Pharrell, by way of an impromptu moment on Pusha-T's Instagram Story on Monday night, has elaborated on comments he recently gave to GQ about the 2006 mixtape In My Mind: The Prequel.
Pusha asked Pharrell about having "denounced" the tape amid the October-published interview, ultimately prompting him to give a deeper dive into the important of marking "eras" in life and art.
"Don't ever do that," Pusha-T, who also documented his attendance at a Dior event on Monday night, joked. "Don't ever say anything bad about that, never . . . The youth were hurt by that."
Pharrell, who was at the same event, then explained the intention behind his GQ comments.
"I'm gonna give you the gem and I don't know if you will value it as much as it's the truth," he said. "For me, I've always looked at life as like different eras come in and different eras go out. I'm a JAY-Z fan, I'm a Puff fan, and they made me feel like, and you were there . . . The residual energy that came from coming from a slave-owned state like Virginia, I felt like I needed the validity in materialism. So, for me, I found my gravity. I found my personal gravity in material items, right? And it was only until I, like, let those things go that I realize the real true value was in my, just, straight-up love…"
See the full exchange here via Pusha's IG.
In the original GQinterview in question, Pharrell—while speaking on first meeting Nigo—explained why he "could never listen to" the tape nowadays.
"When I went to Japan, I had never met a more humble culture," he told writer/editor-in-chief Will Welch. "I was like, These people are so kind, and they have the best taste. Now, at the time [2006], I was still doing, like, my Gangsta Grillz mixtape. I could never listen to it now, because I was bragging so much. I'm so embarrassed by that. I behaved so obnoxiously. But I didn't know no better. And Nigo's way of humility, and Tokyo's way of humility, was seeping into my soul. And then the more I humbled myself down, the less I bragged. The less that I felt like I needed to flex. Humility is a skill set. It's an art form. It's something you work at."
The DJ Drama-hosted tape, of course, served as a precursor to Pharrell's 2006 debut album In My Mind featuring "Number One" with Kanye West and "Can I Have It Like That" with Gwen Stefani. King Push, meanwhile, appeared on the track "Stay With Me."
