WEBVTT - Pharrell Williams 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:14.240 Pushkin. Just a quick note here. You can listen to 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.240 all of the music mentioned in this episode on our playlist, 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.360 which you can find a link to in the show 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:23.079 notes for licensing reasons, each time a song is referenced 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.320 in this episode, you'll hear this sound effect all right. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.960 Enjoy the episode. Most noe Pharrell Williams from his hit 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.520 song Happy, or for producing an appearing in the video 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.559 for Robin Dick's Blurred Lines, or for the resulting lawsuit 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.440 brought by Marvin Gay's estate for copyright infringement, or for 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.240 being a judge on NBC's The Voice, or for his 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.400 work in fashion with his lines Billionaire Boys Club and 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.640 ice Cream and partnerships with Adidas and Chanel. The point 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.080 is that Farrell is one of the rare, effortless multi hyphenants, 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.320 and he's everywhere. A stat's been thrown around for years 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.800 that Farrell, along with his Neptunes producing partner Chad Hugo, 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.200 was responsible for forty three percent of music played on 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.720 US radio by two thousand and three. It's hard to 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:14.600 say if that's true or not, but you could have 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.880 told me it was fifty percent, and I'd have believed you. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.920 And Farrell's not done yet. In the last couple weeks alone, 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.200 he's launched a number of ventures. A Netflix show Voices 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.040 of Fire, where he attempts to assemble the gospel world's 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.800 best choir, a newly launched skincare line Human Race because 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:34.800 you can also add Flawless Skin to his list of 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:40.479 unique gifts, end a podcasting company Other Tone Media. Rick 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.360 Rubin connected with Farrell over zoom this past weekend to 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:45.840 talk through and listen to some of the biggest hits 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.000 of his illustrious career, and also to check in on 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:56.400 what music he's working on right now. This is broken 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.760 record liner notes for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmonton. 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.120 Here's Rick Rubin and Forrell Williams. What are you working 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:13.840 on right now? Rihanna ty Dolla sign the singer songwriter 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:19.520 Chris cab Rosalia. Great, yeah, some blank Wantity two coming. Nice. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:22.920 It's been a minute for Rihanna. No, yeah, it's been 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.000 a minute. Have you cracked the code of what it's 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.200 going to be? Oh? Yeah, it's really it's really her 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.160 at the end of the day, what she wants. But 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.359 I just you know, I just sound wise. I was 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.960 trying to just like make something that like looks and 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.520 feels like she does. So when you work with her, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.760 visit will a track start the conversation and then a 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.040 song get written? Typically? How would that work? It's really 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:47.240 like she talks about what she wants to feel, and 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:52.080 then it's my job to reverse engineer that. So you 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.520 try to get the feeling into the music first before 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.360 there's a song, or might there be a song first? No, 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.400 it's a feeling first. Yeah, when working with her, it's 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.840 a feeling. It's like we're reverse engineering that feeling and 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.800 trying to turn that into something. And does it typically 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.040 does it happen relatively quickly or might it take some time? Uh? 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.680 You just kind of dive in and go go for it. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.240 So it's that's not that doesn't really take too long 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.760 to crack. You know, because you because you're you, you 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.920 have coordinates, you know, you know where you're going, you 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:26.960 know what you're looking for, and you'll know when you're there. 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.800 And as soon as you get the feeling right, what's 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.080 the process for that to turn into a song for her? 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.640 We got like the right writers for like the right 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.960 kind of tone and myself, so we kind of like 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.120 just really wrestle and grapple until we feel like we're 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.320 like really hitting that specific note and would it would 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.160 it be might lyrics come first or would it be 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.080 more sensi melody or might it be the hook? Or 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.880 is there any order typically or no odds the melody? 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.040 It's the melody. And then then we kind of like 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.280 listen to what the melody is saying it wants to say, 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.200 and might you do like Scott versions of the melody 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.400 and just see if any words fall into place? Sometimes 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.839 and then other times it's like if some words do 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.880 come out, then in the places where there are no words, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.599 you kind of take the emotion of what you're trying 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.560 to communicate and you find the words and you kind 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:34.520 of do a mosaic lyrically. Are you in Miami now? Yes, sir? Cool? 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.360 How long have you lived in Miami? Miami? Probably, like 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.839 you know, for like fifteen years, with like a four 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.560 year four and a half year break, and that's when 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.440 we were in LA. Probably wanted the toughest times in 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.400 my life the time in La. Yeah, why do you think? 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.200 Because LA is limitless access? You know, it's a lot 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.800 and when your whole family is out there, you know, 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.720 it's just a lot. There's a lot going on, and 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.920 it's like life by appointment. It's kind of like a 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:09.520 different life style, you know, than what we were accustomed 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.400 to growing up. And you know, you just want your 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.719 kids to understand that life is not like that outside 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.760 of Los Angeles city limits. You know, would you say 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:24.440 Miami is closer to your experience of growing up. Yeah, 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.039 it's much more like reality, I think anything outside of 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.800 Los Angeles if you're not born there. Yeah, you know, 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.600 it's a very different thing. It's just a different, amazing 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.440 but different world. Yeah. It feels like people go there 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.560 to work and they live on the side, but they're 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.520 there basically to work. Or I guess pretty much anywhere 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.840 else you live and you go to work when you 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:49.280 go to work, but when you're not going to work, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.839 you live in la is kind of like the work. Yes, 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.440 I agree with that. Yeah, tell me about growing up 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.440 in Virginia a little bit. I know, it's very little 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:04.719 about Virginia is a different it's a different pace. It's 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.320 like you know, normal town in the USA. It's humid, 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:15.200 which I appreciate, uh creatively, it's like it's in the air. 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.320 It just was a it can just be slow at times. 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.200 It is, you know, one of the first it's you know, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.880 one of the first thirteen states, so it has a 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.680 lot of that residual energy there. Virginia is very parallel 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.600 in my mind conceptually to America. I love it because 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.200 of its progression, but I'm in love with it because 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:41.119 of its untapped potential. That being said, there's a whole 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.200 lot of you know, heaviness that come with it. Yeah, 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.279 but from the heaviness, can that's where the great things 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.440 can blossom? Well, yeah, that's how we made Grind it. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.839 That's how we made a lot of songs because it 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.280 was a pressure that stairs there. That pressure is really there. 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.400 You know, the law really comes down on black people differently. Yeah, 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.640 it really does. You know, with the plight of the 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.800 African American and African diaspora in Virginia is a lot heavier. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.200 The gravity on us, you know, two to three times 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.920 more heavier. Should we listen to Grinding and talk about it? Yeah? 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:19.800 Cool with that, Let's do it. Yeah. I feel like 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.720 today it'd be really fun to listen to a bunch 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.480 of records that you made and just see what listening 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.480 to them brings up to be fun to hear, very cool. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.800 Describe the room that you made that record in. I 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:40.120 May it was in Chad's in Chad's room. He had 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.360 just bought a house, and you know, found those sounds 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:48.320 on the triton And while it sounds together now, it 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.080 just at the time it was just like a bunch 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.680 of like African sounds and it just felt primal, you know, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.040 just all the sounds felt primal, and the sounds just 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.200 felt like it felt like the last laugh of the 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.480 enslaved spirit. And while it was not the last laugh, 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.040 it just made us all feel that way. We knew 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.360 that that was something that could only have come from us, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.000 and it connected to us all on a primal level. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.920 You know. So while there was hustlers in the street, 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.480 you know, doing doing illegal things, but trying to survive 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.840 the best way that they felt like they could. And 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.880 while we were as as kids, we were inspired by 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.920 that attitude. Again, it may not be in the most 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.760 healthiest attitude, but we are inspired by We're inspired by 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.080 them grabbing the ball by the horns and sort of 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.400 just like taking themselves on their own ride. I don't know, 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.960 we were trying to reverse the engineer that notion you 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.080 know of just like controlling your own destiny, even if 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.200 it wasn't even the right necessarily the right direction that 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.800 the song was kind of like the soundtrack to that spirit. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.080 Did the vocals happen the same day that the track 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.800 Cat made? I remember calling pushed it like yo, you 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.480 gotta come over here, like we just made it beat 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.720 like this is one of the ones. You know. I 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.360 knew it was alien, yeah, because it was African and 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.440 it was you know, it was African sounds and it 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.400 wasn't using typical like eight o weights and it wasn't 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.800 you know, it wasn't doing what everything else was doing 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.400 back man. Yeah, it was just this the thing where 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.600 you were like, wait, what's going on? And was he 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.640 inspired as soon as he heard it? Yeah? Him and 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.400 him and his brother yeo. Would you ever when you 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.560 finish your track in the studio, bring to a club 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:28.959 and plate in the clubs here what it feels like 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.959 in the club. I never did that. I don't know. 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:33.800 I didn't know if anyone would care. You know a 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.200 lot of times, like where we're from, like they don't 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:37.760 want to really hear. And I knew in the club 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.319 until like the it's the ship you know, so like 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.079 us going in there at that time, it's like, oh, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.160 here he come. You know what I'm saying. I would 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.600 never do that. When you played it for your friends, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.640 would they positive about it? Yeah? And I knew, like, 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.480 you know, a lot of them were like hustlers at 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.520 the time, so I knew like if it worked for them, 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.440 then we were doing something right. Did you have any 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.720 musical mentors when you were in Virginia? I mean only 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.560 Teddy at the time. Tell me about that. You know, 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.240 he was a mentor to us while we were there working, 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.920 you know, in his studio, but other than that, you know, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.600 once we kind of like went out on our own. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.240 We kind of didn't have anybody else to bounce things 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.320 off of Virginia because it wasn't like a big music 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.880 scene there at the time. Yeah. And how established was 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:29.760 Teddy at that point in time when you were just 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.960 starting Teddy was you know, he was a king. I 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:38.600 mean he had just done like dangerous you know remember 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.920 the time. I mean, Teddy was in my mind, you know, 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.280 in a lot of people's mind still as the king. Yeah, 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.040 Teddy's amazing. What was it like, you know, being a 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:51.360 kid and being in the room and watching what he 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.040 was doing, did you feel like he's great or did 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:56.320 you feel like, oh, I think I can do this. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.560 I was just in awe and I couldn't believe my life. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.559 I couldn't believe I got to be in a room 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.360 where I got to learn the codes to how you 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.400 make me because other than that, when you're a kid, 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.920 you just think, okay, people are in the studio. Yeah, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.520 but you don't know what that means. You know, to you, 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.640 it's just like a song. It's like all your life 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.280 you've been eating like loaves of bread, never ever ever 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.680 considered you know the amount of flour and how you 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.679 know what the temperature is and to cook it, and 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.640 you know what it takes to package it, and you 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.640 know its shelf life and what's going to look like 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.839 on a truck, and like, you don't consider those in 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:39.600 tegral details that all must work in concert to deliver 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.319 a consistent experience for you every time you interact with it. 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.720 So being there with him was kind of like being 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:52.560 in the kitchen. Had Teddy not been in Virginia, I 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:58.040 wouldn't be here. Wow, I wouldn't be talking to you. 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:02.000 You know, it's all cause and effect and Teddy is 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:09.640 absolutely the initial He's one of the causes to this effect. Yeah, 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.040 tell me about the formation of the Neptunes. I met 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.520 Chad when I was in the beginning band. I was 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:23.240 like thirteen, and he played saxophone. I played drums, and 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.400 I moved away from that area, and then we met 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:32.000 up again at this school called Old Donation Center for 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.920 the Gifted and Talented, and I went there for jazz 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:38.800 in the summer man and he ended up there, and 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.320 he was like a phenomenal player by that time. And 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.400 I was like a decent drummer, you know, I could 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.960 play anything, and he beat on a drum set. But 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.280 Chad was like prolific with piano, and he was an 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.560 amazing sax player, and he just picked up anything, and 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.720 he just always wanted to learn, and so like you know, 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:57.680 we were talking. He was like, yeah, you know, I 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.280 got like keyboards at my house. Like he's to come 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.320 by some time or whatever. So eventually, like my mom 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.600 would bring me over there, and sometimes I could catch 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.120 rides over there or whatever, and we were just like 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.600 for two three hours. We would just like make beats 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.079 on his like cassio keyboards, you know. Then like one 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.320 of our homeboys that I went to school with, this 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.960 kid Mike. He could sing, and Shaye was like, you know, 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.839 she's my best friends. So say Mike and myself we 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.760 would go over to Chad's house and then we would 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.000 just like make demos and we weren't really we didn't 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.240 even know they were demos until like, you know, a 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.560 year or two into and realized, oh, we're making a demo. 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:36.240 And then we like, you know, we had a series 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:41.600 of like short lived management arrangements and then eventually we 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.120 got to Teddy. And when we got to Teddy, he 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.520 discovered us in a high school talent show through you know, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.000 this guy Omar Chandler and then also Tammy Lucas, who 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:53.640 was the one that said to Teddy, you need to 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.920 pay attention to these guys. And so he asked me 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.200 to come to the studio and when he did, he 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.360 gave me a shot to to write on something that 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:03.120 ended up being a rump Shaker. So I wrote his 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.920 verse for it. And at the time we as a group, 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.640 we were called the Neptunes, and then we had like 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.080 one record deal. We were signing to Michael Jackson's label MJJ. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.720 So the Neptune started as a performance group, as a 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.400 as an artist, not as a producing group. Yeah, we 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:22.920 we were just artists, but we could also like make 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.120 beats and shiite and so like. Because he had us 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.960 produced a song called Tonight's Tonight on the first Black 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:33.200 Street album, and then we eventually did use Your Heart 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.160 and Win This Feeling for as WV and then we 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.040 did when Boy Meets Girl for Total and so we 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.720 just started producing all these songs. And then eventually because 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.600 we kept trying to get a record deal the entire 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.320 time while we were producing songs, but like I was 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.880 so fucking crazy and like out of my mind with 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.680 like my style and the way that I dressed, the 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.800 record company was like who are you? You're weird, Get 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.480 the funk out of here. You got just stick to 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.160 making music. And I was like, all right, fuck it. 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.920 So then we uh, you know, my my manager introduced 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.480 us to Kalie. We met Calice and we started like 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.040 producing it for her, did an album for her over 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.480 at Virgin, and then Virgin was like, man, you guys 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.720 should also make an album too, and we were like 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:19.800 all right. At that time, I was like I don't 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:21.840 think that we should be we should use the same 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.400 name we used, which was originally our group name that 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.200 had now become a production name, which is me and Chat. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.720 We should just be an RD. So the Neptunes in 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.720 the very beginning was us as a group, and then 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.160 we just continue to produce. Did you ever play live 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:45.480 as the Neptunes? Yeah? It was a disaster. Was it 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:54.080 a fond memory disaster? No? Disaster. I don't like myself anyways. 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:55.920 When I look back at myself ten years ago, I'm like, 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.600 I'm a dude, Why did I do that? Why am 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.200 I saying that? Why am I dressed like that? Oh? 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.080 My goodness? I mean that is I'm just one of 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.240 those types of aries, you know, I'm never really pleased 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.640 with what I've done ten years ago, and completely don't 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.200 even want to think about what I where I was 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.520 at twenty years ago. So there you have it. So, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.800 if you were to go back in time, would you 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.120 make the music that you made then different than you 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.360 made it then? No, because I understand that that is 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.560 the reason where I am now. I am ever so 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.960 grateful that people give me the opportunity to be as 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.560 left of center as I am at times, and you know, 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.960 just take those shots at the time because you know, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:41.040 as aries were impulsive. But then when you're impulsive, you 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.000 got to be able to live with those, you know, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:47.600 those impulses. And sometimes I can and other times I can't. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.160 But that's okay, because that's why I constantly like to 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.240 move forward. In the cases in those days when Neptunes 0:16:55.360 --> 0:17:00.560 was a production group pre n r D, would you 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.760 just make tracks and then find homes for them, or 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.080 would it be more of a case of an artist 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.439 wants to make a record and then you're making something 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.240 targeted in mind with that artist in mind. Both so 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.639 there might be songs that would have been Neptune songs 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.320 that might have been had you signed a deal, they 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.200 would have been on your record, but then they ended 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.280 up being on someone else's record because you didn't have 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.720 a record deal. Yeah. Sure, And there are times, you 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.600 know it's still up to this day, I'll do something 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:30.960 for someone and they're like, it doesn't make sense to me, 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.600 and you know, someone else here's and it goes man, 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.560 that's for me, and I go okay, cool. And then 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.880 there's also times where like that song would come out 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:41.760 and the original artist would be like, man, why don't 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:46.000 you make me something like that? And it's like I did. Yeah. Yeah, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:50.040 that's because sometimes people are not hearing what you're hearing. Absolutely, 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.359 Like when you watch somebody like making something and you 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.080 don't know what they're doing or where they're going, and 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:56.800 you just like don't get it, and then all of 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.080 a sudden they do one thing and it just go, oh, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:03.200 you go get it now. Music the same way. What 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.080 would be a song if you were to pick a 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:10.199 song from that pre n R D era for us 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.439 to listen to, what would be one that you that 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.640 would feel good to listen to? I don't remember not 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:22.320 one single song. Really, I don't, Man, I don't a 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.240 lot of times I don't remember my songs. I understand. 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.440 I'm such a where are we going now? Kind of person? Yeah, 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.399 I really don't going into the past. I'm really not 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.600 so good at that. So my way of curating, you know, 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:38.680 Like that's why I'm like like not a good DJ. 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.640 Like I'm never DJ to my life, like really like 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.600 like really, yeah, Now, if you ask me a bunch 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.000 of songs that I think make me feel amazing, I'll 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.920 rattle off a bunch of them. But Q Tip is amazing. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.199 It's an amazing DJ because he can do all of 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:00.959 the above, whereas like I am literally I don't know 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.040 how to do that. Yeah, it's a particular skill set. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.960 I feel like also quest love like when he I 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.200 just love listening to music. When he programs, it blows 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.160 my mind. That guy forget it. Of course, this is amazing. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:15.760 We'll be right back with more from Farrell and Rick 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:23.280 after the break, we're back with more of Rick's conversation 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.880 with Pharrell. Tell me about your experience with Dat pump Man. 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:33.480 They really are I mean, like they're amazing people, you know, 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.320 and they really just love music in a different kind 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:41.640 of way. And it's interesting that we know them as 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.560 robots because they have a lot of feeling, but their 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:50.160 level of execution is very algorithmic. Like I would compare 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.120 them to like AI. Wow. Cool, let's listen. Let's listen 0:19:54.160 --> 0:20:00.199 to Get Lucky. Tell me what you remember about the 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:06.919 making of that man. We were obviously in France. I 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:13.440 remember being super jet lagged. So Gimon had this stuff 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.919 called Gronson and it's like what you take when you're 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.440 like jet lagged. It's like you put it in water. 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.960 It's kind of like alka seltzer. Is it a herb? 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.480 Or is it a pharmaceutical. No, it's like a over 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.760 the counter. It's just like in France, kind of like 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.800 five hours or something like that. He was like, here this, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.200 you'll be fine. He put that ship in the water. 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:39.119 I drink it, and I was like, like the legend 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.560 of the Phoenix, and what the fuck was I talking about? Man? 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.520 Like the legend of the Phoenix all ends with beginnings. 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:53.040 What keeps the planet spinning? The foursome the beginning pretty great. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:21:00.720 I was like, oh, holy shit, it was a session, man. 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:02.720 We did that and we didn't lose yourself to dance. 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.439 We did both of those songs. I thought I was 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.840 writing it for somebody else. I could have swore that 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.560 was a conversation. Do you know those guys you know 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:13.720 you finished the session and it's over, and you know 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:15.720 you don't speak to them again. For like, it might 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:17.560 have been like six months that we heard from them, 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.159 but I didn't hear it until like a year. I 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:22.240 think I heard from them like, oh, yeah, you know, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.280 you know we're gonna keep you on a song. I 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:27.360 was like, keep me on a song, like I thought 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.439 it was for someone else, And then I didn't hear 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:33.960 it until it was mixed. And I was. I was 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:38.920 blown away. Yeah, I really was. That's nice. That must 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.000 be a nice experience because usually you're so hands on 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:45.000 with the things you make, so to have someone else 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:47.480 make it and have it be that good, it's gotta 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.800 be a great feeling. I was incredibly honored. You know, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.400 those guys are the best at what they do. Beautiful 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.639 that that said. As good as the track is, the 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:05.320 vocal melodies, the words, the catchiness of the hook, I 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.359 don't know that that that we would know that track 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:11.240 if it was not for the for what the vocals doing. 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:16.280 So excellent work. Thank you. Tell me about your experience 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:22.520 with Beck. Beck is another prolific genius and his fans know, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.919 but more people should know how genius that man is. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:31.480 That's a genius guy. Absolutely, that guy's a treasure. Yeah. 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:34.199 I mean the way that he writes, the way that 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:36.760 he thinks, the ship that he wants to do. You know, 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.080 people say genre bending. Beck is just like he literally 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.840 just considers music to be music, and you just cannot. 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.520 I mean, the guy did new pollution. That's it, that's nothing, 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:50.800 that's nothing else to talk about. The guy did new pollution. 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:54.720 Have you heard new pollution? Have you fucking heard New Pollution. 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:59.440