Anderson .Paak responded to a less than enthusiastic crowd at a DJ gig this week by suggesting he would play R. Kelly‘s music to get them on the dance floor.
The artist and producer was tapped up to move the crowd at Spotify’s Best New Artist party, which took place in Los Angeles, California on Thursday (February 2) ahead of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. In a video obtained by TMZ, .Paak can be heard trying to hype up the crowd while playing Nelly‘s 2002 club hit “Hot in Herre.”
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“I wanna see you sweat that shit out, come on! Fucking dance,” he tells the audience in the clip. Later, when the song’s chorus comes in, he encourages those in attendance to sing along; but when he fades out the song, only a handful of people join in.
The video cuts to multiple other points in the evening, hearing Anderson .Paak play Missy Elliott‘s “Work It,” followed by Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” which is when his frustration seemed to peak.
“What the fuck is it gonna take? I can play some R. Kelly if you’re gonna start dancing. Is that what you want? You better fucking put your hands up!”
The embattled Chicago singer’s music has seen a decline in public use as a response to his numerous sexual assault charges, thanks in no small part to the #MuteRKelly campaign launched by the Time’s Up movement in 2018.
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The playful threat seemed to work as the next segment hears the crowd singing along to the Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These).”
But the crowd remains generally unmoved when Anderson .Paak switches from the ones and twos to the drums and is joined on stage by trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown for a performance of Buddy Merrill’s “Caravan” – famously sampled on Redman‘s “Da Goodness.”
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In a separate video also shared by TMZ, the same crowd seemed to have a little more energy to offer Latto, as she took the stage at the Spotify Best New Artist event to perform a few songs.
While his DJ set may not have gotten the reception he was expecting, Anderson .Paak has been doing plenty to try to keep fans of his music satisfied lately.
In January, he joined forces with Cordae on the Maryland rapper’s latest single “Two Tens.” Just like their first collaboration “RNP,” which appeared on Cordae’s debut album The Lost Boy, the new offering is produced by J. Cole and finds the duo trading verses about their sexual exploits over a bouncy, head-nodding beat.
The song is accompanied by a vibrant, nightclub-themed video directed by Edgar Esteves and Juan Felipe Zuleta. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Cordae teased a possible joint project with Anderson .Paak, produced by J. Cole.
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The same week, Freddie Gibbs recruited Anderson .Paak for a special appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that saw them perform “Feel No Pain,” backed by The Roots.
The two high-profile appearances came just weeks after Hit-Boy also hinted at a potential collaboration with the Silk Sonic star. Responding to a fan’s request for a collaboration with the duo, the King’s Disease hitmaker said that he and .Paak have so much music together that they could release a whole album if they wanted to.
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It’s not clear when the material was recorded or for what projects it was originally supposed to land on, but the sheer amount is on brand for Hit-Boy, who has been releasing new music at a fever pitch in recent months.
