For Silk Sonic's Anderson .Paak, playing drums for BTS was just the beginning

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A few weeks ago, Anderson .Paak made a surprise appearance as part of BTS' Proof Live celebration, playing drums during the group's performance of “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment).”  But as Bruno Mars' Silk Sonic partner tells AdAge, that guest spot is just the beginning of his K-pop obsession.

Anderson tells AdAge he got into K-pop through his wife, who's from South Korea, and his son, Soul Rasheed. "They have a real tight bond, so they listen to a lot of the same music and they're really into K-pop, really into BTS and because of them, I got into them and they really put me onto that," he explains. "I was able to see, like, 'Oh this is sick.'"

He adds, "I never thought I'd be cool with them, but they reached out … and they asked if I wanted to play drums for their live taping. I was super down for it."

Anderson is now taking what he calls his BTS obsession to the next level by co-writing and directing a movie called K-POPS!, which will star him and his son. 

"The film's going to be hilarious," explains Anderson, whose mother is Korean and African American. "It's going to be just an awesome journey in how I was able to find out about my Korean side and how Blacks and Asians can collide and K-Pop and hip-hop, the whole thing."

On top of making the film, Anderson's recently designed his third collection of clothes and shoes with Vans and directed the campaign video. How does he find the time? He tells AdAge, "Honestly, I just get bored and I have to keep my mind occupied."

As Silk Sonic, Anderson and Bruno resume their Las Vegas residency on August 3.

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 at 6:00AM by Andrea Dresdale Permalink