The discrepancy sticks out whenever they both talk about love. On the Bill Withers - and Ice Cube -interpolating lead single “A Good Day,” .Paak rattles off Three 6 Mafia and Backstreet Boys references and Cape Cod yacht trips before listing the different nationalities of his flings. It would be standard stuff on his solo albums, and the Hollywood Cole beat is a textbook example of functional but spiritually empty nostalgia bait, but it plays like Drake ’s “Janice STFU” compared to Cordae, who’s aiming for charismatic nonchalance but comes up flavorless. The song’s funniest and most awkward moment, when Cordae asks .Paak if he can borrow a condom, only lands because .Paak nails the punchline: “We ain’t the same size!”

.Paak also has plenty of groaners and generic lines throughout Crown —would-be anthems “Airbender,” “I’m On,” and “Days Like This” might as well be NBA League Pass background noise—but his exuberant personality shines through even his harshest whiffs, coating them with enough molten cheese to…