(AllHipHop News) Anderson .Paak secured some big names for his Ventura album. OutKast legend André 3000 and R&B luminary Smokey Robinson are among the musicians set to appear on the forthcoming LP. What was it like for Paak to work with those iconic artists? He talked about Dré and Smokey on Julie Adenuga’s Beats 1 show.
On André 3000:
I got the spitter André. That verse-verse André. Man, that was rough. I didn’t think it was going to happen. Just feeling like a lot of days it was like I felt like I was writing where it was like, “Day three, still no André. Sorry, Mom. He hasn’t delivered. Day four, still haven’t heard from André. Hopes are still optimistic, but… Week seven, this is complete bullsh*t. No signs of André.” But then he eventually sent in his verse, and we were just like, “Oh, shoot!” It was like Kendrick when he finally sent it in. It was like you just never knew when it was coming. André came in and listened to both albums before they came out. Again, we had great conversation and listened to his music. It was just dope. He was so peaceful and zen. I felt like I need to take a break. I was like, “You want something to drink? You want some smoke? We partying?” He’s like, “No, I’m good, man.” That’s the other thing too with a lot of the icons. They don’t be drinking and smoking. They just high on life.
On Smokey Robinson:
It’s the same with all the older icons and people that I look up to, being able to have conversations with them and realize how much we have in common and get a lot of the insight and all the stories and just to see the mutual respect is crazy, and just to have someone to mentor you.
Lalah Hathaway, Jazmine Sullivan, Sonyae Elise, and Brandy are also credited as guests on Ventura. Vocals from the late singer-songwriter Nathaniel “Nate Dogg” Hale will appear on the project as well. Anderson discussed the “What Can We Do?” song featuring the Long Beach crooner.
On Nate Dogg:
It means the world. It’s just as important to have that as it is to be working with Dr. Dre, to have worked with Snoop. These are the men that pretty much molded my whole adolescence and pre-teens. It’s part of my musical DNA. I grew up West Coast, Oxnard, California. There was a time where every single had Nate Dogg. It was just like you had to have him on it for it to be a hit song. He’s one of my biggest influences. It was just so awesome to be able to get the song with him. Fredwreck, the producer who produced so much Snoop and Dogg Pound and so much stuff with Dre on The Chronic and 2001, he had a bunch of Nate Dogg songs that he did before he died. This one, in particular, was one he really felt like we could use for my album. He was just so generous and played me the tune. I loved it right away, and we started working on it. I really like it because it sounds like something we could have did when he was still here. When you hear it, it’s like you might not even know. We’re going back and forth, so it’s really sweet, man. It’s a really cool song.