The beat sounds like a funk band blowing up bubbles from a submarine. And that is exactly the unexpected that you can expect from the duo NxWorries, consisting of singer and rapper Anderson .Paak and DJ Knxwledge. It is a bit strange that the audience does not have .Paak in front of them, but Liam Gallagher’s grumpy Britpop head on a video screen. It doesn’t matter, the packed Ronda hall of TivoliVredenburg casually sings Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ over the underwater beat.
Wasn’t NxWorries that fine project by Anderson .Paak, with his pained and at the same time sunny funk voice? Yes, it dates from before his solo breakthrough and long before his recent collaboration with Bruno Mars. And because DJ Knxwledge, responsible for the sometimes disorienting beats, also has his wishes, .Paak is off the stage for a while. “Do you mind if I play a few more of my favorites?” asks the DJ before continuing to zap along MTV in the nineties, with clips from Busta Rhymes, Lil Kim and Master P., the vocals provided with new music.
After fifteen minutes .Paak returns: black hat, scarf underneath, black suit, sturdy heels to support his dance steps. How fruitful their collaboration is, becomes clear when he shouts ‘Where I Go’ and especially ‘Daydreamingsings, both more hit singles from an upcoming new album. .Paak’s voice slides when he sings and he executes everything with light irony like a young Bootsy Collins. Knxwledge’s beats do the rest, they’re never fast, always hot, on that precarious edge between bedroom and a ride to the beach.
Pink suit
A one-off club concert in the Netherlands seems to fit in between a few festival performances by the duo. Perhaps that is the reason that the set list is stretched with no fewer than three video and DJ quarters.
Still, .Paak only needs to shout ‘Yes Lawd!’ swinging through the room and all the attention is back on the man on stage who has changed into a full pink suit during the last interlude. Their own songs are also rarely completed and only occasionally a groove sounds longer than a few bars.
The fact that they are only heard for a few minutes at a time contributes to the carefree zapp feeling of the evening. Like we are at a party at the friends house. That one happens to sing and rap extremely well and the other has a strange musical twisted brain, that’s all bonus.