Anderson .Paak’s Malibu was easily one of the best R&B / rap albums of 2016. The entire thing just bubbles with a carefree sunny attitude that’s infectious and will make you want to dance. Later, his appearance on a slew of tracks ranging from KAYTRANADA’s “Glowed Up” to the title track off ScHoolboy Q’s Blank Face LP cemented .Paak as a force to be reckoned with in the fields of R&B and rap. Not because they’re alike, but because the man can croon one moment, and spit relentlessly the next.
Yes Lawd! is impressive in scope (there are 19 tracks on the record) but it gets lost in itself. For example, “Livvin,” the second track, builds the energy of the record up to euphoric heights, only to bring it right down Al Green-style with “Wngs.” Which was a mistake, because while “Livvin” stayed with us, “Wngs” was entirely forgettable. This is an issue that afflicts the record quite noticeably. There are entire songs that we just don’t register, either because they seem like half-hearted instrumental continuations of previous tracks, or because they’re just too short, not quite-yet realized.
That said, there are still moments on Yes Lawd! that shine bright enough to make me wonder if .Paak’s ambition in releasing such a long record is a result of his apparent affinity for the early R&B of Ray Charles or The Temptations. Tracks like the relatively late “Jodi” and “Starlite” are more removed from modern rap than they are from R&B. “Starlite” recalls a more relaxed Kendrick, a comparison I’m sure has already been made to death but it illustrates the point that .Paak’s still not rapping as consistently as he was on Malibu. At the very least, he’s winding his rapping through a hazy curtain of R&B; “Lyk Dis” being a perfect example of this, because although he does rap on the track, .Paak seems detached.
And then there are certain tracks that must have seemed like great ideas on paper, but just did not pan out. “Sacred Money,” for example. The track sounds exactly like the jingle playing in the background of a mid-‘80s television commercial for a bank. The really cheesy kind of commercial where it’s just people silently looking into the camera while smiling and very robotically acting out certain duties. And to top it off, it’s not even that short. It’s three minutes long.
But that doesn’t negate the fact that there are some damn good songs on this record. Like the single “Suede” and the surprisingly funny “H.A.N.” wherein .Paak, in persona as a preacher, prays for his congregation in what’s more a comedy skit than a rap song.
Yes Lawd! leaves .Paak standing, seemingly, at a crossroads. Is he going to put out cohesive rap records, or cohesive R&B records? Because as it stands, short of Malibu (which was more R&B) and Venice (which was more rap) .Paak is trying to straddle two vastly different genres, doing both well, but only blending them sufficiently into one entity some of the time. That said, the parts of Yes Lawd! that shine, shine absolutely. Like the outro, “Fkku,” which sells itself.
