Oxnard

Oxnard is the 5th album by Rapper, Singer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Teeth Icon, Anderson .Paak, released in 2018.

I really should’ve liked this album more. I loved Silk Sonic, I’ve generally heard a lot of good things about this album, and I’ve really enjoyed most everything else I’ve heard from Paak. Yet with this album, I just can’t find that enjoyment for it, at least as a full project.

That first half of the album, tracks 1 through 7, save for “Tints” and “6 Summer”, just don’t click with me whatsoever. Which is really weird, because technically speaking there’s nothing wrong with, honestly speaking they’re quite good. The producers list is stacked, and I think they all do quite a good job on the album. Paak is a very good rapper and singer, and he doesn’t let down. And the featured artists put their best foot forward. I should really enjoying it, but put together it just doesn’t work for me, it feels like something’s missing. It’s like putting a puzzle piece of the right shape in the wrong spot, it technically fits there, but looking at it, listening to it, it doesn’t feel right, it feels like it’s shouldn’t be there and something is missing from it. Aside from those two songs, even if there’s something that should make the songs bad, they just don’t compel me at all.

The second half is when the album starts coming together for me. Even with tracks like “Mansa Musa” and “Everywhere”, which I’m not crazy about, as a whole I enjoy it much more, with some pretty great peaks. It has all the some qualities that the first half has, the strong production by great producers, Paak playing into his strengths as a writer and performer, and the features giving their all. Whatever puzzle piece was missing or out of place in the first half, was actually here in the second.

One of Paak’s more consistent aspects, is that he may in fact be the horniest man alive, and while that often makes for some great music, it can also give us “Headlow”. Its mostly just all that stuff I said before about why the first half doesn’t work for me, along with writing I just find unpleasant to listen to over relatively more stripped production. Also shoutout(?) “Left to Right”, Paak doing patois for a decent amount of a track is shockingly unenjoyable.

“6 Summers”, one of the two good ones from the first half, is a pretty fun vibe of a track that uses that fact to hide that it’s also a pretty scathing commentary on how America is kind of shithole, unfortunately topical. “Brother’s Keeper” is a really wholesome track about being there for your brothers, literal and figurative, though Paak is kind of back seated by a stellar verse from Pusha T. “Sweet Chick” is a very goofy track that i always get a kick out of. It’s just Paak describing all the women he’s dating/dated, but his tone the whole way through and how he goes into all the most comical aspects, really makes it for me. “Cheers” is a deeply moving track about dealing with the mixed emotions of losing a loved one. It especially hits harder as Paak and, featured artist, Q-Tip use the topic to discuss the passings of respective close friends, Mac Miller and Phife Dawg, with this track releasing only 2 months after the former’s passing.

I think I knew even before I listened to the album, that “Tints” was gonna be here at the top. I feel like it’s everything was album generally trying to be, done near perfectly. It’s incredibly smooth and witty, with just the grooviest bass line I’ve heard in a hot minute, and one of the more Cali-centric concepts, about needed tinted windows to hide your laundry. Oh and Kendrick pops up with a great verse because he’s Kendrick and that’s what he does. It’s simple but gets me going every time.

With all that though, I still find Oxnard to be a disappointing LP. In spite of all its strongest moments and well made pieces, that first half still remains a complete letdown for me, and even the better half still has its skips. As is though, I just can’t find myself disliking the project, ofc with the aforementioned moments, but also its inherent character, so even with those issues, it still rounds up to being decently ok, which I can live with

5 Favourite Tracks:
Tints, Cheers, Brother’s Keeper, Sweet Chick, 6 Summers

Least Favourite Tracks:
Headlow, Left To Right

Best Features:
Pusha T (Brother’s Keeper), Kendrick Lamar (Tints), Q-Tip (Cheers), J Cole (Trippy), Snoop Dogg (Anywhere)

Best 3 Track Run:
Trippy —> Cheers —> Sweet Chick