Grammy Award-winning producer Pharrell Williams is calling out the music industry for its lack of diversity at the top.
“There’s not enough Black leadership. There’s not enough leadership from people of color,” said the Virginia native. “But there’s also not enough ownership — there just isn’t. As much as the music industry has given me when you really love something or love someone, you can be honest about the things that could be better. I gotta say that the ownership with people of color; it’s just not been the same. And that’s something we’re working on now.”https://7740f13e88554a5a2ea1462d55c21d63.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
When the topic of non-fungible tokens was brought up as a means to break industry traditions, the N.E.R.D co-founder noted that, while he embraced the growing crypto trend, it would take much more to overcome the obstacles Black people face in the business.
However, he did praise the efforts that already have been made by this generation, which successfully has established ways to bypass industry roadblocks. “They’re essentially socialists by nature; they share everything. They stand for something. They’re no longer doing the deals that a lot of the older generations would fall for in the past,” the longtime musician told the outlet. “And there are good people in the industry who know these things, and they’re making these changes now as we speak.”
Williams long has advocated for the advancement of Blacks and Latinos. In 2020, the philanthropist launched his Black Ambition nonprofit initiative to strengthen the pipeline of talented entrepreneurs and close the opportunity and wealth gaps resulting from limited access to capital and resources.
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