''Yes Lawd!'' is the debut
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
neo soul duo
NxWorries, which consists of vocalist
Anderson .Paak
Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, ''O.B.E. Vol. 1,'' in 2012 and went on to rel ...
and producer
Knxwledge. It was released on October 21, 2016, by
Stones Throw Records
Stones Throw Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. Under the direction of founder Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has released music ranging from hip hop to experimental psychedelic rock. '' LA Weekl ...
. It is supported by four singles, "
Suede", "
Link Up", "Lyk Dis", and "Get Bigger / Do U Luv".
Release and promotion
On June 19, 2016, member
Anderson .Paak
Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, ''O.B.E. Vol. 1,'' in 2012 and went on to rel ...
confirmed that NxWorries' debut studio album is finished and set for release. On July 25, 2016, Paak's manager, Adrian Miller, confirmed that the album was to be titled ''Yes Lawd!''. On September 19, 2016, the third single to NxWorries' debut studio album "Lyk Dis" was released, along with the track listing and release date for the album.
On October 14, 2016, the duo released the album a week early for streaming on Apple Music.
Critical reception
''Yes Lawd!'' received generally favorable reviews. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an
average score of 80, based on 22 reviews.
[ '' NME'' magazine's Jordan Bassett hailed it as "a sprawling, languid affair, running to 19 tracks of soulful hip hop",] while Jim Carroll of '' The Irish Times'' called it "an all-beats-blazing set of the funk". It was deemed an "R&B lover and millennial must-have" by '' Vibe'', and '' Rolling Stone'' named it the 15th best R&B album of 2016. Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave the album a three-star honorable mention in his column for '' Vice'', indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure". He cited "Another Time", "Lyk Dis", and "Fkku" as highlights while calling Anderson .Paak a "love man hoprojects minimum modicum of empathy with his salable burr yet somehow sounds cuddly even so". Marshall Gu from '' PopMatters'' was less enthusiastic, writing that the album "wants to be a neo-soul version of '' Madvillain'' or '' The Unseen'' or '' Donuts'', that is, a stoner's dream collection of ''fragments'' of songs, less focused on hooks and more focused on sounds".
Track listing
Credits adapted from BMI.
All tracks produced by Knxwledge.
;Sample credits
*"Livvin" contains samples of "Tributo Ao Sorriso", written by Alen Terra, Yan Guest, Jorge Amiden, and Luiz Junior, and performed by Karma.
*"Wngs" contains samples of "Ghetto Money", written by Linda Creed and Thom Bell, and performed by Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Biography Early life
Jamal was born Fr ...
.
*"Best One" contains samples of "Lord You're My Everything", written by Thomas Whitfield and performed by the Thomas Whitfield Company; and samples of the film '' The Players Club''.
*"What More Can I Say" contains samples of "What More Can I Say", written by Bradley Bobo, Clifford Curry, Santos Domínguez, and Terry Long, and performed by The Notations The Notations are an American soul group formed at high school in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1960s .
Career
The group recorded for Tad Records early in their career; at a point in their career, Syl Johnson brought The Notations to Twinight (Ba ...
; samples of "Good to Get Away", written and performed by Brenda Nicholas and Philip Nicholas; and samples of "Nights Like This", written by Jesse Johnson and Keith Lewis, and performed by After 7
After 7 is an American R&B group founded in 1987 by brothers Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, and their friend Keith Mitchell. The Edmonds brothers are the older siblings of pop/R&B singer-songwriter and record producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, w ...
.
*"Kutless" contains samples of "Lady", written and performed by Gino Vannelli.
*"Lyk Dis" contains samples of "Mr. Me, Mrs. You", written by H. B. Barnum and Robert Young, and performed by Creme d'Cocoa; and contains samples of "Ebony Woman", written by Morris Bailey and performed by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
*"Can't Stop" contains samples of "I Think My Heart Is Telling", written by John H. Fitch Jr. and Reuben Cross, and performed by Evelyn "Champagne" King; and samples of the television series '' Rick and Morty''.
*"Get Bigger / Do U Luv" contains samples of "The Love You Gave to Me", written by Greg Adams and Webster Lewis, and performed by Webster Lewis; samples of "In Summertime", written and performed by Ronnie McNeir
Lewis Ronald McNeir (born December 14, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter.
Biography
McNeir was born in Camden, Alabama. As a solo artist, he recorded for the De-to, RCA, Prodigal, Motown, Capitol, Expansion and Motor City labels, reco ...
; and samples of "Pussy", written by Shawn Carter
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
, Robert Kelly, and Devin Copeland, and performed by Jay Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
and R. Kelly featuring Devin the Dude.
*"H.A.N." contains samples of ; and samples the film ''The Players Club''.
*"Scared Money" contains samples of "(I Could Never Say) It's Over", written by Johnny Kemp
Jonathan "Johnny" Kemp (August 2, 1959 – April 16, 2015) was a Bahamian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a songwriter in late 1979 and is perhaps best known for his solo work, including his single " Just Got Pai ...
and Mauro Malavasi and performed by B. B. & Q. Band; and interpolations of "Midnight", written by Ali Muhammad, Jonathan Davis, and Malik Taylor
Malik Taylor (born December 21, 1995) is an American football wide receiver for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ferris State.
College career
Taylor finished his college career with 121 re ...
, and performed by A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,[Q-Tip](_blank)
featuring Raphael Wiggins.
*"Suede" contains samples of " The Bottle", written by Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
and performed by Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson.
*"Starlite" contains samples of "God Is So Good to Me", written by Clyde G. Carter and performed by Gwen Carter.
*"Jodi" contains samples of the "Funky Bottoms" titled episode from the Kung Faux
''Kung Faux'' is an international action comedy television series and audiovisual art assemblage created by Mic Neumann, an American creator–developer showrunner, conceptual artist and multimedia entrepreneur, who remixes classic kung fu films ...
television series.
*"Sidepiece" contains an interpolation of "Won't Do", written and performed by J Dilla.
*"Another Time" contains samples of "Bless You With My Love", written by Barbara J. Trotter and performed by Heaven Sent & Ecstasy; and samples of "Your Love", written by Kenni Ski, Allen Anthony, and Shawn Carter, and performed by Christión and Jay Z.
*"Fkku" contains samples of "Absolutely Beautiful", written and performed by Eddie Robinson; and samples of the video "Dear person that pissed me off..." by Krissychula.
Charts
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
* https://www.WhoSampled.com/NxWorries/
{{Authority control
2016 debut albums
NxWorries albums
Stones Throw Records albums
Albums produced by Knxwledge