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Anderson .Paak Has Earned The Right To Frivolous Rap Fantasies

It's no secret that Anderson .Paak is one of the best entertainers we've got right now — the rapper-singer-songwriter-drummer-producer can spoon together jazz, rap and R&B and land the combination with raspy wit and a Cheshire Cat grin. But, though his work is usually delectable, he's been leaving fans famished so far this year; .Paak lent his voice to Apple for a HomePod commercial earlier this year, but it wasn't clear if the single was a preview of a new album or just a tech giant wielding their 'cool' card for profit. Now that the 32-year-old has released "Bubblin'," his second full-length solo song this year, and with it, a wild, hip-hop hoop dreams spectacle of a music video, we have our answer.

With a broken, Jackson-spitting ATM in tow, Anderson goes on a romp through L.A. in this Calmatic-directed visual blowing cash on all his frivolous rap fantasies. If you're not prepared for the ride, you could get whiplash: Hanging from a chandelier, posting up in a fur coat with his new pet zebra, diving into a pool of dollars, shooting dice with boys on the street (sporting an untied durag and oversized Phila jersey, no less) and beckoning a gang of strippers to bounce in a burger joint — all while rapping at hyper-speed over a string-and-bass weighted beat from AntMan Wonder and Jahlil Beats. The only constant in all of the mayhem is the cash machine, which at one point confides in a date, over dinner, about .Paak abusing its generosity.

According to .Paak, "Bubblin' " is just the tip of the iceberg for what he has planned this year. The Oxnard, Calif. native told Beats 1 upon releasing the single today that he and Dr. Dre have an entire album in store.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.