How Pharrell Took ComplexCon 2016 to the Next Level

As ComplexCon's Cultural Director and Host Committee Chair, the ambitious polymath brought a lot to the table.

Aug 16, 2017
Pharrell at G Staw RAW at ComplexCon
Complex Original

Pharrell at G-Staw RAW at ComplexCon.

Pharrell at G Staw RAW at ComplexCon
Complex Original

Pharrell at G-Staw RAW at ComplexCon.

Last year, Pharrell served as the ComplexCon's Cultural Director and Host Committee Chair. The ambitious polymath was a natural fit for the never-before-produced event that brought together pop culture, art, food, style, sports, music, and more. P believed in it from the jump and brought his idiosyncratic taste to the two-day festival, shaping it in fundamental ways.

For ComplexCon 2017, returning to the Long Beach Convention Center this Nov. 4 and 5, Pharrell is returning to the host committee to make his mark. The best way to understand what this means is to revisit everything he did last year, which touched on fashion, music, activism, and more. 

Debuting the G-Star RAW Elwood X25 Collection

Photo Removed

Mirroring ComplexCon itself, Pharrell exists at the nexus of a host of creative impulses and pursuits. As Head of Imagination for G-Star, Pharrell debuted the stylish print-and-pattern-heavy denim line for G-Star's RAW Elwood X25 collection​. In the video above, P breaks down the line for Complex News.

Hosting MHA Nation Activists

View this video on YouTube
youtube.com

Last year, activists from across the country protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which cut through sacred ground for the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes in the area. To show his support for the protests and amplify the voices of Native Americans, Pharrell joined activists and members of the MHA Nation, a reservation near Standing Rock, at ComplexCon to voice objections to the pipeline.

"The Dakota Access Pipeline goes through sacred sites," he said during an event to launch the holiday line for his Hu Collection, his colorful sneaker and apparel line with Adidas, inspired by "indigenous people around the world." 

His remarks were followed by a choreographed dance performed by members of the MHA Nation.

Watch Pharrell's short documentary on his recent visit to a powwow at the MHA Nation, one of the inspirations for his Hu Collection, above. 

Performing With Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi ComplexCon
Image via Complex Original/Rambo

As the first day of ComplexCon 2016 came to a close, Kid Cudi took the stage to perform an impassioned, powerful set. It was made all the more remarkable since it was his first public appearance after returning from rehab for suicidal thoughts and depression.

“I’m overwhelmed,” he told the crowd, four or five songs in. The outpouring of support from the audience was moving and constant and unabashed. “I gotta be big bro out here,” he told the crowd in the face of all that love. “I gotta be big bro. I love y’all.”

Later, Pharrell joined Cudi for a rollicking performance of Cudi’s latest single “Surfin'” that moved through the audience like a wave. It was a moment. 

Presenting the iamOTHER Showcase

Pharrell at iamOTHER showcase at Pigeons & Planes stage at ComplexCon
Image via Complex Original/Chris Blaski

On the second day of ComplexCon, Pharrell showed off his musical prowess and hit the stage again, presenting an iamOTHER showcase at the Pigeons & Planes stage. Watch The Duck, Bia, Buddy, and Kap G all performed in front of a massive crowd. "I'm the head of iamOTHER and ComplexCon," he said during his introduction. 

Recording OTHERtone Live, With Snoop Dogg

OTHERtone Panel Snoop Dogg and Pharrell
Image via Complex Original/James Bianchi

For ComplexCon, Scott Vener and Pharrell Williams brought their Beats 1 radio show OTHERtone to Long Beach. This special live taping featured LBC native Snoop Dogg, who talked about shooting the video for "Beautiful" in Brazil, the making of "Drop It Like It's Hot" (including an a cappella performance of the track), and the potency of good energy in the studio (and good smoke).

The conversation was warm and discursive, with the kind of rapport that you only find between old friends. Both relived the eye-opening experience of traveling to Brazil to shoot "Beautiful," which marked the first time Snoop collaborated with the Neptunes on a solo song. "I had never had a song like that, and you helped me tap into that side of myself," Snoop told Pharrell, meaning he'd never had a song written for women. In Brazil, they were both struck by the beauty of the nation's people. "Even the gas station people were beautiful," Snoop said. "Fine as a motherfucker. I kept going back to that gas station."

During a long, sometimes rambling and confounding audience Q&A after the conversation wrapped, an audience member asked Pharrell if there would be another N.E.R.D album. "The answer is yes," Pharrell said, to excited applause. He compared the creative process around that upcoming project to making wine, capping expectations by promising the finished results, "When it's time."

PharrellComplexconComplexcon-2017Features

Latest in Music