NxWORRIES (KNXWLEDGE & ANDERSON .PAAK) - WHY LAWD?

Released: 07/06/2024

It’s been eight years since NxWorries incredible debut Yes Lawd!, and so to call the super-duo of Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge’s follow-up long-awaited is something of an understatement. I wasn’t angry with them, you understand, just – like a gas-lighting parent – disappointed that I didn’t have more of the NxWorries’ gorgeous post-R&B-hip-hop to stuff into my greedy lugs. While expectations for the sophomore LP have thus risen mightily high, it’s a huge relief to say that Why Lawd? is a triumph, the winning combination of .Paak’s sublimely husky voice, and Knxwledge’s peerless production work – which somehow feels simultaneously hyper-cutting-edge and vintage – still fresh and surprising after all these years. 

Like the debut, it’s a record to luxuriate in, and special mention must go to ‘Where I Go (feat. H.E.R.)’, its rich, looping Curtis Mayfield-like guitar riff creating a sense of warm contentment; the lovely Purple Rain-esque slow jam ‘Daydreaming’ (featuring a shredding guitar solo of which Prince himself would be proud); and the post-modern doo-wop of ‘FromHere’, which lovingly samples T.I.M.E.’s ‘How Would You Like It Baby’, and features a sagacious Snoop Dogg not so much rapping as narrating a philosophical tale. Elsewhere, the likes of Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, and Rae Khalil all add to this barnstormer of a modern soul record.