Pharrell recently sat down with The Breakfast Club to discuss his upcoming film Hidden Figures and also revealed his thoughts on politics and racism within the music industry.
While discussing the accomplishments of the women in the film,Pharrell talked about racism and why the contributions of African Americans to American history were omitted from the public despite having a substantial impact on the way we do things today.
“It’s the way of American culture, if you were African-American or a woman, you received your just dues-just not in public and that’s unfortunate”, Pharrell said. “That’s why the movie is so important because it exposing you to information, you might not otherwise know.”
In regards to dealing with racism himself, Pharrell had an interesting take on it and his experience.
“We haven’t had to deal with overt racism because we are on the coasts, but in middle America, I know it’s worse”, Pharrell continued. “But what you don’t realize is that people don’t have to call you the ‘N-Word’ for it to be racist. We are literally a part of an industry where people own other people’s masters, which is crazy to me. That’s like you owning my ID and telling me when and where I can use it, but that part of the business is soon about to change.”
In addition to talking racism and the music business, Pharrell also discussed his take on how Hilary Clinton lost the 2016 Presidential election.
“I think that fake news, Twitter and lack of understanding about the importance of what was going on played a huge role in the results”, Pharrell said. “I think there were far too many people were looking at the election like reality tv versus something that can impact our future and it ultimately was the downfall.”
In other Pharrell news, the hitmaker surprised children at aWashington Heights middle school while they were performing his songs at a concert with music charity Amp Up New York City, an initiative that gives children in schools across the city access to instruments and musical teaching.
(ANTHONY DELMUNDO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Pharrell snuck onstage as students from the middle school band were singing two of his new tracks from the Hidden Figures Soundtrack, “I See A Victory and Runnin'”.
He embraced the shocked students onstage as the audience screamed and cheered, before encouraging them to finish their set as he watched from the sidelines.
“It’s amazing because you’re hearing the next generation who are being mentored and being taught by a school whose sole purpose is to build a future one lesson at a time. This was very special,” Pharrell told the NY Daily News. “Because it’s education, it’s art, it’s music – and art and music are two things that are currently disappearing from America. So the idea that this charter school caters to that is a beautiful thing to me. You’re hearing the fruits of their labor, of the school and the faculty who cares enough. I heard a wonderful result.”
Check out the interview below:
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