The Evolution of Pharrell: A Look at Pharrell’s Musical Progression
Pharrell has left his fingerprints all over the music industry and has successfully crossed over into every major musical genre, from hip hop to funk to rock and even pop. His distinctive sound makes his music stand out like a sore thumb among an industry where mainstream music is becoming so bland. His versatility and dynamic sounds has allowed him to cross racial barriers to help bring people together all in the name of good music.
It is not hard to see how successful Pharrell has been in terms of his musical career but he has also build an entire empire separate from his musical empire. He also co-founded the Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Footwear clothing brands and has a boutique in New York City.
In 2008, he co-signed for a series of jewelry and sunglasses for Louis Vuitton. He has also worked on furniture with Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin and Domeau & Pérès, a french manufactuer. One of his pieces of furniture includes a molded, plastic chair where the legs depict a sexual scene between a man and a woman. Pharrell was also voted “Best Dressed Man in the World” by Esquire.
But Pharrell’s rise to fame was not an overnight success story. Pharrell came from humble beginnings being born in Virginia Beach, VA to Carolyn and Pharaoh Williams, and school teacher and handy man. He was the oldest of three sons. He took interest in music at a young age began playing the keyboard and drums. He meets his future band mate and lifelong friend Chad Hugo at a seventh grade band camp, where Hugo played the tenor saxophone.
In the 90’s, Williams and Hugo formed the quartet The Neptunes, with close friends Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge. The Neptunes entered a high school talent competition and was discovered and signed by Teddy Riley. Pharrell was able to branch off and establish himself as a young writer and rapper. He wrote a verse for Wrecks-N-Effect’s hit “Rump Shaker” and he also performed on SWV‘s “Right Here (UK Remix),” but was not able to gain much recognition for his lyrical talents just yet.
Over the upcoming years, Pharrell went on to work with the biggest artist of our time. Pharrell and Hugo had established themselves as a production duo under their old name The Neptunes, and they went to produce songs for Blackstreet,Mase, and N.O.R.E, establishing the distinctive “neptune sound”. Using this unique sound, Pharrell established himself as a lead contender in music production. The Neptunes would go on to be name “Producers Of The Year” in 2002 at the Source Awards and at the Grammy’s.
Under The Neptune reign, Pharrell produces songs and albums for the biggest artist. From Gwen Stefani, Kanye West, Snoop Dog, Madonna, Beyoncé, The Hives, Maroon 5, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, The Game, Jay-z, Miley Cyrus, Solange Knowles, Usher, Frank Ocean, and his own group N.E.R.D.
Because of Pharrell’s ability to step outside of the box that many other artists would never dream of doing, he was able to appeal to audiences around the world. He crossed racial barriers by working with artist like Miley Cyrus, Gwen Stefani, N.E.R.D, and Jennifer Lopez. He is constantly re-evaluating his sound to keep it current and interesting. For instance, when N.E.R.D released their first album, Pharrell made the decision to re-produce the album with a different sound and brought in rock group SKYMOB to achieve this new sound.
Pharrell and Hugo met rap duo The Clipse, and they were signed to Arista Records through Pharrell’s Star Trek Entertainment imprint. The Clipse released their commercial album Lord Willin’. Lord Willin’ started off at #1 on the Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hip charts and #4 on the Billboard 200. Their single “Grindin’ became one of the biggest hits of 2002, once again proving how gifted Pharrell was as a producer. You can actually remember beating the notorious “Grindin” beat on your school desk or in the cafeteria during lunch. This smash hit helped re-introduce Pharrell to the hip-hip world and gained his major recognition.
Jay-Z later collaborated with Pharrell and The Neptunes on Pharrell’s first solo single, “Frontin,'” where he is the actually writer, producer, and rapper/singer for the track. “Frontin'” was one of the biggest summer hits of 2003 and it was even the 34th biggest selling single of 2003, according to Billboard, debuting at #5 on the charts and peaking at #1 on R&B/Hip-Hop charts in the U.S. It also did really well on the UK charts, peaking at #10 on the Official UK charts and spent 10 weeks on the top 75. “Frontin” is Pharrell’s biggest hit to date.
“Frontin'” served as a catalyst for Pharrell’s solo career proving that he could master it all. On September 9, 2005, Pharrell released his first solo album but it did very poorly in the US, reaching only #48 on the charts. But he didn’t let that stop him from taking his career to the next level.
Mostly recently, Pharrell, alongside the King of the South, T.I., performed on Robin Thicke’s hit single, “Blurred Lines,” which has received worldwide recognition and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it had reached #1 in 13 other countries.
“Blurred Lines” serves as Pharrell’s third Billboard Hot 100 number one single, and on June 29 of this year, Pharrell become the 12th artist to hold the #1 and #2 positions with “Blurred Lines” and “Get Lucky” in the charts history.
In the areas of production, writing, style and more, the artist is a force to be reckoned with; and as 2013 becomes a great year for Pharrell, he shows no evidence of stopping.
Pyramid Atlanta 