The key to Malibu is that there is plenty of variety in how aspects of groove, soul, and occasionally even jazz course through Anderson .Paak's music. The album does genre-hop, though not to the extreme of something like Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid. .Paak walks the tightrope between neo-soul, hip-hop, and R&B. Something like that could be an absolute train wreck, but thankfully the musician has the skill to do it all well. He is a great singer and a solid rapper. "Put Me Through" is imbued with classic soul and the song right after it, "Am I Wrong", switches things up to a much more contemporary club atmosphere. Despite the radical difference between these two songs, the transition works perfectly - a testament to .Paak's talent.
.Paak has a husky spoken voice that is perfectly tailored to R&B when it breaks into song. Opener "The Bird" instantly stands out with a winning combination of jazzy trumpet work and clean guitar playing. The song has an inviting old school soul aesthetic, but Malibu also impresses with boom-bap hip-hop in "Room In Here". "Room In Here" has an amazing piano sample and a surprisingly good guest feature from The Game. This is followed by the gorgeous "Water Fall (Interluuube)", a track drenched with Robert Glasper's piano to the point that it could be a quality outtake from Black Radio.
.Paak's lyricism is not on the level of his raw talent and occasionally suffers from being a bit too direct or bland. However, his strong charisma, musicianship, and vocal ability are impossible to ignore. There are no bad songs on Malibu and the variety of styles and instrumentation is extremely impressive. All of the praise and fame that came from this album was thoroughly deserved. The closing track, "The Dreamer", opens up with a sample that says "I enjoy the old and I enjoy the new and if I can find a balance between it...", and .Paak did that on Malibu to great effect.
