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:

Leaving the Theater with Ronald Young Jr. (a former guest on the show)

And remember:

Don't hate...be great!

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie.

More About Hip Hop Movie Club

Get tickets for our screening of Boyz n the Hood in 4K + a special panel discussion on Nov 13 at SteelStacks

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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.