“But I was also used to a lot of optimism and hope and family.” Coming up, I was just used to a lot of tragedy,” he tells me. When Paak was a senior in high school, his mother, who’d opened and shuttered a strawberry business before gambling professionally, also went to prison, for securities fraud. His father, an addict who was abusive to his wife, went to prison when Paak was just seven father and son never spoke again. He grew up in Oxnard, along the coast north of L. And having BTS shout you out, that's just because he's the coolest guy.” “He probably just thinks like meeting up with Dr. “Some things he probably thinks they're just normal,” Paak says of Soul. LEFT: Shirt ($1,895), tank ($475), shorts ($395), sandals ($775), socks ($95), and beaded necklace ($575) by Versace sunglasses ($670) by Jacques Marie Mage tsavorite necklace ($4,500), chain necklace ($1,500), Mother of Gideon tourmaline ring ($5,500), and turquoise ring ($5,000) by the Crown Collection gold link pavé bracelet ($9,500) and gold link bracelet ($21,000) by Hoorsenbuhs.RIGHT: Jacket ($575) and trousers ($375) by Studio One Eighty Nine shirt by Dries Van Noten sweater ($1,070) by Missoni hat ($385) by Gladys Tamez Millinery sandals ($575) by Jimmy Choo tsavorite necklace ($4,500) and chain necklace ($1,500) by the Crown Collection Classic Tri-Link ring ($3,500) and Brute Phantom ring ($4,500) by Hoorsenbuhs.

Toward the end of our conversation, he shows me the dance studio he built for Soul, featuring floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a disco ball. Since the pandemic began, he and Soul have collab’d on several projects-from Instagram dance memes to actual music videos. Paak, thirty-five, mainly spent last year working with a budding artist much closer to home. “Then, fast-forward, and it’s COVID,” he says, puttering near the swing set that for now has caught the kids’ attention, “and I have no choice but to just stay in the house.” 2019 was the biggest year of Paak’s career: He released his first top-ten album, Ventura went on a massive world tour that included a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden and picked up a couple of Grammy Awards. Rather, it wouldn’t have been crazy before the pandemic.

“If you know of any way, let me know, bro.” The idea isn’t that crazy. “I’m working on trying to get that plug, man,” he says, mostly joking. Make sure you keep up with your Korean’ ”-Jaylyn, a singer in a gospel rock group, is from South Korea theirs is a bilingual home-“ ‘because you could be rapping in Korean one day, and we’ll fly your ass out there, and you won’t got to worry about shit.’ ” For his part, Paak wouldn’t say no to a BTS collab. “I tell him, ‘Yeah, K-pop is where it’s at, man. Soul is obsessed with the K-pop band (and recent Esquire cover stars) BTS. LEFT: Coat ($4,980), track jacket ($2,100), track pants ($1,300), and socks ($180) by Gucci sandals ($475) by Jimmy Choo tsavorite necklace ($4,500) by the Crown Collection gold Stapel III ring ($7,800) by Hoorsenbuhs.RIGHT: Coat ($1,590) by Homme Plissé Issey Miyake T-shirt ($285) by Isabel Marant shorts ($850) by Amiri sunglasses ($600) by Jacques Marie Mage chain necklace ($1,500), Mother of Gideon garnet ring ($5,500), and turquoise ring ($1,500) by the Crown Collection.

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