Pharrell Williams is a legendary producer who started off as one half of The Neptunes. Comprised of the renowned Pharrell Williams and the lesser-known Chad Hugo, The Neptunes rose out of a small Virginia town in the late nineties. With their unique sound and beautifully simplistic sonics, they swiftly took over the hip-hop charts with their beats and, by the early 2000s, were a household name.
Unlike his counterpart Hugo, Pharrell Williams went on to achieve great things in his solo career. His 2006 debut album, In My Mind, was received with mixed reviews but with regard to producing, he was still highly sought after as a solo artist.
Collaborating with the likes of Snoop Dogg and even being called upon for several soundtracks, including Hidden Figures and Despicable Me, Williams has certainly had a prolific career and has worked his way up to be the seventh wealthiest hip hop artist in the world today.
With that being said, there is another producer in hip hop who blew his mind in 2004, and that is the controversial Kanye West. While together in the studio chatting and working on music, Kanye told Williams that he wanted to play ‘Through The Wire’ for him.
Filmed in 2004, this was a private in-studio preview of the track, which, at the time, nobody had heard before. Pharrell, who at the time was the bigger artist, was blown away by the song and labelled it “phenomenal”. Foreseeing Kanye’s success, Pharrell explained to Kanye, “You gon’ make it, and when you make it keep the same perspective. Still keep the same hunger.”
Some may argue that Kanye has done the opposite and completely lost perspective recently, but regardless of where he is now, this amazing clip from 2004 gives fans an amazing insight into what a studio session is like with the best of the best. You can watch Pharell’s reaction to ‘Through The Wire’ in the video below.
