Anderson .Paak

The dark, dank No.3 arch at House of Vans was the venue for the evening's performance from Grammy award-winning and Billboard 100 number 1 artist Anderson .Paak ...

He wears his musical influences on his chest, literally, as he has a giant tattoo depicting Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Prince and Miles Davis. But one thing is clear, he’s learnt from the best, and he’s got the funk, got the groove and got the musical prowess. The Californian born, half Korean singer has come along way from being sacked from the weed farm he worked on and becoming homeless with his wife and kid. Having formerly worked for Vans at one of their stores in California, .Paak has had a close connection and history with the brand and let’s hope it continues to deliver stadium-sized performances in tiny intimate venues. A mash up of hip-hop covers such as Biggie’s Nasty Girl and 2Pac’s California Love broke the performance up nicely alongside a song by the keyboardist Ron “T.Nava” Avant called Girlfriend that could almost have been Daft Punk. I even heard a few bars of Crystal Waters, Gypsy Woman dropped at some point. There were also interludes of synchronised dancing with his backing singers and a multitude of shout-outs to “London”, where he admitted he hasn’t been for three years and his trademark saying ‘Yes Lawd” ringing out. .Paak then spent the next hour traversing between drums and centre stage, delivering the perfect beat and vocals, normally at the same time.