The Makings of Musician Anderson .Paak
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Higher Ground
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2026
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Musician Anderson .Paak has always marched to the beat of his own drum. Whether he’s on the church circuit in Oxnard, center stage at the Grammys, or as one half of groups like NxWorries and Silk Sonic, Anderson is joyfully, defiantly, himself.
Watch this conversation on YouTube.
The versatile singer-songwriter joins us this week to discuss his directorial debut, K-Pops! (3:31), the music—Frankie Beverly & Maze, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder—that shaped his upbringing in Oxnard, CA (14:05), and the life-changing afternoon that eventually inspired the track “Battlefield” (16:00). Then, Anderson reflects on discovering the drums in middle school (21:15), his winding road to becoming a professional musician (27:35), and how his SoundCloud hit “Suede” stopped Dr. Dre in his tracks (42:20).
On the back-half, we dive into the whirlwind decade following the release of “Malibu”: featuring a lesson in presence from Snoop Dogg (58:00), tour life (1:00:15), the spirit of James Brown (1:02:08), collaborating with Smokey Robinson on the instant classic “Make it Better” (1:07:15), his next record (1:16:00), and how he hopes the music continues to evolve in the years ahead (1:19:00).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Talk Easy. I'm Sam Forgoso so welcome to the show. |
| 0:35.9 | Today, rapper and singer-songwriter, Anderson Pack. |
| 0:39.4 | He's the front man for Anderson Pack and the Free Nationals, |
| 0:42.6 | one-half of groups like No Worries and Silk Sonic, |
| 0:45.7 | and a Grammy Award-winning musician in his own right. |
| 0:48.1 | He raps, he sings, he plays the drums, |
| 0:51.6 | he's collaborated with everyone from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog to Mariah Carey and Eminem, |
| 0:54.1 | all while remaining entirely unequivocally |
| 0:56.9 | himself, spirited, soulful, and just introspective enough to know that none of it is forced or feigned. |
| 1:05.0 | You can hear all of that in the music, just as you'll be able to hear it in this interview. |
| 1:09.7 | He's like a walking, talking, singing antidepressant. |
| 1:12.8 | His joy, utterly infectious, but also, as we discuss, pretty hard thought. |
| 1:18.6 | We sat down recently around the release of his directorial debut, K-pops, |
| 1:23.4 | a father-son comedy starring Anderson and his actual son, Tay. |
| 1:27.9 | In the film, Anderson plays a washed-up musician |
| 1:30.7 | who improbably lands a gig as the drummer of a K-pop reality TV show in South Korea, |
| 1:37.4 | where he also discovers that one of the contestants, played by Tay, |
| 1:41.4 | is actually the son he never knew he had. |
| 1:45.6 | The film is coming out exclusively in AMC theaters beginning February 27th, and if you want to find tickets, you can go to our website |
| 1:51.5 | at talkeasypod.com. Along with the film's release, Anderson is celebrating the 10-year |
| 1:58.0 | anniversary of Malibu, which was really the record that changed everything |
| 2:01.9 | for the West Coast rapper and singer-songwriter. And so this felt like a good time to have him on |
... |
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