French hip-hop icon Wax Tailor has praised Anderson .Paak ahead of the Malibu star`s headline performance at Montreal Jazz Festival tonight.

"He`s one for the future," said Wax Tailor in an interview with Gigwise, just before the producer played a headline show at the Metropolis venue in downtown Montreal.

Saying that there aren`t that many acts who have carved their path in the industry this century to feel that excited about, because he finds a lot of new music to be predictable, he glowed when talking about Anderson .Paak. He put the rapper up there with Run The Jewels and Kendrick Lamar as one of his three favourite artists of this generation.

"I was just talking about him to my crew. I`d like to see him in five years. I think he`s going to be (even more) massive," he said.

Anderson .Paak is already doing extremely well, winning a huge crowd at Glastonbury and having his album Malibu in many end of year lists. But the way he`s going, and the energy he gives, there`s still a lot more to come from this extraodinarily talented soul, R&B, funk, jazz and rap magician who has an amazing backing band called the Free Nationals.

Part of the joy of seeing .Paak live is watching him go seamlessly from rapper with a beatjuggler at the back and a peppering of organic isntruments to going to playing live on his drum kit and showing technical prowess rarely seen in a contemporary band. His croon is spell-binding and his grit as a rapper able to get the crowd bouncing is fun to watch too. 

With tens of thousands of people expected to descend on the streets of Montreal tonight to see a free Anderson .Paak show, it`s likey that this is another stepping stone towards him becoming one of the biggest, most influential stars of the 21st century. The skies are looking clear for it, too and the excitement on the streets for tonight palpable as the 38th edition of this festival draws to a close following extraodinary performances from Bob Dylan, Buddy Guy, King Crimson and many more.