Pharrell is a jack of all trades, and now that he’s relaunching his bi-weekly OTHERtone Radio—which focuses on the unique and mystical figures in our culture and how they operate—the artist joined Zane Lowe and Apple 1 Music to talk it, working with Drake and Brent Faiyaz on “Wasted Time,” and more.
When talking about the Brent and Drake song, Pharrell explained how the track came together and how they tapped the Dean of the University of Frost School of Music to assist as well.
I think as soon as I played the track, he totally got it,” he said of Brent’s reaction. “His face just lit up. And then we got the University of Frost School of Music, the Dean, Shelly Berg, I got him to replay the strings. It was essentially 30 tracks of strings, live string players, this was amazing. And also want to just give back to that school as well, because they’ve been so good to me.”
Pharrell continued, “And then he hit me, and told me Drake wanted to get on. And I was like, ‘All right.” It’s just like salt bae, It’s like just adding them finishing touches. You feel me?”
Lowe also asked Pharrell about his relationship with Tyler, the Creator, one that blossomed on OTHERtone Radio. Pharrell elaborates by talking about how he met Tyler before he dropped his first song.
“Well, I think to be fair, Scott introduced me to him before he put out his first record,” Pharrell said. “Before any of them released any music, I was like a full-on supporter. And that was Scott introduced me to him. And so we were friends before he had put out his first actual major release. And he actually did the show because we were friends.”
With stories like these and more, OTHERtone Radio will be finally be returning this Sunday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. EST with guest Soulja Boy, only on Apple Music 1. For more impressive stories, check out Pharrell going Sneaker Shopping with Complex down below.
