NxWorries - Yes Lawd! (2LP)

Yes Lawd! is the moment NxWorries clicked into place on record. Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge had already teased the world with the Link Up & Suede EP, but this full-length on Stones Throw in October 2016 felt like the proper unveiling of a partnership that knew exactly what it wanted to be. Knxwledge brings that dust-caked, stop start soul, the kind of loops that sound like they’ve lived a few lives on tape. .Paak slides over it with a raspy croon and a raconteur’s grin, part preacher, part romantic, part rascal. It is a short song, heavy interlude sort of album, more collage than conventional structure, but that is the charm. You drop back in again and again to different corners and it keeps giving.

The opener’s blur of voices and vinyl crackle sets the tone, then Lyk Dis slinks in with a bassline you can feel in your ribs. .Paak sings like he is half flirting, half flexing, and Knxwledge just lets the loop breathe. Get Bigger / Do U Luv plays like a mission statement in two halves, a pep talk for the grind that still finds time to sweet talk the hook. Scared Money leans into the cautionary tale vibe without losing its bounce. Best One is the moment the lights dim, all tender vocal runs and that small hours glow. Sidepiece is cheekier than it should be, balanced on the knife edge between sin and a wink. And when Suede arrives, even if you have heard it a hundred times, it still feels like the spark that lit the fuse. That track was the breakthrough single the year before, the one that caught ears across the industry and helped accelerate .Paak’s rise. You can hear why. Confidence, swing, and a pocket that feels bottomless.

Knxwledge’s production is the through line. He chops soul into confetti and then pulls a thread through it. Kicks are heavy but not overblown, snares clap like a hand on a church pew, and everything sits in this warm haze. You hear snatches of conversation, TV bleed, studio chatter. It is intimate in the way great hip hop records can be, like you are on the couch while they work. He keeps songs short, which suits .Paak’s quicksilver phrasing. Verses punch in and out, hooks sneak up on you, and by the time you think you have it, the beat has swerved into another little scene.

The album landed to real acclaim. Pitchfork praised the duo’s chemistry and ear for texture; NPR highlighted the flow of it as a start to finish listen, more like a film reel than a sequence of singles. Fans quickly claimed favourites. What More Can I Say has the confessional pull that .Paak does so well. Starlite feels like a curtain call. Link Up still rattles a room, especially on a good system. There is not a wasted minute, which is why it refuses to age. You hear a new ad lib, a hidden harmony, some tiny bit of percussion you missed the first dozen spins.

If you collect NxWorries vinyl, this is the piece that tells the whole story. The Yes Lawd! vinyl pressing on Stones Throw does right by the low end and the grain in those samples, and it turns the interludes into proper scene changes. I have seen it fly out of the racks in a Melbourne record store more than once, that familiar orange spine catching a last glance before someone snaps it up. If you are looking to buy NxWorries records online, keep an eye out for clean copies, because people tend to play this one to death. Among NxWorries albums on vinyl, it is the one that anchors the shelf, even with the later Yes Lawd! Remixes set in 2017 giving diehards alternate angles on the same material.

Part of the joy here is historical, too. Stones Throw, with Peanut Butter Wolf steering the ship, has always been a home for the off beat and deeply musical. Yes Lawd! fits that lineage while feeling fresh. It is funk, hip hop, R&B, and a crate digger’s quiet flex, but it is never fussy. It moves. Put it on during a rainy arvo or when the house fills with friends and see which conversations stop first. For anyone browsing for vinyl records Australia wide, this is an easy staff pick. It sounds like two artists having a laugh and catching fire, and you can feel that through the speakers every time.