Anderson .Paak’s new tattoo makes clear he doesn’t want music released after death
His new ink could be in response to the wave of posthumous album releases
Anderson .Paak has made it clear that he does not want any of his unreleased music to ever see the light of day posthumously.
The R&B superstar has debuted a new tattoo of a direct message to the music industry.
“When I’m gone please don’t release any posthumous albums or songs with my name attached,” the tat reads. “Those were just demos and never intended to be heard by the public.”
Peep the singer’s new ink below.
.Paak’s message could be in response to the wave of posthumous album releases from artists including Pop Smoke, Mac Miller, Selena, DMX, Aaliyah, Juice WRLD, and the late-great Prince, whose Welcome 2 America, which was recorded in 2010 and shelved for 11 years, was released on July 30.
According to the Prince YouTube channel, Welcome 2 America features the only studio collaborations with bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, drummer Chris Coleman, and engineer Jason Agel, with additional contributions from New Power Generation singers Shelby J, Liv Warfield, and Elisa Fiorillo. The album also features the talents of longtime NPG keyboardist Morris Hayes, Prince’s music director, who he recruited to co-produce the album.
Meanwhile, .Paak and Bruno Mars have pushed back the release of their debut album, “An Evening With Silk Sonic.” The hotly anticipated project was initially set for a fall release, but the duo has decided to drop it in January 2022.
Fans have been anxiously awaiting more duets from the superstars following the release of their hit debut single “Leave The Door Open” in March.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, .Paak and Mars said they want to release more songs before the album’s release.
“We’re really in touch-up mode now. We’ve got the bones of most of the album, so it’s really about touching up parts that need a little more… grease,” said Mars, with .Paak adding, “Which could mean redoing the song from scratch!”
Mars continued, “Being here for another three years! But no. We’re not there. We were there. We had some moments in the danger zone! I think we put the pressure on ourselves by putting out ‘Leave The Door Open’ — but a deadline is important, because at some point, you gotta say, ‘This is it.’ Otherwise you’re gonna work it ’til you hate it. But there’s a beauty in that — you do have to get sick of it, because that means you put the love and the time and the passion in it, and it’s taxing. That bridge [on ‘Leave The Door Open’] almost broke the band up. But it wasn’t right, and we all felt it.”
Mars and .Paak’s bond was almost immediate after they met in 2016 while touring in Europe.
“I was opening for the 24K Magic tour,” .Paak recalled in the Rolling Stone feature, “and a week in, we were in the studio.”
“Real quick!” Mars said.
One of the reasons they wanted to collaborate was to see if they could turn some of their backstage jokes into songs.
.Paak said the upcoming album is “all from the heart, because we’re writing from our experiences, from our relationships — it’s rare that two men can come together and talk about love.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!
