Anderson .Paak Releases New Album 'Ventura'
The follow-up to Oxnard has arrived.
Anderson .Paak has released Ventura, the follow-up to last year's Oxnard album. The new 11-song project features everyone from Andre 3000 and Smokey Robinson to Brandy and Nate Dogg.
.Paak told Okayplayer in a previous interview that Oxnard and Ventura were finished at the same time and he wanted to release them simultaneously but ended up dropping Oxnard first.
"We wanted them to be given out at the same time. But there was just timing issues. So I was like 'cool, let's get Oxnard out and then we'll get Ventura out shortly after,'" .Paak said. "I liked that people were surprised. The timing was good, too, because I just got the Grammy and we solidified the tour. So I felt that there was no better timing to give them the other half of the story."
"There is a lot more soul," .Paak said of Ventura. "A lot of beauty…a lot of funky cool shit, man. [Dr.] Dre has a lot of trust in me. And allows me leeway with the writing and the production…I went through the boot camp — which I felt like Oxnard and Compton were like my boot camp."
In a separate interview, .Paak had also discussed how he didn't think Andre 3000 was going to appear on the album. The Outkast rapper is featured on Ventura's first track, "Come Home."
"Man, that was rough," .Paak previously explained to Julie Adenuga on her Beats 1 show. "…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!'" the artist continued. "It was like Kendrick when he finally sent it in. It was like you just never knew when it was coming."
Stream Ventura below.