Hard-to-pin-down California rapper, singer, songwriter and producer Bradley Paak Anderson -- AKA Anderson .Paak -- was already painting his sound in broad strokes of hip-hop, classic soul and R&B both traditional and contemporary on 2014's Venice, but on Malibu the mix starts to sound like his own thing altogether and not just a ... mix. 

Comparisons to Kendrick Lamar's epic To Pimp A Butterfly came fast and furious, and not without good reason: Malibu holds a similar reverence for Black-music history, yet attempts to reconfigure all of that knowledge in modern-day terms. What sets Anderson .Paak slightly apart, however, is the fact that he can spit a tough-ass hip-hop verse like wildfire one second and sing like an angel the next when he assumes the persona of an old-school soul/R&B crooner. Production assistance from ace studio hounds such as Madlib, Kaytranada and Hi-Tek adds a little variety to Malibu's classicist-but-not-entirely sound along the way, while guests include Schoolboy Q, Talib Kweli and the Game (remember the Game?) as well as A-list jazzbos Robert Glasper and Pino Palladino and two -- yes, two -- entire choirs. This is a fun ride, and entirely its own thing.

TRACKLISTING:

1. The Bird
2. Heart Don't Stand A Chance
3. The Waters (Feat. Bj The Chicago Kid)
4. The Season - Carry Me
5. Put Me Thru
6. Am I Wrong (Feat. Schoolboy Q)
7. Without You (Feat. Rapsody)
8. Parking Lot
9. Lite Weight (Feat. The Free Nationals United Fellowship Choir)
10. Room In Here (Feat. The Game & Sonyae Elise)
11. Water Fall (Interluuube)
12. Your Prime
13. Come Down
14. Silicon Valley
15. Celebrate
16. The Dreamer (Feat. Talib Kweli & Timan Family Choir)