When DJ Pee .Wee, also known as Anderson .Paak, entered the stage in his classic red suit, it was clear that this all vinyl DJ set, would be a nostalgia laced endeavour, in all the right ways. The crowd was charged and ready from a hip-hop and R&B heavy day two of Phillips Brewing’s Tilt! and it did not take long for DJ Pee .Wee’s infectious energy to surge through the crowd.
He announced to the crowd “No computers!” For the whole set, to which that crowd responded in a delighted uproar. Between .Paak and his crew, there was a ballet to the record passing and switches, as throughout his set he pulled hit after from various decades announcing things like “Where my 90’s babies at?” before launching into TLC’s No Scrubs. It is not as if he stayed shoe horned into one genre, in fact it was DJ Pee .Wee’s sheer eclecticism that was truly impressive, especially without the add of digital manipulation. From Soulja Boy to Radio Head, or Salt-N-Pepa to Queen, there was seemingly no barrier of style for .Paak and his enthusiasm for each was visible, especially as it was his spinning that was creating the enthusiasm of the crowd. There was an air of anticipation as each new disc was added to the turntables to see what he had pulled from his collection, and each time the needle dropped, the energy soared.
As if spinning vinyl, and hyping the crowd weren’t enough, Pee .Wee also brought along accompaniment from Maurice Brown. Maurice Brown’s trumpet work was next level. With ad-libs and melodic runs, and a whole bunch of effects, Brown’s work on the trumpet was the cherry on top of an already great time. In their collaboration at the end, where .Paak took to the drums, and Brown led with the trumpet, and truly new experience to a DJ set was realized. It was no surprise when at the end of the night, the crowd demanded an encore. It was interesting to see this, as often times an encore to a DJ just means they play another song by another artist, but DJ Pee .Wee used this time to play as Anderson .Paak, spinning his own record for the lead vocals that he dropped. To say the crowd was delighted, would be the understatement of the weekend.
