♪ Hold on, I've been waiting so long ♪
♪ Is this how this feels? ♪
(electronic fanfare playing)
♪ It's happening ♪
♪ Yes, it's really happening ♪
♪ This is real ♪
(fanfare ends)
-BABY: Dada. -PHARRELL WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
-Dada. -Yes, sir. -(kids chattering playfully)
Careful. Don't crash.
(baby squealing)
You okay?
Yeah, but you're not supposed to have that
-on the table, buddy. -Dada.
So, can you do me a favor and tell everybody
I'm trying to do an interview for the film?
Okay, babe.
But just tell the kids to be-- quiet down, like...
(kids chattering and babbling)
-And good morning, brother. -Hey.
-MORGAN NEVILLE: Are we good? -MAN: Yeah. All set.
MORGAN: Okay.
-Hey. -Hey, how you doing, man?
Good to see you. How's it going?
-We're recording? Yeah? -Yeah, yeah.
Okay, cool.
Quiet on the set!
You know what I always thought about?
MORGAN: What's that?
What if, like...
What if nothing's new?
(whooshing)
What if life is like a LEGO set?
(satellite beeping)
And you can put 'em together whatever way you want.
But you're borrowing from colors that already existed.
Does that make sense?
Um...
You know what would be cool is if, like,
we told my story with LEGO pieces.
(chuckles)
-Seriously? -Yes.
-LEGO? -Yes.
MORGAN: Mm-hmm.
Just imagine all the color that would bring to it.
Sure.
-Limitless color. -Mm-hmm.
This is the best way I can really be my purest self...
-Yeah. -...without feeling weird.
Okay. (chuckles)
Man, I'm saying just...
Just be open. Just be open.
So, what would you be wearing in this interview, then?
Dad hat, T-shirt, shorts,
on a yellow electric bike.
(bicycle bell rings)
'Kay.
Moving on.
Here's an easy question.
(chuckles): Well, maybe it's easy, maybe it's hard.
Where are you from?
I'm from the mud.
("Maybe" by N.E.R.D. playing)
Close to the fabled Atlantis.
♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ And it was born in a cloud ♪
♪ With silver lining ♪
I just became obsessed with, like, water, you know?
And, like, King Neptune.
♪ ♪
♪ And voilà ♪
I feel like my obsession with water
triggered something in me.
-Different kinds of abilities. -(trident ringing)
I don't know where it's from.
But I knew I was different.
-(bowl clatters) -(water splashes)
MORGAN: Really?
PHARRELL: I've always grappled with that.
(water flowing)
♪ See, maybe ♪
♪ There was something wrong ♪
♪ And you weren't telling me ♪
♪ No, oh ♪
♪ See, see, maybe ♪
♪ The laugh's on me ♪
♪ And life was telling me a joke ♪
PHARRELL: I'm from Virginia Beach.
The beach was less than a mile from Atlantis,
the housing project where I grew up.
The suburbs thought this was the hood,
but really this place was magical.
(band playing "Maybe")
-(dog barks) -♪ Hey, yeah ♪
(drumming to music)
You'd just witness music bouncing off the walls.
And the Blue Angels, they would fly over
my housing project.
-(rumbling, rattling) -We lived in the crash zone,
-so we had the best view. -(baby crying)
-(song ends) -(people murmuring)
(jet engines whooshing)
You couldn't tell me that life was not amazing.
And I loved music.
Like, everybody loves music, but I'm realizing
I had a different kind of relationship with it.
Like, it was--
literally was mesmerizing to me.
("I Wish" by Stevie Wonder playing)
I didn't even know that I was mesmerized.
I just thought that's what all Black kids did.
I thought we all just stared into the speaker like...
Whoa.
♪ Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy ♪
I was seeing colors.
It's called synesthesia.
It's not something that you see with your physical eyes.
It's something that you see in your mind's eye.
(exclaims)
♪ Trying your best to bring the water to your eyes ♪
♪ Thinking it might stop her from whupping your behind ♪
All the Stevie music would do it to me.
Beautiful hues of light cascading.
♪ I wish those days could come back once more ♪
♪ Why did those days ever have to go? ♪
♪ 'Cause I love them so ♪
I would just start the record over
and start it over and over and over.
Doing whatever it took to continue to make it happen.
♪ Why did those days ever have to go? ♪
-♪ I wish those... ♪ -(record scratches, song stops)
PHAROAH WILLIAMS: Man, he was way out there.
He must have got it from his mama.
-Oh, my God. -(chuckles)
-And me. -(laughs)
As parents from a project,
we needed to be encouraging and tell him like...
You can do anything you want to do.
People are able to accomplish things
because they work hard at what it is that they do.
That's my mom.
(knocking to rhythmic beat)
("Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani playing)
PUSHA T: We basically lived in the same neighborhood.
We were kids, so it was like, "Hey, we're gonna ride our bikes
to Mount Trashmore."
PHARRELL: And I was the kid
in the neighborhood with the skateboard.
(lively chatter)
-(excited chatter) -Yeah.
We explored everywhere.
(seabirds calling)
We would go to neighborhoods
and point at massive houses and dream.
♪ ♪
Virginia Beach Oceanfront was
the congregating place for anybody
-who was a creative. -(crowd cheering)
(rapping): ♪ Timbaland, make my body hot... ♪
PUSHA T: The best rappers there made a name.
You have Timbaland, who's known as DJ Timmy Tim.
(record scratching rhythmically)
We all kind of knew each other from school.
(lively chatter, laughter)
PHARRELL: Yeah, I knew Timbaland.
I knew Timbaland 'cause we were in class together,
-and he was cool with Missy. -(pounding, clapping to music)
And that's how I met Missy, through Tim.
At the time, we weren't thinking
we were going to be artists.
We just loved doing music.
-(whistle blowing rhythmically) -(crowd cheering)
(band playing "Hollaback Girl")
In Virginia, we've been saying for years
there's something in the water. (chuckles)
They always say there's something in the water,
but I think it's just Virginia itself.
(music and cheering continue)
-(song ends) -(school bell ringing)
(quiet chatter)
But I wasn't the best student.
(garbled chatter)
I found school difficult, you know?
You go from being in sixth grade,
where you only really had two teachers,
but seventh grade was like
you had seven different teachers.
It was just too overwhelming.
-(school bell ringing) -(fingers snapping)
Hey! Earth to Pharrell.
Stop daydreaming and get to work.
PHARRELL: I have, like, anxiety about it
and refuse to go back.
So, I was in seventh grade twice.
(phone ringing)
The teacher contacted my mom and said,
"Look, he's got enough credit to pass."
And my mom was like, "No, he needs to...
he needs to do it again."
(door opens, closes)
The boy is smart. He's brilliant.
But he only did enough to get by.
Do you feel like you fit in as a kid?
No.
I was detached.
And more in dreamland all the time,
because oftentimes that's all I had, was my imagination.
-MAN (over TV): Soul... -("Funkytown" playing)
Train!
PHARRELL: I wanted to escape.
Hello and welcome aboard.
You're right on time for another ride on the big train.
(channel changes)
Live long and prosper.
PHARRELL: TV, for me, became like this magical place
where, like, my imagination would just run super wild.
♪ Town to keep me moving, keep me grooving ♪
♪ With some energy ♪
♪ Well, I talk about it, talk about it, talk about it ♪
♪ Talk about it... ♪
Even in the outskirts of our own solar system,
we humans have barely begun our explorations.
PHARRELL: Carl Sagan's way of looking at life
was amazing to me.
(warbling)
-(gasps) -(laughs)
(song ends)
I felt like everybody else was like,
"Oh, that's an odd child. He's odd."
And that crushed my spirit.
♪ ♪
So I didn't know what the hell I was gonna do.
(choir vocalizing)
-(choir continues vocalizing) -(rhythmic clapping)
(scattered whoops, chatter)
♪ Hold your head, lil' bruh ♪
♪ You're not dead, lil' bruh ♪
♪ You are brown ♪
♪ And this world is black and white, lil' bruh ♪
♪ I know how it sounds, lil' bruh ♪
♪ But you'll be all right, lil' bruh ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I bet this song makes no sense to you ♪
♪ With the world on your shoulders ♪
♪ What can you see? ♪
♪ God blessed us all with the gift to pursue ♪
♪ Just clear your mind and you'll feel like me ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
I remember his grandmother
telling him that she had a dream.
Pharrell was lifted up.
He was suspended in the air,
way up in the sky among the stars.
And she said...
GRANDMA: God has given you a special gift,
but to whom much is given much is required.
♪ You were made to amaze ♪
♪ And bring change, lil' bruh ♪
♪ It takes one to know one, bruh ♪
♪ So here's one to goin' on, bruh ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Get your hands up ♪
♪ Come on, lil' bruh ♪
♪ Just shout it out, come on ♪
-♪ Just shout it out... ♪ -(song fades)
Were you making any music yet?
No, 'cause I didn't take band
in my first time in seventh grade.
I mean, like, even singing or playing piano or anything?
The closest I came to music
was lining my grandmother's pillows up off of her couch
and taking the cake mixer and a whisk.
And those were my drumsticks.
(shaking rhythmically)
(tapping rhythmically)
(playing rhythmic beat)
She saw that in me, and that's when, in the seventh grade,
she got me a snare drum.
(playing drumbeat)
But she started me on my path.
My grandmother was the one that was like, "Listen..."
When you go back to school, you should take music.
(band playing Justin Timberlake's "Señorita")
(song continues louder)
PHARRELL: And that's when I met Chad.
Chad understood colors in music,
and we bonded on that.
(vocalizing)
♪ ♪
♪ Ladies and gentlemen, huh ♪
♪ It's my pleasure to introduce to you ♪
♪ He's a friend of mine ♪
♪ It feels like something's ♪
-♪ Heating up ♪ -♪ Come on ♪
(laughing)
PHAROAH: Both of them was kind of different.
They was like little nerds.
-Chad was always kind of quiet. -(cymbals clanging)
I mean, it's true.
(laughing): Yeah.
CAROLYN: But to see the two of them
do music together,
it's like they read each other's minds.
(tapping rhythmically)
(playing N.E.R.D.'s "Rock Star")
We were just being ourselves
and were just-just having fun, you know?
PHARRELL: Chad is literally like a savant.
I've learned so much from him.
♪ ♪
He was like, "I met this kid named Chad.
"He has some music equipment at his house.
We should go and check it out."
We started going over to Chad's house,
over the garage.
PUSHA T: I'm sorry, I have to say it.
We skipped so much school.
It was so bad.
(playful chatter, laughter)
MISSY: Every day, we would create songs.
Everything sounded futuristic.
PHARRELL: "Let's try this. Let's try that."
It's like the person who invented
-peanut butter and jelly. -(laughing maniacally)
It's like a weird mixture.
And if you can pull it off,
it becomes something new and different.
It feels good. I like that.
-It's alive! -(thunder crashes)
♪ You can't be me, I'm a rock star ♪
♪ I'm rhyming on the top of my cop car ♪
♪ I'm a rebel and my .44 pops far ♪
♪ It's almost over now, it's almost over now ♪
♪ I guess you ain't heard that we swallow guys ♪
♪ It's too damn late to apologize ♪
♪ When you see the mantle or when you see the skies ♪
♪ It's almost over now, it's almost over now. ♪
-(song ends) -(crowd cheering)
-Chad. -Yeah?
We need a name.
-Yep. -What do you think it should be?
Um... I don't know.
Don't know.
♪ ♪
PHAROAH: Pharrell, he wanted more
out of life than just making it, you know?
♪ ♪
I think he had a job at McDonald's for 30 minutes.
(Carolyn laughs)
He had a whole separate business
selling nuggets out the back door.
(laughs)
Dealing nuggets? No.
That never happened.
Nice, Shae. Nice one.
(lively chatter, laughter)
SHAE: And he would come home with, like,
at least a hundred nuggets.
They were so good.
(excited chatter)
But it's the reason I got fired,
'cause I was eating all the time.
-You got fired? -Yeah, I got fired.
Three times.
(over speakers): A number one, extra large.
You want some fries with that?
Remember, this is Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(over stereo): ♪ I get knocked down, but I get up... ♪
It's like very Normalville, USA.
There's no... no music industry there.
I couldn't relate to it.
And I thought, "Well, damn, how am I gonna make it out?"
-(rumbling, whooshing) -Huh?
And then, out of nowhere...
(birds squawking)
♪ ♪
...the biggest producer in the world at the time
comes to Virginia Beach.
I was looking at the future.
-(neon sign buzzes) -(microphone feedback hums)
Ladies and gentlemen,
get ready for the new jack swing king.
("My Prerogative" by Bobby Brown playing)
-(engines roaring) -(tires squealing)
He's produced hits for Keith Sweat,
Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince,
and of course Michael Jackson.
Teddy Riley in the house.
(crowd cheering)
SHAE: What's the chances
of the hottest producer
moving within walking distance from your high school?
I was in disbelief.
It's kind of like saying
E.T.'s hanging out at the mall.
(people screaming)
That shook our town up.
♪ Everybody's talking all this stuff about me ♪
-♪ Now, now ♪ -♪ Why don't they just let me live? ♪
(song stops)
TIMBALAND: But I don't think it brought change to the city
because it wasn't
opened up like that to the city.
You know what I'm saying?
It was Teddy Riley's studio.
♪ ♪
MORGAN: So, Mr. Riley, where did this all begin?
The story of Pharrell began with these two policewomen.
-Police? -Yes.
(siren chirps)
They just kept coming to the studio.
And they were like...
Why is it that y'all think
y'all can come in here and do y'all music
and not do nothin' for the community?
We would love to do something for the community,
if you can do us a favor.
Now you want favors. Okay, what is it?
Yeah, what is it?
Introduce us to the principal of that school.
We would like to do talent shows.
-Oh, okay. -Okay.
♪ Bonita Applebum, you gotta put me on ♪
♪ Bonita Applebum, I said you gotta put me on... ♪
TAMMY LUCAS: I was on the panel.
Teddy said that
the winner would get to come
to Future Studios and work with him.
If we do this right, whoa.
-(scattered applause) -(accordion plays awkwardly)
All right. All right, now.
How many of you are ready for Teddy Riley?
(crowd cheering)
MORGAN: Do you even remember what the music was?
It was a lot of, like, baby Whitney Houstons.
(vocalizing)
All of the judges were like,
"These people are the next greatest singers."
-("I Will Always Love You" playing) -♪ And I... ♪
♪ I... ♪
♪ I will al-- ♪
-(song stops) -(shoes tapping rhythmically)
HOST: All right, last but not least,
here come The Neptunes!
But when Pharrell and The Neptunes came on...
(crowd cheering)
...I was like...
Oh, these guys are different.
(electric keyboard chords playing)
-(clears throat) -(rap beat begins)
(rapping): ♪ Yes, it is he, Magnum the Verb Lord ♪
♪ Mermaid City is where I was born ♪
♪ I prefer words instead of using swords ♪
♪ But heads are coming off once I press record ♪
♪ Marching cavalier, that's in my bone marrow ♪
♪ A Black martian with alien carols ♪
♪ Let me explain why I'm a multi-hyphen ♪
♪ Raised in Atlantis, of course I love Poseidon ♪
♪ From Virginia Boy, from Virginia Boy ♪
♪ From Virginia Boy, from Virginia Boy, what... ♪
TEDDY: It went from one thing to another.
Pharrell went from rapping
-to singing, -(vocalizing)
-and then got on the drums. -(crowd exclaiming)
It felt like the most incredible freestyle performance.
-(song ends) -(crowd cheering)
And I just knew that's what I'm looking for.
A'ight, guys, let's look at what we have here.
-Mr. Pharrell. -Yes, sir.
-Chad. -Yes, sir.
-Shae. -Yo.
You know, we're looking for new artists and new vibes.
So...
-(stammers) Yes. -Oh, wow, okay.
PHARRELL: Absolutely. Can't wait.
Here you have it.
(fingers snap)
(door opens, closes)
(laughs)
Whoa. It's real.
Oh, (bleep). (laughs)
-(Chad and Shae whoop) -This entire time,
I'm just thinking, "I don't know
where life is gonna lead me, but I'm just gonna go for it."
("Everyone Nose" by N.E.R.D. playing)
(knocking)
It's The Neptunes for Teddy.
-(phone ringing) -(busy chatter)
♪ ♪
PHARRELL: Teddy was, like, super busy.
I think he was, like,
working on Michael's Dangerous album.
He just was meticulous about everything.
He would spend, like, an hour just mixing a snare. I'm like...
What is he listening to?
♪ ♪
(fingers snap)
They meant business.
They didn't want kids running around the studio.
My studio etiquette was so wrong.
You know, Teddy would play a chord, and I would go...
Hey, why don't you change it to this chord?
(song stops)
(door opens, closes)
And the engineer would just give me the dirtiest look.
Hey, man, listen.
-Teddy's the boss. -(song resumes)
-Mm-hmm. -When he's working,
-you don't say anything. -Yes, sir.
-You're lucky to be in the room. -(gulps)
PHARRELL: That's where I learned discipline.
♪ ♪
(phone ringing)
And a lot of times, Pharrell would give me tracks,
and he would say, "Tammy, can you help me
write some lyrics to this song?"
You know what I mean?
-♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah. ♪ -(song ends)
The thing that raised my eyebrows was
Pharrell leaving home late at night.
And I'm thinking, "This guy is wasting his time."
TEDDY: This one night,
I just-- I needed help on this record...
...because I didn't know how to really rap.
I said...
-All right, Pharrell. -Yes, sir.
Man, I need a rap.
PHARRELL: And I was like, "Really?"
-He was like... -Yes.
This is a big task.
This record cannot come out until I get the proper rap.
You got it.
(laughs): I don't think he had it,
but he just went in the room and freestyled it.
(rapping): ♪ It's Teddy, ready with the one-two checker ♪
♪ Wreckx-n-Effect is in effect, but I'm the wrecker ♪
♪ Of the track 'bout the honey ♪
♪ Shakin' rumps and they backs in ♪
And then I mimicked what he did.
(slowly): ♪ Yes, it's Teddy ♪
♪ Ready with the one-two checker ♪
♪ Wreckx-n-Effect-- ♪
-And he was like... -Nah, it's pretty simple.
Just let it bounce.
(inhales deeply)
("Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-n-Effect playing)
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom ♪ -♪ Just shake ya rump ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom ♪ -♪ Just shake ya rump ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom ♪ -♪ Just shake ya rump ♪
♪ Yep, yep, it's Teddy, ready with the one-two checker ♪
♪ Wreckx-N-Effect is in effect, but I'm the wrecker ♪
♪ Of the track 'bout the honey ♪
♪ Shakin' rumps and they backs in ♪
♪ Booties of the cuties steady shakin' but relaxin' ♪
-Huh? -♪ The action is packed in a jam ♪
♪ Like a closet, beats bound to get you up... ♪
Oh, my God.
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-(door opens, closes) -♪ And a poom-poom... ♪
PHAROAH: And one day he came home,
he said, "Dad, this ain't bad for a first paycheck."
♪ Just shake ya rump... ♪
PHARRELL: But, I mean, I blew it in like two weeks.
I mean, I was like 19 years old.
♪ I like the way you comb your hair, uh ♪
♪ I like the stylish clothes you wear, uh ♪
♪ It's just the little things you do, uh ♪
♪ That makes me wanna get with you, uh ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom ♪ -♪ Just shake ya rump ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom ♪ -♪ Just shake ya rump ♪
♪ All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom ♪
-♪ And a poom-poom. ♪ -(song stops)
(people groaning)
He wanted to try to get on another level.
That gave him, like, an artistic itch.
PHARRELL: So I would go up to Teddy week after week
and just sort of question him, like...
-Man, I'm trying to make my own music. -No.
PHARRELL: He said I wasn't ready.
(thunder rumbling)
I was, like, really at my wits' end.
I thought I might have to get out of that deal with Teddy.
(church bell tolling)
(door creaking)
So I talked to my pastor about it.
And I remember being so confused.
Look, in Virginia, he's the only guy here.
Like, what's-- How is this gonna happen?
-Listen. -(organ playing hopeful music)
If you're standing at the bottom of a mountain,
can you see the other side?
No, you can't.
But does that mean there's no other side?
The other side of that is your life leveling up.
What God has for you, no man can stand in the way of.
-He said, "Trust God." -Trust God.
And I did.
(door creaking)
(wind whistling softly)
(panting) Hey.
CHAD: Pharrell would come to my house
with a beat in his head.
We would tell ourselves, "We can do this."
(sneezes)
Let's make some music.
I'm choking on french fries,
(clears throat) but that's okay.
(playing gentle electronic music)
PHARRELL: Music was just coming out of me.
Can't tell you where it's coming from.
I don't know.
I love it.
Creatively, I'm going in there.
I'm just reaching into oblivion,
reaching into the future,
and we don't know what the hell we gonna bring back.
I'm new to this.
But it's awesome.
(electronic music continues)
For, you know, like five years,
time just passes, just stacking beats.
-(music swells) -(choir vocalizing)
I was so ambitious.
It's all I cared about was, like, getting on.
♪ ♪
Pharrell definitely wanted to be in front of the mic. 100%.
He wanted to rap.
He wanted to sing.
-He wanted to rap sing. -(music stops)
What am I gonna do?!
(frustrated shout)
I don't know, man.
Definitely thought it was time to go back to school.
Get another profession.
Yeah, but, I mean, listen.
All it just takes is the right opportunity to do our music,
and it's gonna go.
We're gonna figure it out.
(touch tones beeping)
So I called this A&R guy, Kenny Ortiz.
(phone ringing)
One of his interns would always answer the phone.
That was Rob Walker.
Hello?
ROB WALKER: You know, the first few times,
it was kind of like, you know...
Kenny's not here.
-(phone ringing) -He's busy.
Because he literally called every single day.
And then it got to the point
where he wasn't calling to see where Kenny was.
He was just calling to say, "What's up?"
(phone ringing)
-What's up, man? -Hey, man. (chuckles)
What's going on? Like, what's happening?
We were like phone friends, like...
Oh, that wasn't from you?
-(laughing) -They almost made...
There was a connection there.
(horns honking)
And I finally met him.
(barking)
And I was like, "Oh, wow, these guys look like somebody."
Oh, what's up, man?
Finally nice to, like, put a face with a name, man.
Hey. I want to play you this music.
-♪ Come on ♪ -("Nothin'" by N.O.R.E. playing)
-♪ Militainment ♪ -♪ Oh... ♪
ROB: And I'm, like, immediately blown away.
Like, blown away. And I was like, "Holy..."
(song stops)
Wow. Like, this is great.
PHARRELL: I didn't have a manager. I was like...
Yo, you be my manager.
Manage you?
Yo, I don't know anything about management.
I'm an intern.
Well, we can learn together.
So I was like, "All right, let's do it."
After that, we went crazy.
("Splash" by N.E.R.D. playing)
PHARRELL: Every week, we'd send out tapes
and then he would market them around as best as he could.
ROB: Five to ten new beats a week,
and then I would then go around to the A&Rs, to the artists.
-I was sleeping in lobbies. -(elevator bell dings)
Whatever I had to do.
♪ I'm a little teapot, short and stout ♪
♪ There's some shake-up in around me ♪
♪ Know it's talk and no doubt... ♪
Yeah, I just need like five minutes, B.
We did the rounds.
We met everybody that was somebody.
And Pharrell was coming full throttle.
(elevator bell dings)
Like, "I'm coming for the crown.
I'm coming for you. I'm coming for everybody."
♪ ♪
And once he turns on, you can't turn him off.
♪ I'm right here, and I ain't goin' nowhere ♪
♪ You can turn tables and you can throw chairs ♪
♪ I'm right here, and I ain't goin' nowhere ♪
♪ You can knock doors and tear if you have to have some ♪
♪ Splash if you want to, splash if you want... ♪
(elevator bell dings)
ROB: It got really bad.
-(phone ringing) -One exec holds
a full-fledged conversation as we're performing.
In Air Force 1s, I'm strictly 13.
12 and a half won't work, man.
ROB: Pharrell gets on the desk, and I'm like...
Bruh, why are you on the desk?
Yo, he has to see how hard I'm willing to go.
♪ I'm right here, and I ain't goin' nowhere ♪
-(elevator bell dings) -♪ You can turn tables ♪
♪ And you can throw chairs ♪
♪ I'm right here, and I ain't goin' nowhere... ♪
ROB: He was like this little brother that you wanted
to knock upside the head.
(song stops)
I had to have a talk with Pharrell.
Like, he had no money, my unemployment ran out,
we're all living with our parents.
This was, like, everything I was banking on.
I said...
-Hey, man. -(fingers snap)
Yeah, what?
Like, we can't do that, man.
You're gonna, like, kill yourself in this thing.
(clears throat)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, hey, I'm an artist.
But selling beats, that's a way to get in.
Okay, fine.
At the time,
I chose to look at it the wrong way,
to think that, like, I was being rejected.
I didn't realize that I was being told to train harder.
(crew chattering)
-MORGAN: Hey, N.O.R.E. -Hey, what's going on?
It's N.O.R.E. Yep. What's your name? Morgan?
-Yep. Morgan. -How you doing, Morgan?
Good, good.
So, I was just wondering,
how did you know about The Neptunes?
What was it like when you first met them?
Uh...
I first met Pharrell because Rob Walker.
(beat from Mase's "Lookin' at Me" playing)
And at the time, I had never heard of The Neptunes.
Two dudes, one Filipino
and the other Black, from Virginia Beach?
Come on. This is-- This doesn't even make sense.
But they played me one beat,
then they played me another beat.
(beat from Jadakiss's "Knock Yourself Out" playing)
(beat ends)
I remember I was on my way to Miami
and Pharrell said, "This third beat..."
This third beat, don't listen to that until you get to Miami.
Why? Why wouldn't I listen to this third beat?
And he's like, "Yo, listen."
People take my beat sometimes,
but people don't let me produce.
I want to produce this.
N.O.R.E.: No one had talked to me
like that before, you know what I'm saying?
(muffled beat playing faintly)
It took everything for me in the world
not to listen to track three.
I remember the hotel like it was yesterday,
and that's when I actually listened to track three,
called "Superthug."
("Superthug" by N.O.R.E. playing)
I took a risk with these two kids from Virginia
who had this totally different sound,
but when you put our sound together, it's magnificent.
♪ A-yo, we light a candle ♪
♪ Run laps around the English Channel ♪
♪ Neptunes, I got a cocker spaniel ♪
(barks)
I remember recording the original track of "Superthug."
I would go, "What, what, what, what, what, wh-what, one."
That's how I counted my bars.
I remember me saying...
Listen, all we got to do is get the hook.
-And Pharrell saying, "We got the hook." -We got the hook.
He kept me and just took out the "ones."
-And I remember telling him... -They're gonna laugh at me.
-He said... -You're gonna laugh straight to the bank.
I just believed in this kid. (laughing)
♪ What, what, what, what, what, what, wh-what ♪
♪ What, what, what, what, what... ♪
I remember the album coming out
and all the DJs start playing the record.
(laughing)
♪ This is the life, yo, of a superstar ♪
♪ Fly-ass mansions and a million cars ♪
♪ Got to get the cash, yo, and it's live or die ♪
♪ The Neptunes and Noreaga, the limit is the sky. ♪
I remember bringing them to Jay.
I remember bringing them to Nas.
But everyone was a little skeptical
-(record scratches, song stops) -because Pharrell purposely
wanted to make hip-hop but not look like a hip-hop star.
You know, it's like opening a bakery shop, right?
For the first two months, the bakery shop is not doing good.
And then you go and you tell everybody...
This bakery shop is it. It's awesome.
Then you travel somewhere and you come back,
and the bakery shop is all over.
Everyone is just-- They want these muffins.
They want these cookies. They want these bakery good--
And you get to say, "I knew this was gonna work."
(phones ringing)
ROB: When "Superthug" dropped, everything changed.
-Forever. -Hello?
PHARRELL: We started getting the calls
to work on this and to work on that
and to work on this and to work on that.
The magic of the music business is
how many times can you do it again.
'Cause this is the hot seat.
("Shake Ya Ass" by Mystikal playing)
Not everybody can sit in that hot seat for long.
I remember watching the Mystikal video.
♪ Attention, all y'all players and pimps ♪
♪ Right now in the place to be... ♪
-And I was like... -He in the video?
-What's he doing in the video? -♪ Y'all dudes can't ♪
-♪ Mess with me ♪ -♪ Watch yourself... ♪
N.O.R.E.: It went from no one
returning my calls to everyone calling.
"Yo, can you hook me up with those dudes again?"
-And I'm like... -No!
(laughing)
♪ Now, this ain't for no small booties ♪
♪ No, sir, 'cause that won't pass ♪
♪ Show me what you workin' with ♪
♪ But if you feel you got the biggest one ♪
♪ Then, mama, come shake it fast. ♪
(song ends)
JAY-Z: We got-- We good? Okay.
Let's roll.
So, did you first notice Pharrell
when he started having hits?
No, I don't, I don't think I paid attention to him
in that way, to-- just to be completely honest.
I knew Pharrell.
I dated a girl in Virginia who called Pharrell her brother.
So I think I, like, saw him at the airport.
He was rocking the mustache and trucker hats and all that.
And I was like...
He's trippin'. (chuckles)
Um, yeah. I knew him from before.
He's Jay-Z. He's a legend.
JAY-Z: You know, I'd reached a level of success
as a, quote-unquote, "superstar."
("I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" by Jay-Z playing)
I was always looking for performers
that was new and different to give them a shot.
♪ ♪
For "Give It 2 Me," I think
I heard the beat, and I was like...
What the hell is that?
It was, like, new and quirky.
-And the next day, -(people cheering)
I was shooting a video for another track.
JON: And Jay goes, "I changed the single."
What do you mean you changed the single?
He said, "I did it last night. I'll play it for you."
-♪ I'm a hustler, baby ♪ -♪ Hov', I'm a hustler ♪
-♪ I just want you to know ♪ -♪ Hov', I wanna let you know ♪
-♪ It ain't where I been ♪ -♪ It ain't where I been ♪
-♪ But where I'm 'bout to go ♪ -♪ Top of the world ♪
-♪ Now I just wanna love ya ♪ -♪ Just wanna love ya ♪
-♪ But be who I am ♪ -♪ You know you love me ♪
-♪ And with all this cash ♪ -♪ Mo' money, mo' problems ♪
♪ You'll forget your man ♪
♪ Now give it to me... ♪
Who-who did that?
-Pharrell. -Pharrell?
Pharrell just took it.
♪ Give it to me ♪
♪ Gimme that funk, that sweet ♪
♪ That nasty, that gushy stuff ♪
♪ But don't bull ... me ♪
♪ Come on, gimme that funk ♪
♪ That sweet, that nasty, that gushy stuff ♪
♪ Give it to me... ♪
JAY-Z: At the same time of being a visionary,
Pharrell has, uh, an affinity for, like, hood shit.
(laughs)
He was fascinated by it, but that wasn't really him.
Or-or was it?
No, he definitely wasn't that at all.
We mean really not at all.
Not an ounce, not a drip of street is in Pharrell.
(whooping)
That's why we loved him so much.
He was like the young brother that we all wanted to protect
because we knew he had the talent
-to open up doors for all of us. -(whooping)
(crowd cheering)
-♪ Can't deny me ♪ -♪ Yes ♪
-♪ Why would you want to? ♪ -♪ Why? ♪
-♪ You need me ♪ -♪ Yes ♪
-♪ Why don't you try me? ♪ -♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ Baby, you want to, believe me ♪
♪ It's Hov', give it to me. ♪
Make some noise for Pharrell Williams!
-One time, everybody, jump! -(crowd cheering)
(song ends)
He was sort of, like, finding himself and his way
about how he was gonna deal with this success now.
-(engine revving) -(tires squealing)
Yeah, I think he went a little crazy with it.
This is my favorite game.
-This is Galaga. -(video game beeping)
Everything in my house is vintage.
Some of the stuff is Dutch.
I always wanted a house like James Bond.
But, you know, Chad was, um, different.
This is my wife's, uh, glass collection.
She loves art.
-This is the family room where we watch TV. -(babbling)
Lately, it's been so busy, we hardly watch any TV.
("Hot in Herre" by Nelly playing)
PHARRELL: My ambitions were more eclectic
than what we had previously done.
That was back when, like,
they would look at you crazy for working with a pop artist.
Like, "Why would you do that?"
-MAN: Rolling sound. Marker. -WOMAN: Okay.
-Uh-oh. We have some gardeners. -(lawn mower buzzing)
Let me go get them t-to stop.
-(lawn mower stops) -Okay, we're ready. -MAN: Okay.
We got our... We got our quiet back. (chuckles)
So, for me, the idea of working with The Neptunes
was the most out-of-bounds, weird idea.
Like, they'd never really worked outside of hip-hop
when we worked with them.
I remember the day (laughs) we went to the studio.
-What's up, Gwen? -Hi.
-No Doubt. -Hi.
GWEN: Pharrell was, like, intimidatingly cute...
(laughing)
...and hip-hop.
And I'm not hip-hop. I'm from Anaheim. (chuckles)
Pharrell, he was like, "I'll play you five tracks."
I'm like...
What? A track?
("Hella Good" by No Doubt playing)
At that time, we just wrote songs as a band.
But I remember he played us the track for "Hella Good."
♪ The waves keep on crashing on me for some reason ♪
♪ The wave keeps on crashing on it... ♪ (chuckles)
I was like...
Oh, my God.
This song is ridiculous.
The band really was kind of hesitant.
We've never done a collaboration like this before.
I want to write a dance song you could hear in a club.
Let's see what kind of magic we can come up with.
♪ You got me feelin' hella good ♪
♪ So let's just keep on dancin' ♪
♪ You hold me like you should ♪
♪ So I'm gonna keep on dancin' ♪
♪ Keep on dancin' ♪
How can we come together?
How can we make something new
out of something that already exists?
PHARRELL: To me, the most common thread
of different worlds is a feeling.
And-and trust me, people just want to feel good.
♪ Ooh, yeah, yeah ♪
GWEN: Even though it seemed like
we were from two different planets,
it was like two cultures' collision of beautifulness.
(excited chatter)
(crowd cheering)
♪ Keep on dancin'. ♪
-(song ends) -(crowd cheering)
PHARRELL: Pop music could be fun,
but I wasn't gonna leave hip-hop.
(phone vibrating)
I was trying to call him, but he didn't pick up.
(Morgan laughs)
-Just now? -'Cause I was gonna ask him,
"What do you want me to lie about?"
(Morgan laughing)
(chuckles)
I-I'm curious.
When were you even first aware of The Neptunes?
("Rock Star" by N.E.R.D. playing over TV)
SNOOP: It was like some rock music,
and it was on the video game.
I think it was on Madden.
♪ It's almost over now, it's almost over now... ♪
♪ You think the metal of a cop car ♪
(vocalizing rhythm)
-♪ It's over now. ♪ -(song ends)
SNOOP: This is beautiful work that you've been doing.
-Thank you, man. -(coughs)
This what I want though, P. I'm waiting on a hit record.
Feel what I'm saying? One of them bad mama jama.
-Um... -That song that you did with Jay-Z,
(voice fading): I told somebody the other day...
PHARRELL: First of all, Snoop is very tall,
and then he's in the studio with like
15 Crips who are all six-five.
You ever been in a city where you could see
the fog really low?
That's what it was like.
Snoop has mystical vibes.
Bow-wow-wow.
PHARRELL: I'm just, like, channeling him.
(clicking tongue rhythmically)
(confused grunt)
(clicking tongue rhythmically)
(spraying rhythmically)
(rhythmic clicking and spraying continue)
So I made that beat out of my mind.
("Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg playing)
♪ Snoop ♪
He had the drum pattern,
but he had left a reference for the hook.
And he didn't say the words. He just was like...
(vocalizing rhythmically)
So I had to figure the words out.
♪ Pop it like it's hot, yeah ♪
♪ You gotta pop it like it's hot ♪
♪ When the pimp's in the crib, ma, drop it like it's hot ♪
♪ Drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot ♪
♪ When the pigs try to get at you, park it like it's hot... ♪
Then Chad came in and started putting
all of that dynamic synthesizers like...
-(vocalizing melody) -(song stops)
(synthesizer playing melody)
That was like the candle on the cake.
We was like, "God d--"
(audio rewinding)
-(song resumes) -(crowd cheering)
Oh, come on!
♪ Drop it like it's hot ♪
♪ Drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot ♪
♪ When the pigs try to get at you, park it like it's hot ♪
♪ Park it like it's hot, park it like it's hot... ♪
This the crazy part that they may not know.
"Drop It Like It's Hot" was my first number one single ever.
(crowd cheering)
-Skateboard P. Chad. -What's up, bro?
-That was dope. -Yes, sir.
This is a brilliant record.
You gave me something that I was missing.
I was always a bad gangster,
but you couldn't see the fun in me.
-You brought out a smile. -Hell yeah.
(song ends)
Up until The Neptunes,
we didn't really have hip-hop superstar producers.
And so, as an editor, I was like,
"I need to pay attention
because I've never seen this before."
MIMI (over recorder): ...talking about the state
of hip-hop and where we're at right now.
So as a producer who's basically dominating,
what do you think about hip-hop right now?
Like, do you think people aren't being creative enough?
Too creative?
-May I say something? -Yes. Go ahead.
-What you think about me? -(laughs)
-I want to know. Be honest. -Uh, well...
You should let me be on a cover with my bike.
-Oh, God. All right. -I got a little bit of looks.
I can make the girls get hot and go crazy, all right.
Oh, boy. Enough.
Hip-hop-wise,
I survive off of my addiction to exploring new territory.
-You know what I'm saying? -Right.
So watch out because the way I'm-a do it is gonna be so fly.
-(laughs): Oh, my God. Okay. -("Hollaback Girl" playing)
♪ A few times I've been around that track ♪
♪ So it's not just gonna happen like that ♪
♪ 'Cause I ain't no hollaback girl... ♪
I remember a really fancy studio.
Everybody worked there.
(door creaks)
And Pharrell, he was literally
working all of the rooms at the same time.
("Like I Love You" by Justin Timberlake playing)
-Pharrell. This beat is hot. -Whoa.
(vocalizing rhythm)
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: It slaps you in the face.
♪ It feel good, right? ♪
I was so excited to get The Neptunes at that time.
It felt like a real moment.
♪ Sing this song with me ♪
-♪ Ain't no... ♪ -(song changes)
♪ Don't this hit make my people wanna ♪
-♪ Jump, jump ♪ -♪ Don't this hit ♪
-♪ Make my people wanna ♪ -♪ Jump, jump... ♪
Pharrell used to come in there with such a hot hand.
It was competitive.
I wanted to make sure that I had a banger, too.
Nobody don't want to be a weak link in the crew.
-♪ Everybody, sing it now ♪ -♪ Pass the Courvoisier... ♪
(song changes)
PHARRELL: We would hear, like, a crazy stat like,
"Oh, it's the biggest record at radio."
-♪ You don't have to call ♪ -♪ You ain't gotta call... ♪
-(song changes) -"Nah, this is the biggest record at radio."
♪ The boys are waiting ♪
♪ My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard ♪
-♪ And they're like... ♪ -(song changes)
CHAD: Who are The Neptunes?
♪ I'm a slave for you... ♪
You just got to turn on a radio to find out
-who we are. -(song changes)
♪ Like, "Girl, I think ♪
♪ My butt gettin' big," oh ♪
-♪ It's gettin' hot in here... ♪ -(song changes)
♪ Say something, oh ♪
♪ If it's worth your while, say something... ♪
-(song changes) -♪ Don't stop me now ♪
♪ Don't need to catch my breath... ♪
-It's gonna get a little crazy. -(song changes)
♪ Girl, they gotta work it out... ♪
-(songs changing rapidly) -(overlapping chatter)
-You're the greatest, lil' bruh! -Yo! Did you hear that?
(audio speeding up)
(crowd cheering)
MAN: And the Source Award for the Producer of the Year
goes to The Neptunes!
(crowd cheering)
You know, we've been doing this hip-hop thing
since I was making mixtapes out of my boom box
and Pharrell and I were breakdancing in--
on pieces of cardboard in the garage.
So, thanks, everybody.
♪ You can't be me, I'm a rock star! ♪
(crowd cheering)
(lively chatter, vocalizing)
♪ ♪
(squeals, laughs)
(vocalizing excitedly)
PUSHA T: There was a time when
I had lost my music deal.
I was like, "Okay, cool. I'm out."
Just back to it, you know?
Back to hustlin'.
And Pharrell knew everything I was doing.
-This one particular day, -(phone ringing)
he made this beat, and he called me and said...
You got to come over here, bro.
You got to come to Chad's house.
If you don't get here in 15 minutes,
I'm giving this beat to Jay-Z.
PUSHA T: "It is the best beat
that I've ever made, so you need to get here."
-(tires screech) -(horn honks)
(barking)
There was no way anybody could get anything
that he thought so highly about other than me.
(panting)
He was like...
You don't even know, but you're shining.
("Grindin'" by Clipse playing)
♪ Yo ♪
♪ I go by the name ♪
-♪ Of Pharrell ♪ -♪ I'm yo' pusha ♪
♪ From The Neptunes ♪
♪ And I just wanna let y'all know ♪
-♪ I'm yo' pusha ♪ -♪ The world ♪
♪ Is about to feel something that ♪
-♪ They've never felt before ♪ -♪ I'm yo' pusha ♪
(engines revving)
♪ Come on ♪
-♪ Grindin' ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
-♪ You know what I keep in a lining ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
-♪ Better stay in line when ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
♪ You see a ... like me shinin' ♪
♪ Grindin' ♪
PUSHA T: Pharrell really made a choice
that no one else would have made,
and he helped me in the best way possible.
(breathes rhythmically)
-♪ Grindin' ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
-♪ You know what I keep in a lining ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
-♪ Better stay in line when ♪ -♪ Whoa ♪
♪ You see a ... like me shinin' ♪
♪ Grindin'. ♪
(crowd cheering)
-(song ends) -(whoops)
That's the new joint from Virginia's own,
The Clipse and The Neptunes.
(over radio): We on fire right now, baby.
Local to global, baby. This joint going worldwide.
Virginia. "Grindin'."
PHARRELL: I firmly believe
if man can make it on the moon,
we can make it out of the projects.
(jet engines whooshing)
♪ ♪
-(laughter) -It's aw--
-All right. All right. Hold on. -(excited chatter)
Come on, man. Stop playin'.
Why are you playin', man? Why are you playin'?
PHARRELL: And that's when we did our first N.E.R.D. album.
(camera clicks)
Me, Chad and Shae as a group.
N.E.R.D. forever.
Pharrell took what they were doing in high school,
and now that we have a platform to really do real records,
he made it so the world can see.
SHAE: You know, we go on tour overseas, and we see
70, 80,000 people going bananas.
(crowd cheering)
Like, that just opened our eyes
to a whole different perspective.
(cheering continues)
We've been around the world and people embrace him the same.
No matter where he's at.
Japan, Russia, anywhere in the world.
PHARRELL: It's funny, man, because
there's such a big market for alternative-thinking kids.
I am, like, the biggest example of a hybrid thinker.
-(camera clicking) -CHAD: Star Trak. -PHARRELL: N.E.R.D.
-CHAD: Star Trak. -SHAE: Nerd for life.
CHAD: Star Trak.
KAWAN "KP" PRATHER: Nobody told him,
"You can't do that."
Nobody told him, "Black people don't skate."
(lively chatter)
What he sees, he believes.
But maybe it's the gift and curse of him, too.
♪ ♪
(creaking)
(elevator music playing)
See, a lot of times, we do things with people
and they don't use them.
So we hold on to beats that we feel, like, are special.
It's like wine. It only gets better with time if it's good.
(ticking)
This beat was for Prince,
and he heard it and didn't respond.
But I saw the potential.
("Frontin' (Club Mix)" by Pharrell feat. Jay-Z playing)
KP: I tried my best to get this beat
for Usher.
(chuckles): I begged him for that record.
PHARRELL: And I was like...
What? Why would I do that?
He was like, "Because he's gonna
take that record where it needs to go."
No, I need to show everybody what I can do.
(lively chatter)
♪ Don't wanna sound full of myself or rude ♪
♪ But you ain't looking at no other dudes ♪
♪ 'Cause you love me ♪
"Frontin'" was a huge hit.
Hell yeah.
♪ So you think about a chance ♪
♪ You find yourself trying to do my dance ♪
♪ Maybe 'cause you love me ♪
Is Pharrell here?
♪ I know that I'm carrying on ♪
♪ Never mind if I'm showing off ♪
♪ I was just frontin' ♪
I think he was playing it in the studio, and I was like...
You cra-- That's incredible.
Let me, let me get on that.
♪ Ho! ♪
♪ We got another one, Pha-real ♪
♪ Dance ♪
♪ I call you "Pha-real" 'cause you the truth ♪
-(chuckles) -♪ Oh-oh... ♪
PHARRELL: It was very comfortable
standing next to Jay-Z.
But "Frontin'" was in reverse.
Jay-Z was standing next to me.
♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh... ♪
Pharrell is here today.
-(slurping) -(crowd cheering)
MIMI VALDES: "Frontin'" is
the missed opportunity of a lifetime.
He was supposed to become a solo artist after that song.
♪ I was just frontin' ♪
-♪ Ooh... ♪ -(kisses, blows)
Everyone was waiting. Everyone was waiting for that.
Like, "What happened?"
(song fades)
You didn't put out another solo song for three years.
-Yeah. -What-- Why?
I wasn't-- I was afraid of it.
It scared me.
-♪ I know you thought ♪ -("Maybe" by N.E.R.D. playing)
-(barking) -♪ Your life was gon' be easy ♪
♪ You thought you had it all ♪
♪ You found that you were wrong ♪
PHARRELL: "Frontin'" put me in a place
where I felt something, and I was like,
"Ooh, I'm not built for that."
It was like, "Oh, I think I'm ready now to be an artist."
I wasn't.
♪ See, maybe there was something wrong ♪
♪ And you weren't telling me, no... ♪
And maybe that's why I was never comfortable
with my voice in the first place,
'cause I wasn't talking about anything.
Maybe I didn't want to be a solo artist ever again.
♪ And life was telling me a joke. ♪
(song ends)
MORGAN: Hi.
It's great to finally sit down with you.
HELEN WILLIAMS: For sure. (chuckles)
So you've never done an interview before, right?
Right. And when Pharrell said,
"I want this to be like the LEGO movies."
And I was like, "What?" (laughs)
Yeah, that's crazy, right?
-Yeah. (chuckling) -(laughing)
("Beautiful" by Snoop Dogg playing)
HELEN: I first met Pharrell at a friend's barbecue party.
♪ Beautiful, I just want you to know ♪
♪ You're my favorite girl... ♪
All I see is like 15 girls in this cabana
gawking at him as he's walking away.
-So I definitely knew that he was someone. -(song fades)
But he just came up to me
and asked me 90 minutes of questions.
You know, "What's your name?
"When's your birthday? What do you like to do?
"What's your favorite color? What do you like to eat?
Do you have a boyfriend, by any chance?"
Yeah, I do.
And he said...
Do you want to marry him?
No.
Then you don't love him.
(laughing): Okay. Okay.
I actually did break up with that guy,
and we started really hanging out.
♪ I've seen the light ♪
("I've Seen the Light / Inside of Clouds" by N.E.R.D. playing)
♪ I've seen the light ♪
♪ You're the one, girl ♪
♪ And when it hit me, it felt like lightning... ♪
From one day to another, I was like...
I think I love you. (laughs)
♪ Frightened... ♪
He was like, "Well, you know, I told you
I wasn't ready and blah-blah-blah."
(song stops)
And then I was like... (imitates explosion)
(laughing): "Okay."
Sometimes it takes a moment for things to register.
Right? (laughs)
ROB: I think the hardest thing with-with me and Pharrell
was keeping on focus.
PHARRELL: I want to think outside the box.
I want to do all kinds of things.
ROB: Like, it was always the next thing.
"What's the next thing? What we doing next?
What we doing next?"
PHARRELL: I don't want to be fit into a box.
-("Blurred Lines" playing) -♪ Everybody, get up ♪
Thing about Pharrell is that
if he gets inspired by something,
he wants to do it.
Amazing.
Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.
JIMMY: Whether it's a chair
or, you know, or the face cream.
I use the face cream.
The lotus enzyme exfoliator.
I don't look like Pharrell yet, but I'm gonna keep
rubbing that (bleep) in until I do.
(laughs)
♪ Blurred lines ♪
♪ I know you want it, I know you want it... ♪
SHAE: He was endorsing
high-end designers.
Artists weren't doing that back then.
(crowd exclaiming)
PHARRELL: So what I am is a maverick.
You know, I'm over here designing sunglasses
for Louis Vuitton
and working with Adidas and Chanel.
-I did a jingle for McDonald's. -(song stops)
-Did he? -Yeah, he did.
The... ♪ Da-da-da-da-da... ♪
♪ Ba-da-ba-ba-ba ♪
♪ I'm lovin' it. ♪
PHAROAH: Wow. I didn't know that.
-(Carolyn laughs) -(song resumes)
-♪ Shake your rump ♪ -(crowd cheering)
♪ Get down ♪
♪ Get up ♪
There were times in the studio
where Pharrell would be like, "I'll-I'll be back
in a couple of hours."
What-- How long are you going? When are you go--
Yeah. And I would stay there
and sing melodies over what Chad was playing,
and Pharrell would come back and be like,
"I'm working on this skateboard brand
(laughs): that I'm doing."
Hey, it's the new fragrance from Pharrell Williams.
Gonna like it.
(in unison): Because it smells good.
(sneezes)
He did a drink called Qream with a "Q" for "queen."
-Ladies like it, right? -(in unison): We love it.
That pink liqueur, it looked like Pepto-Bismol to me.
(crowd groaning)
(laughs) There was a lot going on.
I wanted to be like, "You don't need to be doing that.
You need to go create. Go make some music."
♪ ♪
(song ends)
The thing that happens after you get success
is everybody got an opinion
of how you should do things and what you should do.
That's when everybody comes in
with this "shoulda, coulda, woulda."
(rapid overlapping chatter)
HELEN: I'm like, "Yo, those are bad guys.
"They're, like, trying to get on the next step of the ladder
through you," you know?
It's like they were coming to him
with their "expertise"--
and I got air quotes up when I say it--
to get records,
but they took away his attention from what was important.
(rapid overlapping chatter)
(jet engines whooshing)
PUSHA: You know, I think what is really important
is keeping your ear to the streets.
(drink pours)
And you can't do that when your head's in the clouds.
♪ ♪
-(engine revving) -(tires squealing)
PHARRELL: My grandmother, she was sick.
♪ ♪
She had an incredible impact on me.
She saw things in me that I couldn't see in myself.
(tires squealing)
I remember my grandmother used to say...
GRANDMA and PHARRELL: "Find something you love to do..."
...and you'll know when it's right.
When you can find a purpose for humanity in it.
♪ ♪
PHARRELL: But what does that really mean
at the end of the day?
I-I don't know.
("L'ego Odyssey" by Pharrell Williams playing)
MAN: Is Pharrell coming through?
He said he was.
I don't know if he is, to be honest.
Why don't you just go and raid his house?
Take us there. We'd love to.
WOMAN: So, are The Neptunes
the top priority of your business now or...?
PHARRELL: Mm...
-Maybe. -"Maybe."
KP: The Neptunes broke up.
(sighs)
So many of the people in the room with him
when he was at his most adventurous left.
SHAE: It-- (sighs)
Yeah, it was, it was a difficult time, man.
He couldn't pay someone for a hit.
♪ Mr. Know-It-All ♪
♪ Know-It-All ♪
♪ Who wants to show it off ♪
♪ Know-It-All ♪
♪ You're no longer learning ♪
♪ No longer learning ♪
-♪ If you know it all ♪ -♪ If you know it all ♪
♪ Don't you know the law? ♪
♪ Only God knows it all ♪
♪ There he goes ego... ♪
Businesspeople, they're trying to tell you
to basically regenerate yourself from a past time.
But if your best ideas come from the future,
you can imagine your worst ones are gonna come from the past.
(panting)
(song ends)
I made the worst record of my life
called "All Eyes On Me" with Pharrell.
MORGAN: I don't remember the song.
PUSHA T: Of course you don't remember the song.
It's so bad.
It was trying to be pop.
It was like, "We're gonna have
"a record on pop radio,
"and we're gonna have a hot record in the streets,
and we're just gonna have all these fan bases all at once."
It was reaching.
I was in the studio with him, and he's playing me
all of these songs.
It was-- It just really wasn't that great.
And he says to me, "This is the radio record."
And then he plays me another song, and he's like,
"This is the record for the girls, right?"
And h-he giving me a thumbs-up like, "This is hot, right?"
And I gave him, like, the sideways thumb, like...
Eh, kinda.
But he was like, "Kinda?"
Yo, just stop. Just turn it off, man.
Just turn it off.
You're Pharrell, bro. Like, what are you doing?
You don't make the radio record.
Like, you don't make the girl record.
Man, you just make music, bro.
PUSHA T: So when you say he says he was lost,
I believe that.
He would've had to have been.
-♪ Sooner or later ♪ -("Sooner or Later" playing)
♪ It all comes crashing down ♪
♪ Crashing down ♪
-♪ Crashing down ♪ -♪ Crashing down ♪
♪ When everyone's around ♪
♪ I bet you would've paid up ♪
-♪ All your cash down ♪ -♪ Your cash down ♪
-♪ And not make a sound ♪ -♪ To make a sound ♪
♪ Everyone knows now ♪
♪ It all comes crashing ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it... ♪
You're being written off at this point.
There ain't places you can turn
for that inspiration that you need...
♪ A nightmare just ate up your dreams... ♪
...because even the people with the "shoulda, woulda, couldas,"
they don't want to be attached to the failure.
So they quickly abandon ship,
and they get in the safety boats with the life jackets on,
and they abandon you.
♪ It all comes crashing ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
♪ It's over ♪
♪ Leave it ♪
♪ Down ♪
(song stops)
(filtered breathing)
PHARRELL: When I looked over my shoulder,
I just didn't like what I was doing.
I didn't like the decisions that I had made.
The pieces just didn't fit anymore...
♪ ♪
...because relevance is a drug.
Staying relevant will have you doing
all kinds of things that you regret...
...just to win.
To win.
Pharrell, excuse me.
Carl Sagan?
Take a look.
The Earth, it's a pale blue dot.
That's home.
On it, everybody you love, everybody you know,
everybody you've ever heard of lived out their days there.
Every mother and father,
every inventor and explorer,
every saint and sinner,
every supreme leader,
every revered teacher of morals
in the history of our species lived there.
The delusion that we have
some privileged position in the universe
is challenged by this point of pale light.
And there is no hint
that there's anyone who will come
and save us from ourself.
That will happen only if we do it.
Wow.
♪ ♪
PHARRELL: I spent so much of my career
just being arrogant.
And I might not have been the best person.
And I realized that I needed to give the purest of my spirit.
-That's... everything. -(steady beeping)
-(whooshing) -(voices vocalizing)
(vocalizing grows louder)
(vocalizing ends)
("Get Lucky" by Daft Punk playing)
♪ Like the legend of the phoenix ♪
♪ Huh ♪
♪ All ends with beginnings ♪
(whooshing)
♪ What keeps the planet spinning ♪
♪ Ah ♪
♪ The force from the beginning ♪
♪ Look ♪
♪ We've come too far ♪
♪ To give up who we are ♪
♪ So let's raise the bar ♪
♪ And our cups to the stars ♪
♪ She's up all night till the sun ♪
♪ I'm up all night to get some ♪
♪ She's up all night for good fun ♪
♪ I'm up all night to get lucky ♪
♪ We're up all night till the sun ♪
♪ We're up all night to get some ♪
♪ We're up all night for good fun ♪
♪ We're up all night to get lucky ♪
(distorted): ♪ Up all night to get ♪
♪ Up all night to get... ♪
Chad.
♪ Up all night to get ♪
♪ Up all night to get... ♪
PHARRELL (in distance): Helen!
♪ Up all night to get... ♪
(whooshing)
-Oh, my God. -I'm ready now.
(chuckles)
Okay.
So what are we gonna do about that?
♪ We're up all night to get lucky... ♪
(crowd cheering)
♪ We're up all night to get lucky ♪
♪ We're up all night to get lucky. ♪
(birds cooing)
PHARRELL: When I look up and see
all the love and all the support,
the people who just never left my side...
(voice breaking): My family.
All my friends.
The realization when, like...
(sighs)
...everyone wants you to win.
♪ ♪
And I'm like, you know,
"Man, forget the trophy, man.
The idea that you want me to win."
(exhales)
When thinking like that and thinking about that,
(sniffles) my heart...
...could keep the lights on the Earth.
♪ ♪
-(sniffles) -(song stops)
Do you need a Kleenex?
PHARRELL: No, I'm okay. (clears throat)
This is therapeutic, man.
I hope in a good way.
-In a really good way. -Yeah.
So after all that, did people just think it was easy, then?
Oh, yeah, of course.
I call that distant assessment.
No, it was just starting to get hard.
Why?
Because I didn't know if I could do it again.
-Dada! -Yes, sir. -(toy squeaks)
-Dada. -Yes, sir.
-Dada. -Yes, sir. -(toy squeaks)
HELEN: We had just gotten married,
and we had our son, Rocket.
(humming)
Pharrell was pushing himself on this song for a movie.
He wrote like eight or nine songs,
and the studio, every time, they were just like,
"Nope, not the one. Nope, not the one."
I can't get it. I don't know how to do this.
Like, I don't know how to make a song like this.
(Rocket laughing)
HELEN: I'd be like, "Is he okay?
Why is he staring off into the light like that?"
(tiles clattering)
("Happy" by Pharrell Williams playing)
(song stops)
♪ It might seem crazy what I'm 'bout to say ♪
-Dada. -That feels great.
♪ Sunshine, she's here, you can take a break ♪
(laughs)
This is it.
(song resumes)
♪ It might seem crazy what I'm 'bout to say ♪
♪ Sunshine, she's here, you can take a break ♪
♪ I'm a hot-air balloon that could go to space ♪
(lively chatter)
♪ With the air, like "I don't care," baby, by the way ♪
PHARRELL: And the next thing you know, boom.
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel ♪
♪ Like a room without a roof ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you know what happiness is to you ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
-♪ Clap along if you feel ♪ -(audience cheering)
♪ Like that's what you wanna do ♪
How did "Happy" happen?
-People are putting up their own videos. -Yeah.
It was, like, no longer my song.
Roll the tape of that.
People started putting videos
around the world getting happy.
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you know ♪
♪ What happiness is to you, ay, ay, ay ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel like ♪
♪ That's what you wanna do ♪
-♪ Because I'm happy ♪ -♪ Clap along ♪
♪ If you know what happiness is to you, hey, hey ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel ♪
♪ Like that's what you wanna do ♪
-♪ Come on. ♪ -(song stops)
Ah. Makes me cry, too. Makes me cry, too.
-(sniffles) -Ah.
You know, I was just thinking about your grandmother.
I bet she didn't even imagine that.
No, it's beautiful.
Why am I crying on Oprah?
(Oprah and audience laughing)
-♪ Because I'm happy ♪ -(song resumes)
(rhythmic clapping)
PHARRELL: I love that song, but it turned into
this other thing that I didn't see coming.
-♪ Happy, happy, happy, happy ♪ -♪ Bring me down ♪
-♪ Can't nothing bring me down ♪ -♪ Happy, happy ♪
-♪ My level's too high... ♪
People are singing
and celebrating to highlight an emotion.
-♪ Because I'm happy... ♪ -(song fades)
But you realize why they feel that song:
'cause they've been through some shit.
They've been through some shit.
(exhales)
I felt that just now.
'Sup?
People would say,
"Your song got my mom through her chemo,"
or, like, "Man, I play that song every day.
It just made me feel better."
It took a toll on me, though, just seeing so much pain.
And boom, right after that...
CROWD (chanting): Hands up! Don't shoot!
PHARRELL: ...it got really dark.
CROWD (chanting): Hands up! Don't shoot!
-Hands up! Don't shoot! -(siren whoops, chirps)
Hands up! Don't shoot!
PHARRELL: It's what changed my outlook on
what it means to be Black.
OFFICER (over bullhorn): ...must disperse immediately.
Now! This is an order.
You'll be subject to arrest and other actions.
PHARRELL: I realized that you're Black
in juxtaposition to the entire system.
This is literally what we think about every day.
(jazz vocal sample repeating)
(saxophone playing jazz melody)
I remember finding these jazz vocal samples
and playing this chord around.
Every time you hear the... ♪ Da ♪
...it just felt like a rainbow of blue murky water.
(water flowing)
♪ ♪
And what Kendrick wrote to it was just
-poetic justice. -("Alright" by Kendrick Lamar playing)
♪ Alls my life I has to fight ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Alls my life, I ♪
♪ Hard times like, "Yah!" ♪
♪ Bad trips like, "Yah!" ♪
♪ Nazareth, I'm ... up, homie, you ... up ♪
♪ But if God got us, then we gon' be alright ♪
♪ We gon' be alright... ♪
KENDRICK LAMAR: Pharrell had the hook.
That's him on the hook.
♪ We gon' be alright, do you hear me? ♪
♪ Do you feel me? We gon' be alright ♪
The "alright" phrase, what does "alright" represent?
You know, there was a lot going on,
and still to this day a-a lot going on.
It's something else inside of them chords
that Pharrell put down that feels like a statement.
♪ When our pride was low ♪
♪ Lookin' at the world like, "Where do we go?" ♪
♪ And we hate po-po ♪
♪ Wanna kill us dead in the street for sure ♪
(siren whoops)
♪ I'm at the preacher's door, my knees gettin' weak ♪
♪ And my gun might blow, but we gon' be alright... ♪
(crowd clamoring)
CROWD (chanting): We gon' be alright!
-We gon' be alright! Hey! -(song fades)
We gon' be alright! Hey!
-We gon' be alright! -Say what?!
♪ We gon' be alright. ♪
That record, it kind of
attached itself to every struggle.
CROWD (chanting): We gon' be alright!
We gon' be alright!
PHARRELL: You know, there's strength in numbers.
And to inspire people to be aspirational,
you don't just aspire up.
You aspire left to right as well,
because that's what creates a unified front.
Without it, then you're just like a broken community.
And we've had spells where it's felt like that.
If we put our heads together or our hearts together,
like, what can't we do?
(crow cawing)
The bird is even chiming in.
Why?
Because the crow gets it.
-(caws) -Yes.
(caws)
Yes.
-(caws) -That's right.
You see? That's how it works.
(seabirds calling)
♪ ♪
WOMAN (in distance): Pharrell!
MAN: Hey! Thank you, Pharrell!
Oh, my gosh!
(chuckles)
I'll never forget what this neighborhood felt like.
Ever.
All of that is hitting me right now.
That was my room right there.
My grandmother lived here until, like, I was 15.
♪ ♪
Why me? Why me?
I grew up with kids that could do anything.
But no one saw the propensity in them.
All I saw was talent.
Beauty.
Everybody has that.
Man, this is gon' be a LEGO movie, bruh.
I know.
Like, you don't understand.
Trying to, like, take it apart brick by brick.
Put it back together.
So it makes sense.
(jet engines whooshing)
♪ ♪
One day, you wake up
and you realize that this was all designed.
And because it's a design,
there's potential for us to change it.
(waves lapping)
("Pure Imagination" by Gene Wilder playing)
♪ Hold your breath ♪
♪ Make a wish ♪
♪ Count to three. ♪
One, two, three, four.
("Piece by Piece" by Pharrell Williams playing)
(cheering)
Look what we can do when we come together, Virginia.
(cheering)
♪ I decided long time ago ♪
♪ I would write my own chronicle ♪
♪ Sit around? That ain't me ♪
♪ Nor is following a lead ♪
♪ Let me build what I see ♪
♪ You know it starts with a piece ♪
♪ Give it time, let it breathe ♪
♪ Instead of suffocating crazy dreams... ♪
Wow!
PHARRELL: Missy Misdemeanor.
Timbaland.
-♪ Till it start paying off ♪ -♪ Hey ♪
♪ Till it start paying off ♪
♪ And when it pays off, pays off ♪
♪ It feels so good inside ♪
♪ Screaming, "I told you, I told you" ♪
♪ And the only way it happened was mine ♪
♪ When it was time ♪
♪ I got butterflies ♪
♪ Don't look surprised, girl ♪
♪ With a dream this size ♪
♪ Yeah, everything seems so easy ♪
♪ For other guys ♪
♪ But I never moved my eyes ♪
♪ It takes a thousand tries ♪
♪ Till it start paying off ♪
-♪ Hey ♪ -♪ Till it start paying off ♪
♪ Hey ♪
-♪ Till it start paying off ♪ -♪ Hey ♪
♪ Till it start paying off ♪
-♪ Hey. ♪ -(song ends)
These days, I am more interested in diving deeper.
What's that mean, "diving deeper"?
I don't know if you have the time for that one.
(chuckles): Yeah. Well, it is the end of the movie, so yeah.
Right.
When you go deeper, you realize,
like, we're just vibrating, buzzing molecules.
Light, sound, everything is vibrating all at once.
♪ ♪
And so, you realize that life is much bigger than you.
That's when you ask yourself,
"How do I serve this thing called life?"
(band playing "Piece by Piece")
♪ And when it pays off, pays off ♪
♪ It feels so good inside ♪
♪ Screaming, "I told you, I told you" ♪
♪ Ain't happen any other way but mine ♪
♪ Never took days off, days off ♪
♪ If they hated, now they want to die ♪
♪ Finding that brick and where it goes to ♪
♪ So we keep stacking high, high, high ♪
♪ Piece by piece ♪
♪ Piece by piece, piece by piece ♪
♪ Piece by piece ♪
♪ Piece by piece, piece by piece ♪
♪ Piece by piece ♪
-♪ Piece by piece. ♪ -(song ends)
Dad, is that it?
-I think we're done. -What?
("For Real" by Pharrell Williams playing)
Whew. What a legendary story, yeah?
Holy moly guacamole.
I'm extremely proud to be a part of this movie
slash whatever this is.
Um, like I said, this bakery shop is awesome.
(laughing)
♪ I've been staring at this certain star ♪
♪ Concentrating, like, every night ♪
♪ All alone and the lights are off ♪
♪ Wish that I could do whatever I like ♪
♪ I been wishing to the universe ♪
♪ 'Cause to be real, I'd be better off ♪
♪ Wanna know what I'm waiting for ♪
♪ Some kind of sign like a meteorite ♪
♪ Something to happen, some kind of magic ♪
♪ To make me for real ♪
♪ I wanna experience ♪
♪ I want some control ♪
♪ I just wanna feel ♪
♪ Anything that has no soul ♪
♪ Is guaranteed to fall ♪
♪ So once it happens ♪
♪ You will know ♪
♪ 'Cause you hear God's voice inside... ♪
♪ I wanna open my eyes ♪
♪ And know that it's okay ♪
♪ I'm awake ♪
♪ My dream has come true ♪
♪ And I would do it for free ♪
♪ If that is what it takes ♪
♪ What it takes ♪
♪ That's how bad I want to ♪
♪ Am I a toy? ♪
♪ I got feelings, too ♪
♪ First they pick me up ♪
-♪ And then put me down ♪ -♪ Down, down, down ♪
♪ I am lost, who am I appealing to? ♪
♪ That's what they all say ♪
♪ When I'm not around ♪
♪ So I pray to the universe ♪
♪ That it would come true finally ♪
♪ I'll be whoever I decide to be ♪
♪ Worry about yourself 'cause I'll be all right ♪
♪ Something'll happen ♪
♪ Some kind of magic ♪
♪ To make me for real ♪
♪ I wanna experience ♪
♪ I want some control ♪
♪ I just wanna feel ♪
♪ I must admit that I was slow ♪
♪ 'Cause what I didn't know ♪
♪ All my dreams and my goals ♪
♪ Were inside me the whole time... ♪
♪ I wanna open my eyes ♪
♪ And know that it's okay ♪
♪ I'm awake ♪
♪ My dream has come true ♪
♪ And I would do it for free ♪
♪ If that is what it takes ♪
♪ What it takes ♪
♪ That's how bad I want to. ♪
(song ends)