It was the hugest thing. And they were like, "Don't tell anyone about this." And I mean, I told everybody as soon as I left, he wears Air Forces. He was banging my [ __ ] They love to play it 12 times. I [ __ ] I'm on. Don't talk to me. I'm on, bro. He's letting you know that we're done.

And it don't include you. I changed a lot. Yeah. So, I was on top of the world and they just kept, you know, inviting me back.

And you end up on six tracks. End six tracks. And I would have never thought Dre would have put his album out before I did. And and I was like I had Venice out before that. And um then he put out Compton. And so then I was just like on a rocket after that. And everyone was like, "Who's this kid?" And before that I couldn't buy a deal.

Yeah. And and everyone was like, "Yeah, Stray this guy this and that." And I wasn't signed still and I was just I had Malibu like in the oven.

That didn't come out on aftermath though right? He let you put that out even though he was about to sign you.

Yeah. He was, you know, he was doing his thing. He was very busy and with the movie and with everything. They had just like did the Apple deal and everything. So, and I after that

I was just starting to tour and stuff. And so I was kind of like I I I was taking meetings and everything, but I knew in my heart like I'm not going to sign anybody else unless Dre, you know, Dre gave me the chance. So he brought you to the dance.

Yeah. I'm going to I'm going to go with him. So um but yeah, he was he was taking his time. So I was like, "Okay, I'm going to put this album out indie with the with the same people I did." And it was really a blessing cuz you know, now I got those masters and it's it's um that that album really changed everything.

Good that album. And now like you you get a lot of critical acclaim off of Malibu.

Oh, that's where Dreamers on Malibu, which I just love. I already told you how powerful that is. Then this other magical thing happens, which is you in promotion of Malibu, you do Tiny Desk. And for anyone who's not seen this Tiny Desk,

it is the best of the Tiny Desk. I've probably viewed it 200 times. And I just want to watch I want to watch the beginning.

Oh, no. We're making him watch a thing. Oh, he knows. He knows he looks cute in this.

[ __ ] you. Look at this guy. Right. They did me a real solid because they start in tight and then they back up and they're like, he's on the drums.

Yeah. You don't see it. And I think that was huge. What's with the cloth over the snare? What's happening?

That's to dampen it. Yeah. The snare can be really loud, especially in a room like that. So, I was trying to just

cuz I'm going to argue this is where the second thing, which is you playing drums.

Boom. Yeah. Cuz now we go. This guy's a real musician. He's This is so 70s. And these are your Free Nationals.

These are my brothers. We have been playing 15 years plus. Like that's a [ __ ] great album. The Free Nationals album.

Yeah. Oh, it's it's amazing. That happens. Yeah. And what happens post Tiny Death?

That was our first viral thing like and probably one of my probably to date my biggest thing. Um, it's crazy too cuz you know before that we spent thousands on these bigot promotional things and the biggest thing is just us playing in the office.

Tiny desk really has the power to do it like doi. I mean I feel like so many people get seen on a grand scale with that

and timing you know they tiny desk was still a baby too. They they had I wanted to do tiny desk and I was telling my pe my PR at the time I was like I want to do tiny. They were like what? And I was like, "Yeah, it the thing that made me want to do it was I saw T. Payne do it and that was that it went crazy for him too because that was like a performance that he did without the autotune and people were like, he could really sing."

I was like, "This could be cool for us to just play cuz we we were very much you needed to see us live to believe it."

And we had been playing in clubs and all this stuff and we we were like trying to tour and all this stuff, but people were having a tough time believe like they didn't know what to what we were

and I would tell people we're a band. We're like the Chili Peppers, but I know the the the music is kind of all over the place, but once you see us, we're really just like a band and we're a rock band.

And so this really made it plain. And I didn't really even know how big like the drumming and performing thing was until this.

Yeah, cuz we were playing I was playing drums and it came out of necessity. I I would rather not. It was like it's it's really tough.

But my band was like really spoiled and we're all spoiled. Like I'm a drummer and we couldn't keep a drummer. All the good drummers that we had, they would all get gigs. They play with us for a little bit, then they're off playing for whoever. And so I'm like, "Fuck it. I'll play." And like I don't want I want to be front man, you know? Like Yeah. You want to dance around?

Yeah. I'll dance around. I'm like sweaty and like we're playing all these clubs and they're like whatever. And like this really like after this I was like, "Oh, I'm playing. I'm staying on the drums."

When you perform now, how often are you on the drums? I I go like It's like half and half. Yeah. And now I have a um

I have a drummer that that plays too. Well, now you can afford the things. Yeah. It's like you're going to stay now.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. But now people want to see you on the drum. So that's a different thing.

So it's a whole thing. I got to keep it up and you know drumming is you got to you got to keep it going or else you get rusty.

Oh [ __ ] It's tough, man. But yeah, it was huge. Like and I didn't know it was going to be huge. We we were like kind of dreading it.

You know, we've been interviewing a lot of musicians lately and we've had a couple like Luke Combmes had this moment. Chris Stapleton had this moment. These award shows can be that moment where it's like Carson in the 80s. If you're a standup, you crush, you get a sitcom literally Monday, right? There's for musicians, it's these little sparks. Like I see that tiny desk and I think

like Van Hunt should have been you. He should have had a ride like yours. But he didn't have a tiny desk or he didn't have the award show. It's like the music was [ __ ] there. And it's it's crazy how precarious all this is, isn't it?

Timing and just like that's what it is. And it's so crazy cuz we easily could have canceled that, too. Yeah,

I was I woke up hung over. I I forgot that. I was like, who [ __ ] booked this? And they're like, you did

like remember you were begging us to do [ __ ] hung over. I'm not going to do this playing in an office at 11:00 a.m. like I sound like [ __ ]

An NPR guy. NPR who watch the world. We don't have to do this. You don't have to listen to everything I say.

Aspirin. Yeah, exactly. But we did it and thank God. It changed our lives. And after that, we were just boom. every festival

and you got music uh in an Apple commercial. You got music in in these um huge video games, these IP video games. All right. So, now you're starting to make money.

Yeah. So, what does what does um Anderson do with some money? I got my mom a house.

Okay. That was the first thing. my mom gets out of prison and like um you know each year was getting better and but that was like my my main thing like taking care of my fam and my my my wife at the time was from Korea and um she was full-time mom. I had a little kid at the time and so I was all about like I just want to pay my bills, you know, like I want to pay my bills. I want insurance. I want a car.

Yeah. What was the first car you bought? The first car I bought was a a a BMW i8. Like the first like fancy one

and it was the one with the doors lift up like a Back to the Future car. It was really cool. They stopped making them that I thought it was one of the sexiest coolest cars.

It was no one bought those. Super not practical for having a family and stuff. You run over one pothole and it's finished. But man, that was it was like a hybrid. It was so cool. And like I was like, I'm getting this doors, butterfly doors. I was like, I made it.

Yeah. Made that on the cover of Oxnard. Yeah. But yeah, I was just doing things like that. I was like, you know, I got I got my my my family into a proper place and I got my mom a place and she I was like, "Mom, where you I got some money like where you want to live?" And she was like, "Atlanta." I was like, "Thank God." Yeah. Yeah. It was cheap.

Yeah. Housing is going to get you into 3 4,000 feet. Two of those. Let's do that. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we did that.

We got a hit on on um Silk Sonic. How do you and Bruno um come to know each other?

We met uh not too soon uh after that, 2016. Uh he asked me to open up for his 24 karat.

Oh, wow. So, like stadium stadiums. So, we were just on top of You were like, "Oh, I I can get used to this."

Yep. Were you or were you like, "Oh, shit." Like, were you intimidated or were you just like, "We got this." This kid WAS BORN TO SHOW. I WAS BORN, BUT there was a learning curve cuz we were doing we come we came from like the festival scene and like doing all kinds of stuff. And then we got into his world, Life on Mars

and we we learned quick that a stadium arena show is different than a festival or like a intimate club. You you just there's different things that don't

they don't um translate and and so we learned a lot from him and how he put together his show. He took us out for like 30 dates and it was in Europe. And also we learned about like stealing fans like with the you're no one's coming to see you, bro. As much as as big as you think you are,

they're hoping you wrap it up quickly. Exactly. So you need to you're up there to steal fans and you need to be like people should be like, "Well, that opener was great." Exactly.

Not not like wrap it up, buddy. So we were very much like we learned how to put together a a a good show that that Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That showcased what we could do and and and was, you know, high energy and that translated to like a big audience and and and during that time I got to really hang with him and like get to know him and he's he's one that studies it. He studies the great like, you know, Prince and Elvis and all these dudes that know how they look.

Yeah, he knows. He's mastered it. Did you pick some of that up, too? Cuz again, I was I was all vibes like I just go with the flow. Like I'm more like, you know, hippie vibes. And he's like, "You got to know your angles. You got to know when to do this." He also wasn't a dude that was like after my own heart was very bandoriented, you know, like

leans a lot with his group. Very much so. One of the greatest entertainers, man. And and yeah, he taught me a lot about that. It's like it's it's about, you know, having a real handle on your artistry and not putting it in the hands of other people. I learned a lot about that with him. Like directing your own vids, doing your own coro, putting together your own show, and like you said, this is stuff that we could do. It's just like tapping into what we can do and making it sexy for us. Like who are we and to the and and uh yeah that was I learned a lot from him with that.

What do you think he was yearning for that he saw you were going to give him? I think both of us needed a friend

at the time we when we when we linked back up with each other during co I think we just we needed answers. We needed we're both workaholics and everything shut down.

Yeah. Yeah. And we couldn't do the things that we were used to doing. And he didn't he didn't have he doesn't have kids. I had kids. I was getting really inspired by them cuz like before that I was always on the road and now I'm just like with my kids and I'm like, "Oh, you want to be a YouTuber?" Okay. And like I'm realizing how talented my son is and like he's so like Rashid. What do you call?

Yeah. So I call him S Rashid cuz I was like you don't want to get the nepotism things. So like you'll thank me later.

Exactly. But yeah, so Celo, you know. Um, I gave them like black Muslim middle names cuz I was like the mom their mom got the name Soul and Shine. I'm like they're going to know it's black kid. Rasheed and Tariq. I don't know why.

Like it's really important to me all of a sudden. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I'm going to bore you with my experience of the Super Bowl halftime show. So generally we all go to our friends has a party and for whatever reason that year 2022 I don't know why I decided I wasn't going and I was downstairs watching it by myself in the theater room and that halftime show starts and I am getting completely overwhelmed with again the chip on my shoulder is like I'm white trash. People think I'm [ __ ] and I'm watching these dudes in the shadow of where they grew up

owning the entire world and I am dude in [ __ ] M&M's here all of a sudden from Detroit who's from this you know and where I'm from and when my wife comes down I'm crying I'm just like crying like yes man [ __ ] all these they were burning those CDs and Tippergore was trying to get rid of them and the the whole government and the US they were ruining America and

what a come a [ __ ] is for every you know white trash poor black whatever that was a

no [ __ ] we're going to win cuz we got that that's right and so I'm already in that state and I'm or you're already my number one and when they [ __ ] pan over and I SEE THAT MOTHERFUCKER'S BEEN PLAYING THE DRUMS ON THIS WITH THAT SMILE I screamed out LOUD I WAS LIKE IS PLAYING

on Lose Yourself Eminem. I'm just like coming up on the list. So cool. Oh my god.

I've never had a moment watching TV in my whole life that compares to that [ __ ] moment. I've watched that a thousand times. I mean, for you to come out of the [ __ ] ground.

Yeah. So, I was so excited to learn that you weren't supposed to be there. So, tell everyone how you got there.

Yeah. Um, it got announced that Dre was doing the Super Bowl and this whole trailer came out with they're all looking like the Avengers. My mom's like, "Why aren't you on there? You're signing too."

That's right. I'm like, "Mom, I can fix this. Hold on." I'm pretty sure there's going to be another trailer out.

Don't worry, that's just the first one. Relax. Everyone relax. Yeah, they don't show Aquaman in the first trailer.

Exactly. Exactly. I'm at the end credits. You know, that's the most I hit Dre. I'm like, Dre, what the [ __ ] Like, I'm signed to you, too. you probably forgot. Like I know I'm not as huge as like some of your others that came before, but like yeah, like what's up, man? Can I like hold a symbol or something? You're just like, I'm I'm going to think about I'm going figure out I got some ideas. I'm going to see what's up. And I was like, well, cool. While you're doing that, I'm going to make my own poster and and put myself on there. I got a guy that's really good with Photoshop. And just, you know, it's no rush, but I'm going to just get ahead of this.

I'm going to take this part into my own hands. Take some liberties. Yeah. Yeah. So I put I made my own poster like photoshopped myself in there between like

You really did do it. Yeah. Yeah, I did. And boom, put it up. That's amazing. And then yeah, the ne next couple days Dre calls me. He's like, "What do you think about playing for Marshall for Lose Yourself on the drums?" I was like,

"Yeah, let's do that. I think that'll work for me. I think that'll work just fine."

Oh, yeah. Okay. Now, there's a great behindthescenes thing that I learned in one of the 80 interviews I watched. Um, so Andy has his his uh in ears in, right?

Oh, darn before. And he's also panicked, right? You're panicked. He biggest gig of my life.

Yeah. And immediately before it starts, we are like 3 seconds out from showtime. And what do you hear in the interview?

I hear Snoop Dogg ask Dr. Dre, "Hey, is it Lahi dy dah or dy dy dah?" 5 4 3 2 1 like boom.

I just hear Dre go, "What the fuck?" And like that was it. Oh, you're gone. YOU GO TO STAGE.

OH my god. Was that a little comforting though? It was. I bet it was like, "Oh, good. He's He don't know what he's doing either.

No one does. Incredible. This is everyone's biggest gig of their life." I know. But that's the thing about him. He doesn't have a biggest gig. He doesn't He like And that's why he's so cool.

Snoop was going to do bar mitzvah probably that same day. Exactly. Down the street, you know, and so

Oh, man. inspiration, too, about just just do it, man. You know, you never know what's going to happen.

Now, I learned this when we interviewed Leon Bridges, who again, I'm couldn't be a bigger fan of Leon Bridges. What a dude.

Outstanding. And you directed Motorbike, right? Was that the first thing you directed? How did we get into directing?

Uh my son in in co uh he want to be YouTuber and I was like stuck in the house. I'm like, "Okay, let's see." He had no subscribers. So, I was like, "Let's let's juice it." like, "Come on, let's figure out use utilize your dad." You know what I'm saying? Like,

let's do some skits, you know? So, I start doing skits and I get more into it than he is. I'm like, "Oh my god, this is this is great." I when I was younger, I used to do home videos all the time, my sister. And like I was in high school, I was into video editing. I went to like a technology school, magnet school. So, one of the electives was was video editing. And I got I was like, it was a whole world that I was obsessed with. And I used to love like editing and making my own videos and doing all that stuff. So when I got with my son and co it brought all that back and I was like got my laptop out and I was like dude let's do some funny skits and I would be up all night to post. And so he inspired me to write uh a script and uh I wanted to do a movie and I knew that I needed some experience. I needed some time on set working and learning the language and or to even get a real so that people would fund it. I was

watching all this stuff and I was like, "Okay, the movies that I like are nine times out of 10 it's like they wrote wrote it themselves and they just did it themselves." You know, I grew up on watching like Ice Cube, Friday and like um you know, Spike Lee, all these stuff. So these these they kind of just took it in their own hands and they again they worked with the people next to them and so I was like cool I'm going to just do that but I need some experience. So I was like I'm going to do a bunch of music videos. I want to get like 10 15 music videos. I told my team, I was like, "Anybody who's down to let me direct, I'll send treatments and let them know I'm serious and I don't care."

And and and Leon was one of the first people. And I was uh working with a really talented DP who showed me a lot, showed me the ropes, uh Tequila, and we put together a treatment where, you know, we wanted to do film and I was like, I want to do narratives um music videos because I wanted eventually I want to do a movie. So, stories. This is all to you know, help me get experience with that. And um Leon was down and Leon was great. He like he just was like I was I had this whole narrative of like at the end you're going to get shot in the gut, you know, like you know he was just down. He was such a sweet guy and I was like we're going to make you like sex symbol and I want you to like be with the girl and like making out and all this stuff. And he was like so shy and I had to like switch some stuff up and

he's very shy. Shy. Yeah. Yeah. That's a song. Yeah. So, yeah, he was great. But, um, yeah, that was uh that's how I got into directing.

Okay. And now you've written this script. I wrote I co-wrote it with another talented uh writer, Kayla Amazon.

Okay. How did you meet her? I met her through the production team, Stampede, who gave me the initial funding for this idea I had called K-pops, where I'm like, um, a washed up musician that finds out his son could be the next K-pop star. Oh, fun.

It was It was totally inspired by my son and and in in the house, you know, my ex-wife now is they were obsessed with K-pop and everyone was going crazy. So, I was like kind of the outside guy looking in hip-hop like, "Well, you need to know about Tupac as well."

You know, like they were just like, "Screw you." You know, like we're Korean. And so, I was like, "Oh, this could be funny." you know, like

very, you know, the disgruntled salty musician that like begrudgingly has to go into this K-pop world, but ends up finding out he has a son.

He takes a job as a drummer on this competition show in Korea. And when he gets there,

Yeah. he kind of meets this little kid who's your real son. Yeah. Which is incredible.

He's He's dangerous. Yes. He's dangerous. He's He's 2.0. He's killing it. He's bilingual, everything. He's killing it. Oh,

I took it to them and they were like, "We love it." And they were like, "We'll give you the money for it." And I was like, "Wait, you serious?" And

now I had to I was like thrown into this and um it was the toughest thing I ever did.

Uh how about leading up to day one of production where you're I almost I almost didn't do it. I tried to like kind of weasel out of it. I'm in over my head. I'm a sham.

I'm going to get exploded. I charmed my way into this situation. Exactly. And now we're [ __ ] cuz I don't have the goods.

Chickens have come to roost. Yeah. I owe a lot of people, you know. So, it's like and I got my family involved now and all of a sudden, everyone's looking at me and I This is the crazy part. It was like the strikes were happening. So, I kind of had a I kind of could have, you know, I was about to like use that. I'm like, you know, strikes like

Yeah. Again, you start building the [ __ ] story and it's sounding better and better. This is logical. I want to do it.

I don't want to be a prick. Yeah. Like, come on. I'm on a picket line. I can't do it. Can I do it?

I'd love to. I'd love to. I'd kill to but it's moral morally, you know. God. So, yeah. And then and I remember talking to my son. I'm like, "Do you even want to do it?" Because the other thing hoping maybe he can pull the for you.

YOU TELL ME YOU DON'T WANT TO DO IT. YOU AIN'T GOT TO DO THIS. MY SON'S MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. HE GOES, "I'M MY MOM, BRO.

My son want to do this." We're all so full of [ __ ] Yeah, dude. I was going to pull that one.

HE'S A CHILD. HE WANTS TO BE A KID. LET HIM be a kid. He looked at me. He's like, "I better [ __ ] do this. You had to be in acting classes for a year straight." I'm like, "Shit."

The the leap is just like, "Just start the thing." And there's really no space for the fear.

Yeah. Soon as I got on set, I was like, "This is the greatest." Oh, good. I was waking up every morning like like you got to be there the first one on set and the last one off, you know? like

I got to learn so much and my team was like the best. I had the best team. My DP was like a like old school dude that comes from TV. So, everyone was like this was their he had been wanting to do something with like music and this was like his first real film that he got to do. And

I mean he's he did like this was like on the set of like you know these like not MASH but like those kind of shows you like.

So everyone was like rooting for me. He's 106. He's 106. So we didn't have to Exactly.

We had to take nap break. He did die. He did die in the middle. Uh yeah but camera knew camera knew the vision. A camera stepped up.

You're my wanted this way. You were in the cam yesterday. You're the DP today. Look who's got promotion.

Where did you shoot? You were in I shot everywhere. I shot in Rafford. I shot in, you know, Ktown. I shot in Korea.

Is the record shop in the alley here or there? It's there. It's there. Yeah. That felt real. I'm like, "Yeah, if this is a film, I watched it last night."

Oh my god. What do you think? I loved it. You know why I loved it? If you can go, oh Lord, I I I got the thing in my head out onto the screen in the exact way I wanted to. That's the victory of a lifetime.

Yeah. And I'm watching your movie and I'm like, "This is Anderson Pack." Yeah. This is Anderson Pack's soul.

Very least. wall to-wall music. It's dancing. It's so fun. There's so much love for your kid in it. Everything that is you is on the screen. And I was like, what an accomplishment for him for his first thing

to have gotten his soul out in such a palpable and tangible way. So, it's a huge victory.

Thanks, man. Yeah. I It made me so happy the exact same way your music makes me and and watching you play drums makes me. It's like it's another little domain that you executed who you are,

which is hard to do. Very hard. And I hope you feel that when you watch it, like, oh, I did I did the thing. My my spirit is there.

That's awesome. Yeah. The music was that part easier for you or also very challenging.

It was tough. I mean, doing like needle drops. Yeah. I was having a ball. Sure. Yeah. That's the fun part.

Until they told me how much it cost and I was like, let's just use my stuff. Yeah. Yeah,

but you got some favors. I think I was listening to the needle drops and I was like, that's an expensive song. That's I don't know what version you saw. But yeah, up until recently, I had to [ __ ] update and it's like, oh my god. But yeah, some of them it's like some of them are cooked in there. We can't, you know,

but it was like, oh man, [ __ ] cost. And but that's the thing you learn every time. If it's like important for you for these if you want needle drops or whatever, it's like you have that has to be a very important thing for the budget. Like now I know now, you know, going in Yeah. And you can get married and it can be the scene.

A lot of the scenes like I'm thinking about the music first. I'm thinking of make I'm making the scene based off like the song that I know I want to use, stuff like that.

I'm very much making movies like how I would make an album, you know. So, um yeah, that was that's one big one thing I learned. And um yeah, but the scoring is a whole different thing. And the first I got to score, she's like a prodigy. She was like 12 and like um

one one of Soul Rasheed's friends. Yeah. Who's that little kid? Who's your girlfriend?

I'm pretty sure she can do it. She had a violin. Tell her bring that. She's like a, you know, virtuoso and

I don't know how to speak the language. I'm like, can you just make it happier or darker here or make it blue? I don't [ __ ] know. And these scenes are the score of make or break a scene. And

that's everything, you know? Especially for like the more like emotional points. I don't want it to be cheesy. And it's like,

yeah. You're walking, you're dancing this [ __ ] line. Yeah. where it's like, I need the emotion, but I don't want to be caught

Yeah. manipulating. Exactly. I don't want to tell them how to feel and all this stuff. But then also, it's like,

you know, we're not making these [ __ ] deep ethereal things either. It's like I'm making, you know, I want a feel-good warm family movie, you know, at the day like when my mom and like my sisters are watching it like, you know, and I love those kind of like Sundance Deep, you know, Oscar things, but I'm always the odd man out like wanting to watch that kind of [ __ ] And then my sisters are like, "What the [ __ ] is this?" You know,

like, "Can we watch Zootopia?" Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like, put on Tyler Perry, bro, or something, you know? And I'm like,

Yeah. So, it's just walking that fine line. The thing it reminded me of the most of is um

Pitch Perfect. Weird. Oh, I love Pitch Perfect. I don't know why that just kept coming up. Just that that that like because everyone in the cast is young and they're hungry and they're cute and just the learning to dance and learning to sing that street and stuff like that. Yeah.

Do you feel an extra I assume you feel an extra pressure with the music because you're like people are also going to be looking extra hard at the music because it's me. Like that's annoying, too.

Yeah. Yeah. My DP was like, "They're going to be on your ass about directing and then and and acting. You're not going to get any, you know, no one's going to cut you any slack. The most you could do is just make it you and just

do it." And I that's why I'm really happy that I was a part of the writing. Yes.

And honestly, it wasn't a stretch to play the character. I'm playing pretty much myself, but like a wash up version, which is really fun. I love like self-deprecating [ __ ]

I was like, "Oh my god, he's so [ __ ] natural." And then your son is so goddamn natural. That's who I was like riding the coattail of. I was That was the whole point. I was like, "Son, you're you got this. Let me ride your wave."

Uh, are you going to make more movies? I would love to. Yeah. If I ever get to work in this town again,

I will continue to make some more movies. You got Earthwind and Fire in it. Earthwind and Fire.

How'd you get that, dude? Big favors. I owe a lot of people. A lot of a lot of promises have been made.

Was it fun to play with them? It was so much fun. And I got to do a little improv with them. And they were so cool. And they were like, you know, they just like they love the story. They were like, "Cool, we'll do it." And um it was so nerve-wracking for me because that was a big scene and we're like in the um we did it in the uh Hard Rock Cafe

in Hollywood Boulevard and we're we're renting it out for a certain time and I got extras and I got them and they're like one of my biggest idols and I'm just like I got cameras and I got to do this. It's okay if we do another take here and this and that and I got my son and

it was like one of the last shots too. So, I was just like, "Woo!" It was a lot going on. I chained smoke my brains out uh that whole process. But yeah, they were great and they were really cool and I got to do funny improv with them and

that's so fun. It was a huge huge thing. My thing I do when I'm directing is and I had an assistant say to me, "I'm a little worried about your Starbucks order."

Cuz I would get a venty drip and then um three dopios to start the day. Double shot of espresso. That was like the morning coffee order for me. So you would go, I don't know if this

straight up, man. Um, the movie's great. People should see it. K-pops. Yeah. February 27th, it comes out AMC theaters.

So on your stomach now, some personal curiosities. Uh, trust your gut. Yeah. That could have come about for two reasons. Um, because you didn't,

right? And you need a reminder. Mhm. or you you have and it's the reason. Why is it on there?

I was just trying to get out the house. It was in CO and I was losing my mind and I was like I'm going to go get a chest piece. I'll be back and those are like the only spots like kind of still open like sketchy like we're open get a tattoo you know. I don't give a [ __ ]

Yeah. I was like [ __ ] it. Can we drink there? Yeah. And I would go to this garage and like I was getting I got bunch of tattoos and Mac was another one that was like dude get get you know you use like get one part a limb or something where it's just just for like funny tattoos and I was like his leg had like a bunch of stuff. So like on this arm I got like Marge with like

Homer Homer's eyes as her boobs and like this crazy [ __ ] you know. Oh you got animal?

Yeah I got animal the drumming. I got this whole thing. So, I was just I made a tat and um I had a different

tat that I wanted to do and they somehow that didn't work out. So, I was like, "Okay, well, let's just do a stomach tat. That should be cool." I had no clue how much pain I would be in.

And they were like, "What do you want?" I was like, "Trust your gut. That that seems ironic." And it's funny, you know, and it's cool and like Yeah. I am I'm very much like just go with my instinct. I try to and and it's a good reminder for me too because every time I didn't like why the [ __ ] did I do that? I should have just listened

right to myself. It was excruciating. E but I felt like accomplished like after you do a movie too, you know? I was like I did that.

Yeah. Okay. What are your if you had to what are your three favorite songs of yours?

I mean Come down is is a big one. Yeah. Uh, another one that I really like, it's not like a huge one, but uh it's co it's called um Fire in the Sky. I think that's what it's called. Yeah, I really like that one. It was it was on the the Shangchi soundtrack, whatever um that I did with Roger, who also does stuff for the soundtrack, but I really like that one. And um I like uh What More Can I Say?

It's another one that I did with Knowledge. And I think that's like if if you kind of like need an overall of like who I am and like my struggle as a like an artist and a hopeless romantic and just me I think that that kind of sums it up and it's a really short song but it's like

it's Yeah. Now you've said a few times my ex-wife you guys did 13 years together.

Yeah. Um, I have said this numerous times on here, like should my wife and I ever get divorced, I would refuse to ever look at that as a failure because it's been such a successful 18 years, the things we've created together and these children we've created together.

Do you walk from that with a feeling of like a failure? I talked to my mom about it too cuz it's like everyone's like, "Is there anything you can't do?" And I was like, "Well, marriage."

Yeah. You know, and so and I feel the same way. I feel like so close to her still and we're family. We came from like couches. We're grew up in our 20s.

Yeah. She's like a music student from Korea. Student. She came, you know, from Korea. Even saying

talk about we marry our mom. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, it's weird. Like I I don't even know like even how to say it sometimes.

Yeah. It feels like diminishing the kind of weird. So, um yeah, I did battle with that. Like ah I wish that you know I looked at I look at couples that stay together forever and it's not about like your happiness. you just you just

they just do it muster through it. And so I was like, damn, maybe I could have been like that. But um

you know, over time it gets better, you know, and I like they think that's what it is. Everyone's happiness matters. And I'm seeing her flourish and she came out here could hardly speak English and from Korea and just trusted me and were just young in love and had a kid and all this stuff that came about

and now she's getting to like experience that now, you know, learn more about herself. I'm seeing it now and and she's rich now.

And I wouldn't have changed anything. and um and and we're getting to learn how to be co-arents and my sons are so resilient, you know, thank God they're you don't know how these things can affect kids and I'm pretty sure, you know, he's he's dealing with it and I'm I'm we're both very much like in his life and making sure like he's okay. I'm seeing now he's like has such interest in like playing guitar and he's like doing the same things that I'm doing like same trajectory now. He's making beats. He grew up playing in church. his little brother singing and all this stuff and he's such a good older brother. So, I'm seeing how they're taking it.

What's the little one's name? Is it Who's Kenzo? I used to call my oldest Kenzo.

Okay. I was going to say Kenzo swag like his paw. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's soul. But yeah.

Okay. Yeah, he's um he's like a full grown man now. He's 15 now. It's good for them probably.

He really is good. and and now we're getting along better than ever and um we each getting like our time with the kids and it's cool now like we we're getting to do like holidays on my house and everybody's like easing into it.

Yeah. Are you still religious? I think I'm more spiritual I guess now. But yeah, there's still I'm still like very much believe in God and have that in me. I think that's part of my foundation and um I'm I'm very like happy that I did grow up and and have that foundation

because you came to it late. You came to it to go play drums there and I got you right.

Yeah, absolutely. Like throwing away all my Snoop Dog CDs and stuff. I'm only going to listen and I'm going to get baptized and stuff. Never having sex.

Feeling shame after you beat off. Exactly. Trying to quit beating off. Exactly. I got to get married so I can do this legit. Yeah.

Oh, dude. This has been so fun. I'm so glad this finally happened. Been a pleasure.

Um, you know, open up a [ __ ] uh steakhouse so I can come to the house. Oh, you got Oh, okay. You're serving.

You'll you'll live music. I got steak. I got everything for you. Okay. And then everyone check out K-pop's. It is Anderson pack uh on screen in all the ways that you could be on screen. Uh love you. This was great, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard"?

Dax Shepard (Host).

What is "Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" about?

Anderson .Paak discusses his upbringing in Las Vegas, revealing how his parents' gambling habits influenced his connection to the city. He also reflects on his experiences with drinking during interviews and the playful banter around his interactions with Dax Shepard, highlighting the dynamics of celebrity culture and personal relationships.

What is mentioned in this Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard episode?

35 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Andre (Dre), Tiny Desk, Mac Miller, Malibu, K-pops, Venice. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Anderson .Paak | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard"?

The episode runs 1 h 38 min; the transcript is about 22,027 words in 491 timestamped sections.

More from Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 3, 2026.