Anderson .Paak takes the Marketplace Quiz
You might have heard of the “Proust Questionnaire.” It’s a set of questions about values and dreams improperly attributed to French writer Marcel Proust. (He actually answered it a few times, but didn’t come up with it himself.) We came up with our own version — because what we do for a living, what we spend our money on and why usually reveals more about our personalities than we’d expect.
Anderson .Paak, whose latest album is “Malibu,” came down to our downtown LA office recently and took some time out to take our quiz.
What is something you bought that you now completely regret buying?
“I mean, I got my wife a ridiculous expensive purse which … she really wanted it, and I don’t know, I [usually] feel like no regrets, but I feel sick about that purchase. Chanel, of course.
When did you realize music could be a career?
When I first started getting paid. I was playing drums at my church. I had started playing drums when I was about 11 years old. And right after I started learning, like, my first beat, my god-sister told me to come to her church and play, and it was, like, a black Baptist church, and I never been to church before that. So I went there and I loved it. I saw the choir and the band and stuff, and they started taking me under their wing, and you know, let me play here and there.
And eventually like, I got good enough to become, like, the main drummer. And once that started happening, they started putting me on payroll, and I was like, “Damn, I’m getting paid to play drums.” And that eventually led to the, you know, different things: production, DJing, and artistry.
What is something everyone should own no matter the cost?
Oh, that’s a good one. I mean everybody should have a passport, and a pair of boots, man. A good pair.
What advice do you wish someone gave you before you started your career?
Probably work ethic. Don’t worry about all the rest of the stuff, just get in there and work and then devote hours to it. Not everything is going to be handed to you just because you’re talented with a big smile. Sometimes you just gotta get out and shoot jumpers for hours and hours and hours. That’s something I didn’t really get a grasp on until way later, waking up early and treating it like a job if you’re serious about it. Get the freak up and, you know, work.
If money was no object, what’s the first thing you would spend it on for yourself?
I probably get some calf implants [laughter], and I get’d like, a ’64 Impala, restored. I’d buy a big house, big property somewhere, and I give my son a Jolly Jump put in the living room, those big inflatable things you go in. You know, the Jolly Jumps. Take shoes off and jump in there. I’d just have one of those chillin’. I’d have a Jacuzzi in the living room, like in “Coming to America.” I have to have one of those. And I don’t know, I’d get my mom something crazy. I’d get her another house, you know.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
