With only a few days until N.E.R.D drop No_One Ever Really Dies, Pharrell's been on a steady stream of press appearances. The album itself has been highly anticipated and fans have been waiting for them to drop another project since 2010's Nothing. Within that time, hip hop and music as a whole has undoubtedly shifted with a sea of artists emerging and pushing the boundaries.
Pharrell recently spoke to Zane Lowe on his Beats1 show to premiere the Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean assisted single, "Don't Don't Do It." He revealed the inspiration behind the track came from the death of Keith Scott who was fatally murdered by the police last year. However, while speaking on Kendrick, he said to him the DAMN. rapper is a reincarnation of some of the greatest jazz artists.
"To me, Kendrick is like probably a jazz artist reincarnated," he said, "The way that he handles the pen is kind of how Miles Davis handled the trumpet. Or how Coltrane fingers just shifted and sifted through his saxophone keys. It’s like his melodies are as prolific and what he has to say has so much harmony and so much color in it."
Pharrell furthers this analogy by saying that he compares him to a jazz artist because he "rhymes in riffs" as well as having so much color in his raps like a jazz artist scatting.
"You’re arguing and asking yourself is it brilliant colorful scribble or is it like really eloquent calligraphy? Is the way he’s rhyming, is that a drumroll or is that like an AR-15 with a banana clip?" Pharrell told Lowe, "That is what a jazz musician is always able to do, a really good one.”
You could listen to the full interview below. He further elaborates on the song's inspiration and Frank Ocean's contributions.
