Edward Russell
“One in the hand, one in the bag, bubblin’” has been my internal repeated mantra of the week and for the most part of it, I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Such is the fun of catchy hip hop. Brandon Paak Anderson, famously known as Anderson .Paak, has struck rap gold with the release of ‘Bubblin’; what is being labelled as his most boastful single to date. As alluded to, this earworm of a hook is a morph on the adage, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. This is meant to teach us, that what we can’t obtain is not worth what we already have. A lesson in humility is then purposefully flipped on its head suggesting Anderson has both the money (or value) in his hand, his bag and even from the endless explosion of notes zooming out the ATM in the single’s film clip. Humble brag perhaps? Yet this story isn’t twisted to view the American lifestyle and those that have a lot, to be called greedy, but rather a personal statement from Paak, to look at how far he’s come until this point. More likely, a reminder of his success? You decide.
What we can all decide on is that Anderson .Paak’s charisma has reached new heights. This is achieved by three crucial elements fused together: clever lyricism (awareness), potent word delivery alongside great production (audio) and an enticing and exciting life portrayed on film (visual). Singling-out lyrics from the single, Anderson .Paak is quite aware of his newly found charismatic reputation coming under fire e.g “quit all that jaw-jackery”. He continues by acknowledging people ‘act foolish for paper’ while playing into this folly, he connotates a wealth of imagery in the form of expensive clothes, places, alcohol and hotels respectively: “Vintage Guess”, “Vegas”, “Hendrick’s” and the “Marriott”. All of these images from a narrative of .Paak’s new experiences which are consolidated by his impressive impactful intonation. The sheer force behind the words may be a post audio edit but you can’t deny his ability to flow through back to back run-on-sentences. The visuals at this point are a bonus, and none are memorable than seeing Anderson .Paak almost tempting fate, by wiggling around/clinging one hand to a chandelier. It is also worth mentioning, the film clip ends with a more realistic message, for instance, the weight of this endeavor, the ATM, eventually, and literally crushes him flat. A neat symbolic ending which suggests there is an understanding of success by the artist and the consequent pitfalls.
Check out the film clip below…
