Pharrell Williams stopped by the Breakfast Club on Monday (Dec. 12) to discuss a plethora of topics, ranging from the upcoming film Hidden Figures to the state of the music business. The superproducer served as a producer and key composer for the NASA drama, which stars Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson, and has rolled out several tracks like “Runnin’” and “Crave.”
Co-host Charlamagne Tha God opened the interview by complementing the music mogul on his humility before jokingly asking about Williams’ self-care regimen, claiming that he has not aged in over 20 years.
Here are a few snippets from the interview:
On the forthcoming film Hidden Figures:
“Hidden Figures is a movie that I was blessed to be a part of and work on with my producing partner Mi Mi Valdes … You have three African American female protagonists not talking about divorces or consoling each other or burning up the range rovers; none of that. These were three African American female protagonists who were scientists, engineers, mathematicians, technologically advanced, so that blew my mind…”
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On today’s social issues:
“There’s a lot of gender bias and there’s still racial bias. It’s severe to me. It’s crazier than it’s ever been because there was no internet in the ’60s. Now its really undeniable.”
On the music business:
“We work in a business where it is okay to own other people’s masters. That’s insane … That will soon change by the way. Everybody should own their masters. If major labels want to do deals with artists to partner with them, great, then partner with me — but don’t own me…”
Check out the Breakfast Club’s 40-minute sit down with Williams below.