Pharrell's (Master)Piece by Piece (encore)
In honor of the new Clipse album coming out, we wanted to kick it back to our original episode on Piece by Piece, a fun and inspirational LEGO® movie about the creativity and career of Pharrell Williams!
Topics discussed:
🧱 What better way to tell the story of Pharrell Williams' vivid life than through LEGO bricks?
🤩 He has produced and written so many great songs, you could easily forget just how many!
📈 How Pharrell overcame adversity is a good lesson for all.
Also check out:
Former HHMC guest of the show: Leaving the Theater with Ronald Young Jr.
Credits
Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie.
And remember:
Don't hate...be great!
Check us out:
Our next live event is FRIDAY 30th anniversary screening (on a Friday!), August 15th at 8pm. Throwback set at 7:30 by none other than DJ ARM 18.
Check out our live event schedule and more at our Linktree.
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Transcript
Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show
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:that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop
with the magic of movies.
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:We just watched Piece by Piece
in the theater, and this is like our
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:our homage to Leaving the Theater
with Ronald Young
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:because we just left the theater.
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:I'm DynoWright, podcaster,
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:filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan,
and this is my first LEGO movie.
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:Oops.
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:I'm JB.
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:80s and 90s nostalgia junkie,
and I've seen a few LEGO movies and,
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:I'm happy right now.
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:Yeah. What's up?
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:I'm Boogie DJ, long time
hip hop fan, and I'm also a fan
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:of the LEGO movies and LEGO in general.
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:All right, so we just watched the movie.
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:I'll hand it to our
point guard to start us off.
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:All right.
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:Yeah.
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:So Piece By Piece is a LEGO movie,
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:which is a biopic of Pharrell Williams
life story.
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:And I just thought it was really
well done, and it was just fun.
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:It had a lot of cameos and everybody
that was influential in his life, starting
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:from when he was a child, is influenced
by the music of Stevie Wonder.
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:Michael Jackson, among others.
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:And,
I think this is a great story behind it.
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:As you know, you can be your own person.
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:You don't have to follow a set path. And,
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:you just live through the creative spirit
and feel inspired afterwards.
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:What do you think about that Boogie?
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:Yeah.
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:So I think it was
it was visually stunning, to be honest.
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:You know, you think of LEGO and you think
it's like it's just strictly for kids.
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:But as an adult watching it,
I was just like, wow.
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:Like, they put a lot of thought
into the visuals.
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:And as he was telling his story,
so you actually could feel
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:the emotion that he was putting
out as he was speaking.
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:It was it was really good.
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:It was very well done.
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:Gave me a lot of emotions, you know,
because I like rooting for the little guys
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:and the underdogs and he showed how,
you know, he actually got into music.
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:And what made him steer towards
music was that, you know, you got,
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:you got the high school and was just,
I mean, middle school
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:and just kind of felt lost a little bit
academically and struggling, but,
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:you know, trying his way
because the suggestion for him to,
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:to start taking up music and he found
his way in front of a lot of creatives and
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:it just, you know,
it was good to see that story, you know,
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:put out on a screen even though it wasn't
even a lot of action.
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:You know, you can definitely feel
like you were there.
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:You can follow along.
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:And the cameos were great.
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:You know, I love the cameos.
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:And as a DJ, you know, I play that
like I swear every song that was that was
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:that was featured in the movie,
that was his.
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:I play those songs
and they're all bangers,
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:and I've didn’t even like,
I don't know why I forgot,
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:but it's just like, oh, that's
right he did produce that he did produce that
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:because it was just a string of hits
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:where he was just putting them out
like bangers after one after the other.
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:I mean, from hip hop to rock
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:to alternative to his own stuff,
you know, with him on the vocals.
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:And it was just great to see that story.
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:I highly recommend it. Definitely see it.
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:Yeah, this is definitely a must watch,
or at least spend the time to go see it.
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:It is definitely worth watching.
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:For me,
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:the story arc was really nicely done,
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:and you would think a guy
with a hit like “Happy”
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:there could have ended it there
and they would have been fine.
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:But, you really saw
some of the darker stuff
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:that he had to come through
to get to where “Happy” was.
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:And then right after it was, I love it.
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:I can't breathe stuff
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:Server: Thank you
and have a great night.
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:Thank you. Thank you.
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:As we record this in a diner,
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:Life gets.
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:Life finds a way.
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:And so it was really
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:great to watch,
and it was really well constructed.
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:I thought,
and like Boogie said, it's just visually
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:really, really
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:fun to watch.
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:It's visually stunning.
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:And, yeah, the LEGO part of
it really makes for some cool storytelling.
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:Yeah.
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:And you can see,
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:more of his influences and
more of the folks he collaborated with,
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:and it was just cool to see them as LEGO
images, too.
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:Folks like Missy Elliott, N.O.R.E.,
Timbaland, Justin
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:Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, these are all,
you know, LEGO characters in here.
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:Telling their story.
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:I think you mentioned Gwen Stefani
and No Doubt,
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:Daft Punk, in their gear.
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:It was so creative.
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:It was almost like a magical experience
to to see, like you said, the career arc,
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:his influences and again,
the moral of the story is like,
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:hey, march to your own beat, creating.
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:He created so many beats
for so many people, so influential.
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:He was inspired by Carl Sagan,
famous astronomer.
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:And,
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:he has that kind of space mentality.
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:And you can see
all the different elements come together.
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:And he starts off by being inspired
by water, you know, being in water
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:as a child and, and through space
and all these elements.
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:He's really a spiritual person.
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:And it comes out in his music
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:and it's kind of like,
he went through a lot of difficulties,
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:but in the end,
it was emotional as Boogie said,
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:because he was like, man, you know what?
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:As far down as I was,
people were rooting for me.
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:People were really rooting for me.
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:And, I think there is a lot of,
goodness in humanity if you can just,
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:you know, see through the negativity
and there's a lot of negativity out there.
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:But if you just,
you know, stick to your guns and
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:kind of find
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:what's inside you that drives
you and follow your passion,
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:good things could happen.
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:And like,
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:so I mean, being from Virginia Beach,
there's like a
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:there was a strong tie to to Neptune
and Poseidon and ocean and water.
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:So you know he definitely kept his
head down and kept swimming.
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:And he found success.
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:And that was just
it was really cool to see that.
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:And I didn't realize,
you know, it's funny because, you know,
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:you don't know what people are going
through as successful as they seem.
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:And I had no idea that he was going
through that dark period.
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:Even as he had reached the top.
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:There was a point where he almost hit
rock bottom,
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:mentally, he wasn't putting out the hits
that he was used to,
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:you know, he was trying to conform to
what, you know, others wanted him to be.
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:He's oh, you know, this song is a song
it's going to be for the women in
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:this song is going to be for the guys,
and this is going to be a hip hop song.
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:This is going to be a rock song, you know?
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:And it was all those,
you know, different types of songs
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:that he was trying
to, to do were horrible.
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:You mean like Pusha
T said that he put out his worst
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:song
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:in that period,
and it was actually sort of
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:he got the beat from Pharrell
and it was like, wow, really?
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:You know, so you think about
stuff like that and how it could have
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:really damaged his career,
but he was able to bounce back
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:by just sticking to his roots
and just saying, you know what?
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:You know,
when I was putting out those hits
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:for everybody,
I wasn't trying to make a song just for,
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:you know, this type of this genre or this,
you know, gender or whatever.
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:It was just like,
I'm going to make my music.
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:And he just flowed in.
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:Everybody kind of latched on to it
at that point.
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:And once he realized that that's what
made him a superstar producer and artist,
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:he was able to bounce back, you know,
just stick to your guns, be yourself.
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:You know?
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:Yeah.
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:It was a good lesson.
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:And and staying true to yourself.
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:And, even in your depths,
as long as the people around
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:you support you, you know,
you got lucky with “Get Lucky”.
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:And that brought him to “Happy”.
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:And so it was kind of a nice little art
mini arc within the whole story that,
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:you know, he had he had a little luck
to get through, and then he did,
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:and then he got to “Happy”,
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:which I think is one of the great
songs of the 21st century.
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:And yeah, I think,
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:another fortuitous thing
that happened to Pharrell was that Teddy
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:Riley moved into his town, and it was in
walking distance with his studio.
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:And, you know,
because he was putting out these beats
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:and he wasn't really getting anywhere,
really.
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:And Teddy Riley comes through, and
he starts having these talent competitions
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:and the Neptunes just blew away,
and he was super impressed.
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:And, another thing is,
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:his, Pharrell's
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:tenacity,
the way he just refused to give up,
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:and he was dancing on tables in front of
record producers, going door to door.
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:The people that produced the big
hip hop acts.
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:And he just wouldn't give up.
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:He just wouldn't give up.
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:And then all of a sudden, you know, he
he has a breakthrough, with N.O.R.E.
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:And then everybody's calling him.
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:So, so many life lessons in this movie.
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:Don't give up.
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:Stick to your guns, stay true to yourself,
but also help out your your fellow man.
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:Also, because Pusha T was at a low
point too, he wrote a song just for him.
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:He said, if you don't act now, I'm
going to give this to Jay-Z.
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:Yeah.
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:He came out with “Grinding”,
which was a huge hit.
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:Yeah.
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:So man,
I mean, Pharrell is a national treasure.
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:And I think this LEGO movie version Piece
By Piece,
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:really
puts it on display for everybody to see.
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:So I guess I do encourage
everybody to go see it.
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:Yeah, I think the one
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:piggyback you know, on on Jay,
we say that at one point with,
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:the talent competition at the high school,
you know,
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:everybody was trying to be like
the next Whitney Houston
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:and or, you know,
seeing all the same types of songs.
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:And then what got Teddy Riley's attention
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:was the fact that, The Neptunes,
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:at the time they were calling them
the band was The Neptunes.
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:They were different.
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:Like they came out,
they looked completely different.
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:You know, you had,
you know, Pharrell at one point, he's
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:singing vocals and he's rapping and he's
singing again, and he's playing the drums,
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:and then he's playing this instrument.
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:And that instrument.
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:everybody was kind of like switching
around and doing different things.
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:And that's what got his attention
was the fact that he was different
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:from the beginning,
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:you know, is what got him
got his foot in the door to begin with.
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:So, yeah, there goes that lesson again.
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:Stick to your guns. Be yourself.
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:Just a whole lot of little nuggets.
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:You know,
I wish I was in there taking notes
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:as I was watching the movie
because there were so many quotables
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:in that movie, like, like quotables
that, you know, came from his parents
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:and came from his grandmother
and came from the pastor at the church,
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:you know, so many quotables,
you know, watch.
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:Watch it with a notepad
and a pencil.
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:If you can.
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:I did have a notepad with me,
and I was able to write down a few things.
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:The one thing that one of the things
that really stuck with me was,
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:and I forget exactly
who said it at the time,
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:but in his darkest times,
he was trying to stay relevant.
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:And the quote was
“Relevance is a drug.” And for
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:for us as creators and,
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:it, it is a grind
to have to try to stay relevant
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:and to try to appeal to the masses,
or at least some kind of audience.
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:And, sometimes you just gotta go
your own way. And,
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:this movie, nicely illustrated that.
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:Yeah.
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:And, another point towards the end is
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:that we're all just, like,
molecules vibrating in this earth.
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:And, if you take a step back
and look at it from,
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:like, a space type view,
I mean, that's all we are.
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:We're just specks in here, and,
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:you just try to make the best
of what you can on this life.
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:What are you going to give back,
to your fellow man and to society?
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:And, Pharrell's given us so much.
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:In fact, I didn't even realize that he was
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:instrumental
on the loop in Kendrick Lamar's
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:Alright, which became, you know,
the anthem for Black Lives Matter.
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:So there's a reason
that political commentary in there also
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:that plus, you know, like you said,
“Happy” became an international sensation.
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:It just uplifted so many people
when they're having a bad day.
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:They've been through a lot of stuff,
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:and you have people
all throughout the world saying,
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:you helped my mother
when she was going through chemo.
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:You know, you helped this person.
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:Just feeling that emotion.
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:So I mean, to have that lasting impact,
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:from a child who struggled on his own,
you know, had to repeat
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:seventh grade, was lost for quite a while.
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:And, it's just a a wonderful,
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:wonderful message and and beautifully done
with the LEGO concept also.
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:Yeah.
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:I mean, you know, personal testimonial.
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:I'm not going to get too deep into it,
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:but that “Happy” song got me through
a pretty dark place, you know, personally.
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:So I definitely know the power
of that song and I appreciate it.
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:just to think about, you know, how
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:how big a song could be
and how much it can help people.
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:Just one song, you know,
and the emotions that it invokes and
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:it was just amazing, you know, and at that
period of time and even, like, now,
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:every now and, and I'll put the song on
and I'll just dance to it.
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:No, not even, nothing choreo
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:I just, just put it on
and really just freely just dance to it
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:because it's such a great song and even,
you know, “Get Lucky”.
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:That's another song.
I love that song. That's a great song.
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:I love those songs, and those are
the songs that they don't really have
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:a specific genre to them.
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:It's just like, all right, let's put
some music out and some feel good music.
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:You know, I love that feel good music,
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:especially.
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:And then I
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:didn't know this before the movie,
but he was instrumental in “Rump Shaker”
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:by Wreckx-N-Effect, one of the great songs
of the 20th century.
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:Yes, yes. Yeah.
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:He wrote
Teddy Riley's part in the beginning.
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:Teddy, Teddy with the 1, 2 check.
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:It's so funny because they do the LEGO
version of like the video.
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:You can see all the girls out there
on the beach and, they even did like
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:LEGO version of, like, Kendrick
Lamar up on the lamp post, street post.
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:So yeah, it's so cool to see like that.
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:Yeah,
the little clips with the LEGO version
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:of the videos, you see like,
oh no, cameo looks like a little montage.
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:And you see like Britney
Spears, Justin Timberlake, N.O.R.E.,
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:You know, Snoop, of course,
you know, Snoop's going to have a little,
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:little bit in.
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:with “Drop It Like It's Hot”, but
like it was cool to see the little video
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:cameos of the LEGO
versions of the videos in the movie.
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:That was so fun.
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:It was really great.
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:We, highly recommend it.
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:I don't think we need to elaborate
on on, so,
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:bring the funky flick back
or leave it in the vault, but
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:I think we all know that we are
bringing this funky flick back.
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:Yes. I should tell my Pharrell story.
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:So I did meet Pharrell once,
and this was the first N.E.R.D.
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:tour. And we were.
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:He was in Philly, and naturally,
we went to Pat’s Steaks.
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:And so my friends and I,
before we discovered the better
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:cheesesteak places in Philadelphia.
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:But he was there,
and he was there with Kelis.
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:He was not there with Chad.
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:Hugo, who had been home, with a newborn.
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:So, Pharrell was very, pro
fatherhood, like, you know, very cool
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:with him being, you know, off the road
and taking care of his family.
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:And, Yeah, he was there at Pat's Steaks.
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:And, the show was awesome.
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:So there you go.
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:Go see it.
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:Go see this film.
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:Absolutely. Recommend it. Go see it.
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:Go see it. Go see it.
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:Matter of fact, I'm going to see it again.
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:All right.
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:Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your
HH emcees JB, BooGie and DynoWright.
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:Theme music by Boogie.
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:Come out to SteelStacks
November 13th for
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:Boyz n the Hood 4K screening
and a special panel
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:discussion with professors
from around the Lehigh Valley.
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:And whether you're watching from
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:YouTube or listening to us on the podcast,
please give us a follow.
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:It’s real power-up for us.
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:Remember, don't hate.
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:Be great. Be great.
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:Absolutely be. Great.
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:Like Pharrell Williams.
Like Pharrell Williams.
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:Yes, sir.