Pharrell Williams by Pari Dukovic for GQ February 2015.

Pharrell Williams by Pari Dukovic for GQ February 2015.
“I am a sensitive person, so I want to be with sensitive people,” cover star Williams tells GQ’s Devin Friedman, explaining why he surrounds himself with women—including his two assistants, art director, and choreographer—in a world of hip-hop dominated by testosterone. “Women have a way of expressing themselves that I can relate to more honestly.”

Friedman gets a peek inside Williams’s relentless pop-culture machine and witnesses firsthand the brilliant way his mind works vis-à-vis the recording industry. On a phone call, Friedman listens as Williams discusses his discontent over a recent T.I. record. “They did that record hoping for radio play, and they got nothing out of it.… Great, you got your No. 1 hip-hop song. But what does that do for your sales?” It’s clear Williams has no desire to appeal to the masses. “You want to be camouflage?” he asks. “Go ahead. Blend in. But we want to be that twinkle in the sky. And you might not be able to see that star now. But it’s daytime. Wait till it gets dark.”
Friedman also discovers that a new hit from rapper Big Sean is on the way. “Send [Big] Sean an e-mail and tell him he’s got a missile coming,” Williams tells his assistant before calling Sean himself: “It’s not what we talked about, man. But it’s haaaaard. It’s like ghost-of-Shaka-Zulu hard!”
Image: GQ.com