Anderson .Paak opens up about turning 40, quitting smoking, fatherhood, and why artists need to unionize to protect their rights and legacy.
Anderson .Paak is turning 40 this year, and he’s using the milestone to reassess his priorities.
The nine-time Grammy Award winner sat down with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay to discuss how fatherhood, the pandemic, and his evolving perspective on the music business are shaping his next chapter.
The conversation kicked off with Anderson reflecting on what he wants to accomplish at 40. Health is at the top of his list. He quit smoking after making a bet with his mother; if she stopped drinking Diet Coke, he’d quit smoking. She called his bluff and won.
“I ain’t had a smoke since October,” he said. “I can feel it in my chest. You know what I’m saying? I’m 40 now. If I don’t stop now, like I don’t know when I’m going to stop.”
But the bigger shift is about time. Anderson spent years touring nonstop before the pandemic forced everything to stop. That’s when he realized what he was missing.
“I was on the road non-stop. And when we was at the crib, it was just like, all right, my kids were a little older and I realized, man, I don’t know what they’re interested in,” he explained.
His son was into YouTube and K-pop, not the music Anderson had pushed on him since age two. Instead of forcing drums and studio time, Anderson backed off and watched his son flourish.
“As soon as I backed off, man, he started picking up everything and playing guitar, playing bass, um making beats, playing drums, doing everything, running circles around me.”
That realization led to the K-pop film Anderson just completed “K-POPS!.” He co-wrote, directed, and starred in it with his son. The movie premiered at film festivals such as TIFF and Tribeca and comes to Netflix on May 30.
It took five years to make, but Anderson learned more than he expected.
“I got my ass kicked up. But I learned so much from it and I never would have thought it would have made like movie festivals like TIFF and and um you know Tribeca and now it’s in AMC theaters.”
Anderson also got a tattoo during quarantine that reads: “When I’m gone, please don’t release any posthumous albums or songs with my name attached.”
He’s serious about protecting his legacy. He’s seen what happens when unfinished music gets released without the artist’s vision.
“They’re putting it out, but they don’t have your vision. You see, you can see, okay, this is supposed to go here, this supposed to be releases that, that’s supposed to release that. They’re just releasing it because it’s songs,” he said, referencing Prince, Mac Miller, Pop Smoke, and Juice WRLD.
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