In traditional Interview Magazine fashion, Flying Lotus was recruited to interview rising singer/songwriter and 2016 XXL Freshman, Anderson .Paak.
The two musicians, each a genius in their own right, spoke casually about the creative process, .Paak’s success in 2016, his collaborative work with producer Knxwledge and life on the road.
Check out an excerpt from the interview below and read the full thing here.
FLYLO: In the writing process, are you one of those people who are always writing lyrics and stuff, and then you find a place to put them, or do you only write when you hear a beat?
PAAK: I just write everything down that is inspiring at the moment, because even if it’s just a sentence or a word or a situation that happened, with my writing, I am a fan of wit and clever ways to say simple things. So I feel like a lot of that stuff comes out in conversations.
FLYLO: Yeah, you need to remember that shit.
PAAK: Exactly. I try to write it down while it’s there, and I can always go back when I’m in a session. If I get in a session with you and you play me some music and I’m like, “Damn, this is dope,” I might think of something right on the spot, but then all of my steps will help me. It’s like finding that first top line.
FLYLO: The opening, yeah.
PAAK: The way that we come in with it. So I have a lot of those in my notes. Like, “This is a dope scenario,” or, “This is a dope phrase.” Then I can bounce from there. I just try to write everything down, man, and sometimes I can get it the first time, but sometimes I go back and move things around and figure out different things.