Justin Timberlake Says Label Drama Stopped Him & The Neptunes From Collaborating

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Justin Timberlake attends The Hollywood Reporter's 2017 Women In Entertainment Breakfast at Milk Studios on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

Justin Timberlake reveals the reason why he hasn't worked with Pharrell since "Justified."

Justin Timberlake's early solo work with Pharrell is arguably some of the best he ever put out. Pharrell has obviously been a brilliant mind behind the boards and in front of the microphone for so long and or the most part, any time he works with someone, it's bound to be dope. While Pharrell got JT for his solo album GIRL, we haven't heard Pharrell do any production for Justin in a long time. In a recent interview, Justin Timberlake explained what prevented him from working with The Neptunes. 

Justin Timberlake recently sat down with Zane Lowe on his Beats1 show where Lowe asked JT about working with Pharrell. The singer explained there was some behind the scenes label politics that went on that prevented him from working with Pharrell. The singer said at the time, he and The Clipse were both signed to JIVE Records. However, Pharrell was trying to get the Virginia duo out of their deal and that caused a huge block between Timberlake and Pharrell from working together on music.

"It became challenging for him to work with any Jive artist at that point. If I'm being totally honest about it, I was extremely hurt being caught up in the middle of it," he explained.

JT later mentioned that because he had already gone through legal issues following NSYNC, he wasn't trying to get in the middle of the label politics.

"I had already gone through legal troubles, and I kind of felt like, you know what, I’m at this point where I feel like I have so much ahead of me, I don’t want to be in the middle of the record label and somebody that I consider a friend, so I feel like I just removed myself from the situation," he told Lowe. 

You could watch the full interview below.

 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.