The pursuit to capture this feeling leads Pharrell all kinds of places to find samples, like where he got the “Wait a minute!” ad-lib in the 2017 Rihanna collaboration, “Lemon.” It’s actually the late politician Arlen Specter’s voice.

It wasn't even as lyrical as much as it was rhythmic, and he was just telling you what you were feeling in that moment. “When something felt good, it was: ‘Huh! Ha! Hey!’ He was giving you a feeling most of the time.

“That's what James Brown was doing,” he says, offering an example of a legendary artist who had similar goals. He’s still guided by a mission to create a feeling through music. “Eventually, music cats caught up and artists were able to express themselves the way that I was in rap music.” “I was just so crazy and living in the future-not where I knew music would go-but just the way I felt,” he says. Looking back on an uncertain time early in his career with the Neptunes, he recalls emotional meetings as a group. With acceptance of the feeling, comes clarity for his next moves. For Pharrell, the key to leveraging his intense feelings is recognizing and trusting them. Going through original stems of “Happy” and making small updates to “Letter To My Godfather,” he says a form of the word “feel” over 35 times.Īt one point in the session, he throws his hands in the air, leaps out of his seat, and explains how elements like how a wood block or snare make him feel. Inside Miami’s Hit Factory, P plays music as he talks through his creative process. We’re in Miami for a studio session put together by the president of Beats Electronics, Luke Wood, in celebration of the new More Matte Solo Pro Beats By Dre, which Pharrell is the brand ambassador for. It took it down, and I think it just needs to stay up.” “In the third verse, I don’t like what’s happening there. Just in the church snatching off wigs! That’s when you know you’ve achieved something,” Pharrell Williams says as he whips around his chair, explaining the changes he’s making to “Letter to My Godfather,” from The Black Godfather, which he plans to remaster.

“That’s my goal, to have the older black folks have their version of mosh pittin’.

Soundcloud rihanna work