Pharrell Williams: 10 Favorite Jams

A perfect weekend playlist, noted down on a Miami Beach hotel balcony in 2005

Once upon a time, back in the golden days of music journalism, I went to Miami to meet Pharrell Williams.

This was in autumn 2005 – long before “Happy” and “Get Lucky”, long before The Voice and the Adidas deal.

Pharrell wasn’t a global celebrity yet, but an in-demand hitmaker.

Together with Chad Hugo, his partner in The Neptunes, he’d co-produced smashes for Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg and Britney Spears.

While Hugo was rarely seen on camera, Pharrell appeared in music videos all the time. Two years before, he’d released his well-received debut solo single “Frontin’” featuring Jay-Z. The plan was now to elevate his career to global superstardom with his upcoming debut album In My Mind.

When I got the offer to fly to Miami to meet him, I didn’t have to think twice.

Sure, Pharrell had become involved in the big money game and made loads of music I didn’t particularly care for. But I still saw the outsider who played in the high school marching band, the skateboarder making gritty coke rap with Clipse, and the young N.E.R.D. star-struck by meeting DJ Premier backstage.

So it happened that I found myself in a studio in South Beach’s art deco district with a bunch of fellow European and Japanese journalists, listening to rough mixes of In My Mind.

Pharrell stood in the middle of the room, shily rapping along with his eyes closed, wearing his trademark uniform of a trucker hat, cargo shorts and A Bathing Ape sneakers, enhanced by a fat diamond watch and huge necklace. He was obviously both – the humble nerd and the glossy super-producer.

Admittedly, the album was a mixed bag. It wasn’t even very commercial – some songs were just outright weird, but not in a good way. It also contained strokes of genius, like a motivational rap ballad with a Jamie Cullum outro, a breezy yacht hop jam with Snoop, and a lead single with a jazzy double bassline and a call-and-response hook with Gwen Stefani.

A few hours after the studio date, I found myself waiting in front of the elevator of a five-star hotel on Ocean Drive. The doors opened, and Chad Hugo stepped out, casually greeting me before disappearing into the lobby.

Up on the sixth floor, I entered a scene of bustling activity, densely populated with managers, models, and hangarounds. Pharrell sat in a plastic chair on the suite’s balcony, overlooking the sea, a towel wrapped around his head.

The interview, which I would have to puff up into a cover story, turned out to be quite unremarkable. I got half an hour with the man, but Pharrell never let his guard down and shrugged all non-album related questions off with a harrowed smile.

At one point, he even started flipping through a magazine.

Then something happened. His face lit up when I started asking him about his early musical inspirations.

He told me he was a huge fan of the Native Tongues, a collective of alternative rap groups like the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. His favorite producers? Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, and of course, DJ Premier. “Those older masters are my true heroes”, he said.

When I asked for an album he was currently playing on repeat, he surprised me by answering with Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly, a sophisticated pop masterpiece by the Steely Dan mastermind from 1982.

My time was over, but I managed to shoot him one last question about his all-time favorite jams. While the next journalist waited in line, Pharrell rattled off a playlist of ten tunes, sending me on my way with a happy smile.

I noted them all down in my moleskine. That list, spanning from yacht pop and jazz fusion to old-school hip-hop and early electro, confirmed my assumption that Pharrell is a nerd at heart with an impeccable taste in music.

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01

Don Blackman – “Holding You, Loving You”
from the album Don Blackman (1982)
produced by Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen

sampled by J Dilla for Slum Village’s “Go Ladies” (2000)

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02

RAMP – “Daylight”
from the album Come Into Knowledge (1977)
produced by Roy Ayers, William Allen & Edwin Birdsong

sampled by Q-Tip for A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum” (1990)

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03

Michael Jackson – "The Lady In My Life"
from the album Thriller (1982)
produced by Quincy Jones

sampled by Poke & Tone for LL Cool J’s “Hey Lover” (1995)

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04

Stevie Wonder – "You've Got It Bad, Girl"
from the album Talking Book (1972)
produced by Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil

covered by Madlib for Yesterday’s New Quintet’s “Stevie” (2002)

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05

Herbie Hancock – "Come Running To Me"
from the album Sunlight (1978)
produced by David Rubinson

sampled by J Dilla for Slum Village’s “Get Dis Money” (2000)

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06

Donny Hathaway – “Take A Love Song”
from the album Donny Hathway (1971)
produced by Donny Hathaway

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07

A Tribe Called Quest – “Lyrics To Go”
from the album Midnight Marauders (1993)
produced by A Tribe Called Quest

samples Minnie Riperton’s “Inside My Love” (1975)

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08

Eric B. & Rakim – "Paid In Full (Seven Minutes Of Madness – The Coldcut Remix)"
original from the album Paid In Full (1987), remix released in 1988
produced by Coldcut

samples Ofra Haza’s “Im Nin’ Alu” (1985)

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09

Big Daddy Kane – “Raw”
released in 1987, remixed on the album Long Live The Kane (1988)
produced by Marley Marl

samples Bobby Byrd’s “Hot Pants” (1971)

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10

Kraftwerk – “Nummern” / “Numbers”
from the album Computerwelt / Computer World (1981)
produced by Kraftwerk

sampled by Arthur Baker for Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” (1982)