Anderson .Paak & Cordae – 'Heavy Is the Crown' review: laut.de's Album of the Week
The joint album by the singer and drummer and rapper Cordae is out today. Germany's laut.de awards it four out of five and names it Album of the Week.
Photo: Bruce from Sydney, Australia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Single video: YouTube · AndersonPaakVEVO · youtube.com
Single: A Good Day
Anderson .Paak and Cordae released their joint album 'Heavy Is the Crown' today, via labels including APESHIT and EMPIRE. It was previewed in mid-September by 'A Good Day', a traditionalist hip-hop track built on Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day'. In the video, directed by Dave Meyers and starring actress Jennifer Freeman, the duo pay homage to the comedy 'Friday'. According to laut.de, J. Cole produced '58th Floor' and is also behind 'Karma Tax', while Conductor Williams worked on 'Crown'.
Critic Johannes Jimeno divides the record into three themes: triumph and untouchability, nostalgia and gratitude, and vulnerability and regret. He sums up 'Godfather 2' as 'Großes Kino!' ('pure cinema'), reads 'You're Mine' as a love letter to hip-hop, praises the storytelling on 'Days Go By', calls 'Helpless' the most intimate moment and 'Crown' the narrative centrepiece. He raises no objections; his verdict is that there could gladly be more of this in the future.
The video is the official music video for 'A Good Day' on the AndersonPaakVEVO channel.