NxWorries (pronounced “No Worries”) is the brainchild of singer/songwriter Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge. “Yes Lawd!” became something of a catch-phrase over the year for Anderson .Paak, someone who’s had just as many if not more features this year than Jeremih, becoming 2016’s official “It Guy.” The phrase “Yes Lawd!” is just like any ad-lib sound an artist has however, like Kanye’s “heh?!,” Chance’s “ack!,” Pusha T’s “yeach,” or Fetty Wap’s “ayy baby.” Sure, Anderson’s religious, so it’s more personal to him than say “heh?!,” but it ultimately doesn’t serve any purpose larger than “ayy baby.” In my search for any deeper meaning to his use of “Yes Lawd!,” Wikipedia “helpfully” sent me here. Surprisingly, this page is full of bangers like:
All jokes aside, I have no idea how most of these songs go and these hymnals have nothing really to do with Anderson .Paak or NxWorries or Yes Lawd!, as I’ve learned, but the inclusion of “How great is our God” might spark some other ears. Most of Yes Lawd! is really cool, and very unlike Malibu, Anderson .Paak’s album from back at the beginning of the year. If anything, Yes Lawd! is all about sex, having fun, and telling women to “get their shit together.” Knxwledge’s production style is very influenced by MF Doom, Madlib, and J Dilla, and while Anderson doesn’t always sound like the right match for every beat, there are moments here and there where the two click perfectly.
One example, and my favorite track on the record, is “Suede,” where Anderson doesn’t sound like he just woke up and made up the song on the spot, like he does on a lot of the other tracks here. He sounds energized and his powerful delivery comes back, but it’s a feeling that’s inconsistent throughout the record. “Best One” is great, as well as “Link Up,” but there’s some tracks like “Khadijah” and “Scared Money” where Anderson is barely even there. “Lyk Dis” has some great melodies but the potential for how great that song could be just isn’t reached, and “Scared Money” straight up sounds like a Michael Jackson song with the lead vocals taken out leaving only the background parts.
I don’t know why Anderson is so soft spoken on most of the record, and maybe that was a stylistic choice (which is very believable), but I just find it lackluster at a lot of moments, though carried on still by their great melodies and Knxwledge’s production. Every track should be like “Suede.” It’s a chill record with not too much substance past “Slow Jamz” by Kanye West, but it’s really cool to see Anderson .Paak pushing the envelope and taking on every opportunity at hand. Plus I’ll never turn down a chance to hear this kind of production. I was worried with his lack of versatility vocally that I would get bored of Anderson .Paak come the end of this year, but he hasn’t lost me yet.