Anderson Paak has seen life in its different shades. He grew up in a home with an abusive father who eventually ended up in prison after beating his mother to stupor. He has had to work on a marijuana farm to make ends meet and at some point, he became homeless with his wife and baby. But as fate would have it, being homeless became a turning point in Anderson’s life as it marked the beginning of his breakthrough in music.
He now has at least four albums to his credit and is vastly admired as a multi-talented artist. Paak does not only sing, he also raps and writes songs. He is equally a record producer and plays multiple instruments, including drums, percussion, and keyboards. Apart from his solo career, Anderson is one half of the music duo, NxWorries, the other being the record producer, Knxwledge.
Anderson Paak’s Parents Were Jailed, Leaving Him to Fend for Himself as a Kid
Brandon Paak Anderson was born on February 8, 1986, in Oxnard, California. The singer is the son of an African-American father who was an Air Force Mechanic. Paak had a troubled childhood, one that saw him witness domestic abuse and ultimately estranged him from his father.
As he has disclosed, his father was jailed when he was 7 years old and that was the last time he saw the man. Recalling the incident that saw his father spend 14 years in prison, Paak related that he and his little sister watched the man beat their mother in the street.
Without a father, Anderson Paak would soon be left to completely fend for himself. This happened almost as soon as he started his senior year of high school. His mother of Korean and African-American heritage was arrested for defrauding investors of millions through her distribution company. She pled guilty and was jailed for seven years.
Paak’s mother was born in South Korea during the war between North and South Korea, which started on 25 June 1950. The daughter of an American soldier, she was raised at first by her mother’s parents but was later taken to an orphanage where she was adopted by an American family who lived in LA.
The Rapper Has Been Married Twice and Was Once Homeless With His Wife and Kid
Anderson Paak met and got married to his first wife at his family church where he was a drummer. They stayed married for a few years before parting ways.
Anderson later started teaching at a music school and there, he met his future wife, a student from South Korea named Jaylyn. Together they have a son, named Soul Rasheed. With his wife and kid, the rapper had a hard time making ends meet. Before the world got to know his name, he worked in an assisted living home, as an engineer for a punk band, and established his band, The Free Nationals, while attending music school.
He also worked at a marijuana farm in Santa Barbara in 2011 but after a while, he was asked to leave with no prior warning. Having no place to go with his family, Anderson Paak was faced with homelessness. This made him channel his energy into the only thing he could do with ease – music. Fate smiled on him in the same year and things started changing for the better when the Los Angeles music world began to accept the singer as he worked tirelessly towards the release of his debut album.
The young father still needed money to take care of his family. So, in a bid to help him recover financially from losing his farm job, Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra decided to employ Anderson Paak as an assistant, videographer, editor, writer, and producer.
The Beginning of Anderson Paak’s Career Has Been Traced to His Family Church
Anderson Paak grew up playing drums at his local church and started producing music from his bedroom when he was in his teens as a student of Foothill Technology High School.
After many years of hardship and struggle to establish himself as a musician, Paak’s first significant project, a mixtape titled O.B.E. Vol.1 was released in the middle of 2012. The same year, he became the drummer for Haley Reinhart, an American singer/songwriter who became popular after she came third in the tenth edition of American Idol.
The following year, particularly on November 27, Anderson Paak recorded and produced an all-covers EP titled Cover Art. The cover was released by two different labels – Hellfyre Club, a Los Angeles-based independent record label, and OBE labels.
His Musical Exploits Have Received At Least 5 Grammy Awards Nominations and 3 wins
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It was on October 28, 2014, that the singer released Venice, the first of his studio albums. This was followed Malibu, on the 15th of January 2016. It received huge critical acclaim and featured contributions from 9th Wonder, Rapsody, and Kaytranada. Shortly after that, he announced that he had joined Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. Explaining the reason behind this, he said he regularly sends his ideas to Dr. Dre and they work very fast together. In 2016, Anderson Paak was among the ten people named in hip hop magazine XXL Freshmen.
In 2018, Anderson’s single “Til It’s Over” was used in an Apple Inc. television commercial which promotes the Apple HomePod smart speaker. Towards the end of the year, he revealed in an interview with Complex magazine that his next album will be released on November 16, 2018. The album titled Oxnard featured Q-Tip, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Snoop Dogg, and Pusha T.
On April 12, 2019, Anderson Paak released his fourth studio album, Ventura, which featured several artists, including Brandy, André 3000, the late Nate Dogg, and Smokey Robinson among others. The album released by Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment also had Dre as its executive producer.
For his efforts, the musician has received 5 Grammy Awards nominations out of which he won 3. His first two nominations were for Best New Artist and Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (2016). His first win came in 2018 when Bubblin won him the gong for Best Rap Performance. The following year, be bagged the coveted award for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance.
Additionally, he has received nominations and won other prestigious awards like Best Foreign New Act of Sweden GAFFA Awards, Centric Certified of Soul Train Music Award; Denmark GAFFA, and BET Hip Hop nominations.
His $5 Million Net Worth Is Proof of His Successful Career
Despite his rough beginning, Anderson Paak has been able to make the best out of his life and career. He has been active in the music industry since 2009 and keeps getting bigger and better each year, collaborating with industry bigwigs. His net worth is estimated at $5 million.
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Obviously, most of that amount came from record sales, generated through a body of work made up of four mixtapes, four EPs, four studio albums, and one collaborative album.
He has also earned through concerts and tours. The singer began a world tour titled Andy’s Beach Club in support of Oxnard on February 11, 2019. The tour kicked off in San Francisco at The Masonic and was concluded in Vienna on March 27. Paak embarked on another titled The Best Teef In the Game Tour in May 2019.
