10 Careers That Wouldn’t Be Possible Without Pharrell

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Kelis Rogers was a teenager with an uncommonly raspy voice when she linked up with Pharrell and his production partner Chad Hugo and began singing hooks on hit Neptunes productions like “Got Your Money” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard and “Cross the Border” by Philly’s Most Wanted. Kelis’ first two albums were produced entirely by the Neptunes, as was the single from her third album, 2003’s “Milkshake,” which finally helped her break out into major U.S. stardom. And while Kelis has worked with other producers in the past decade, proving that she wasn’t merely a mouthpiece for the Neptunes’ ideas, Pharrell Williams undoubtedly created the context for the mainstream to appreciate her unique voice and sensibility.

Brothers Malice and Pusha T grew up in Virginia Beach with Pharrell and Chad Hugo. And as the Neptunes climbed up the ranks of the music industry and gained clout, they began to push Clipse as their artists, first with a shelved album in the late ’90s, and then with 2002’s Lord Willin’, the flagship release of their Star Trak label. With sharp lyricism and dark tales, Clipse might not have been an easy sell to commercial radio without the pop-savvy Neptunes sound behind them. But together, the Virginia Beach quartet made street rap smashes like “Grindin’” and club bangers like “When the Last Time.” With the group on hiatus, Pusha T has signed with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music as a solo artist and has made a name for himself as an MC that many producers are eager to work with, but he and Pharrell still remain a dynamic combination.

When Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo formed N.E.R.D., to get out some of the weirder and more rock-oriented ideas that their Neptunes production clients weren’t interested in, there was one unknown factor in the equation: Shay Haley. An old friend of the duo from Virginia Beach, Haley has been something of a second frontman for N.E.R.D., contributing backing vocals and giving Pharrell somebody to bounce off of. And while Haley seems to possess something integral about the spirit of N.E.R.D. and its live shows, he doesn’t seem to harbor many musical ambitions beyond his limited role in the group, and might not be in a popular touring act if he wasn’t buddies with Pharrell.

Although Pharrell Williams was a guest on Tyler, the Creator’s 2013 album, Wolf, he’s played a far more important role in the young California rapper/producer’s career as a mentor and inspiration. Tyler Okonma has often referred to Williams as his biggest influence, and it’s hard to imagine his skateboard-loving, musically adventurous crew Odd Future existing without N.E.R.D. and the Neptunes existing as a sonic and cultural precedent. But instead of merely laying out a blueprint to copy, Williams has seemed to give Tyler and other young artists the confidence to be individuals and to build their own empires around offbeat sounds and visuals of their own design.

Justin Timberlake was already a multi-platinum star and the most visible member of the blockbuster boy band ’N SYNC before he ever met Pharrell Williams. But it was a series of Neptunes productions that helped Timberlake make an unusually smooth transition from a member of a pop group to a solo star with R&B cred. Williams and Timberlake co-wrote ’N SYNC’s final single, “Girlfriend,” which helped break the group through to urban radio with a remix featuring another Neptunes client, Nelly. And when it came time for the solo debut, Justified, the Neptunes produced the bulk of the album, including three of the album’s four hit singles. Although Timberlake has worked more frequently with Timbaland on subsequent albums, it’s Williams who was instrumental in that important transitional period.

Capone-N-Noreaga became heroes of the New York street rap scene with 1997’s The War Report. But it was hard to imagine either member of the duo becoming darlings of mainstream radio at the time, especially after Capone got locked up shortly after the album’s release. With a solo project becoming the obvious option for Noreaga, he released N.O.R.E. in 1998, soon changing his rap alias to match the title of the album. The album was stacked with productions by New York rap royalty like the Trackmasters and Marley Marl, but it was the alien Virginia funk of “Super Thug” that helped both N.O.R.E. and the Neptunes rise to major stardom over the next few years. N.O.R.E. would go on to branch out into other genres like reggaeton, but he’d also get back with Pharrell for an occasional club banger like “Oh No” or the pop hit “Nothin’.”

Slim Thug was a self-made hero on the streets of Houston, making mixtapes with local labels like Swishahouse. But by the time Swishahouse hit the mainstream in 2005 with the Mike Jones single “Still Tippin’,” which featured Slim Thug, he had already broken out to sign with Star Trak Records. The combination of Slim Thug’s slow Houston rap style and the Neptunes’ futuristic funk was an odd fit. But it resulted in hits like “I Ain’t Heard of That” and “Like a Boss,” with Pharrell arranging for none other than Jay Z to appear on the remix of the former. Slim Thug named his Star Trak album Already Platinum in honor of his success before the deal, and has continued ruling the Houston scene, but the album remains his highest watermark of national exposure.

Ray J first entered the public eye via his older sister, R&B star Brandy, co-starring in later seasons of her TV series, Moesha. But he began to stand out as a star on his own with the release of the 2001 album This Ain’t a Game, which had several tracks produced by the Neptunes, including the hit “Wait a Minute,” and “Formal Invitation,” which featured Pharrell. Ray J went on to enjoy further success and notoriety with more albums and TV shows. But it’s hard to imagine any of that happening without Pharrell first helping him seem like more than just Brandy’s little brother.

Kanye West and Pharrell Williams have only collaborated a handful of times, most notably on Williams’ solo single “Number One,” and have long been contemporaries, rising through the music industry around the same time and often working with the same artists. But Pharrell became a celebrity, performing on many of the hits he produced and releasing solo hits like “Frontin’” at a time when West was still struggling to be taken seriously as an artist. And it was the precedent of Pharrell, both as a producer-turned-artist and a fashionable multi-media creative, that helped create the lane that West eventually thrived in. They’ve taken very different paths in art and music in the decade since becoming stars, but both have always remained parallel travelers who continually redefine what a hip-hop producer can do and what their music can sound like.

Japanese entrepreneur Nigo created his A Bathing Ape clothing line in 1993, with cutting edge print hoodies and sneakers that eventually wielded a major influence in American streetwear. And in the early 2000s, as Pharrell was becoming a hip-hop tastemaker and fashion icon, he aligned himself with Nigo to help make BAPE a mainstream brand in the U.S., and also to collaborate on the Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream brands. And when Nigo wanted to venture into the music world, Pharrell was there to help, signing Nigo’s group Teriyaki Boyz to Star Trak Entertainment for the star-studded, Neptunes-produced 2009 album Serious Japanese.