All Episodes

June 26, 2025 91 mins

Today’s episode is a vibrant journey through the mind of musical legend Pharrell Williams and his animated documentary Piece by Piece, available on Netflix. Narrated entirely with Legos, this documentary captures the beauty of neurodivergence, the power of friendship, the art of self-expression, and how music can be both a lifeline and a revolution.


🎨 SYNESTHESIA & EARLY NEURODIVERGENCE

We dive into Pharrell’s childhood experience with synesthesia—a condition where senses blend, allowing him to see music in color. As a child who struggled in school and felt misunderstood, Pharrell found healing and identity through records at his grandmother’s house, especially Stevie Wonder. His mind lit up in soundscapes of color, shape, and energy. That’s when he began to see the world differently—literally and figuratively.


🎺 CREATIVE COMMUNITY: THE POWER OF FINDING YOUR PEOPLE

We look at Pharrell’s friendships with Chad Hugo (whom he calls a savant), Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and Pusha T—all from the same region of Virginia Beach. These connections weren’t just coincidence—they were lifelines. Together, they built something out of nothing, dreaming up beats, skipping school, and vibing on a frequency few others could hear.


This speaks to the importance of neurodivergent friendship and finding people who affirm you, even when the world doesn't understand you yet.


📉 FAILURE, DOUBT & THE SLOW GRIND

Before becoming a global icon, Pharrell and Chad were broke, lost, and still living with their parents. They felt like failures—but they never gave up. This is a call to all of us—especially neurodivergent folks—who’ve felt like outsiders, like we’re “too much” or “not enough.” Progress isn’t linear. Success isn’t instant. But the magic lives in staying true to your weird, wonderful self.


😌 EMOTIONAL RELEASE: THE HEALING POWER OF “HAPPY”

Pharrell breaks down in the film during his Oprah interview, overwhelmed by fan videos from across the globe dancing to his hit “Happy.” He cries, realizing how much his music helped people survive. Viewers wrote that his songs carried them through cancer, heartbreak, depression—even suicide. We talk about the healing power of art and how one voice, one beat, one song can save lives.


✊🏽 MUSIC & MOVEMENTS: BLACK LIVES MATTER

We end on Pharrell’s contributions to social justice through music, especially Alright by Kendrick Lamar. He speaks on police brutality and the pain of seeing Black lives lost. The song became an anthem in the 2015 Black Lives Matter protests following the deaths of:


Michael Brown


Eric Garner


Tamir Rice


Walter Scott


Pharrell turned grief into sound, and sound into strength. His music became a voice for the voiceless—and a mirror reflecting our nation’s deepest wounds.


🧩 CLOSING REFLECTIONS

Piece by Piece isn’t just a documentary—it’s a blueprint for believing in yourself, honoring your difference, and knowing that joy is a radical act. For all our neurodivergent listeners: your voice, your quirks, your colors—they matter. Whether you’re the loud dreamer like Pharrell or the quiet genius like Chad, you are needed in this world.


Thanks for checking out Different Spectrums! 🎙️ We're a podcast led by licensed therapists and neurodivergent individuals who explore emotions in movies and shows. Our mission is to normalize mental health challenges and promote understanding.


Join your founders and hosts, Dr. Nazeer Zerka and Spencer Srnec, as we process some key scenes to help you better understand your emotions and maybe even find some validation in them.


Episode Breakdown:

0:00 Attention

0:59 Intro

4:33 Scenes

27:24 Discussion


We’d love to hear your ideas for future episodes and connect with you on social media. You can find all our links here: https://linktr.ee/different_spectrums


⚠️ Reminder: Our podcast isn’t a substitute for therapy. If you need help, please seek professional assistance or call 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or 911 in case of an emergency.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Attention Welcome to the Different Spectrums podcast.
We dive into the wild world of mental health discussions.
Get ready for profound talks, a sprinkle of humor and sarcasm,
and a touch of colorful language.
Just a quick heads up, our show reflects our individual
opinions, which may not align with the standpoint of the

(00:21):
podcast, our featured guests, orany related corporate entities.
Our mission? To illuminate through laughter
and satire because everyone needs a good chuckle.
Chill out and don't stress over the small stuff.
Legal troubles? No thank you.
Cancel culture, please spare us.We'd rather keep this space

(00:43):
lawsuit free. So buckle up, have a good time,
and join us as we navigate the vibrant realm of mental health
on the Different Spectrums podcast.
Hey everybody, we back again. We back and we going to be all
right. We going to be all right.

(01:06):
We going. To be.
All right. I'm Spencer, your Co host and of
course we have our licensed clinical therapist, Nas.
Hey, hey, hey, Doctor Nas, I'm happy.
Any other? Any other songs you want to get
out there reference to? There's so many songs I know.
I technically I know a lot of the songs, I just don't know the
words. I can see them, but I can't hear

(01:29):
them. I can taste it.
That's a whole other topic. Remember, don't take us too
seriously. Or do completely up to you
there. You go.
Also, don't forget to run up those likes for us.
We'd really appreciate it. So today we are going to be
covering the 20/20/2024 film piece by piece, the biography of

(01:55):
Pharrell Williams. I just watched this film
yesterday and I was like, let's do this one because A has to do
with Legos, B has to do with music, and then CA little bit of
neuro neuro spicy in there. It's a lot in there.

(02:15):
And a little bit. Wow, did you have anything
planned to do before this one? Because this is a gem, no?
No, actually I did. I did.
I did. But I was like, you know what?
I want to do this one because this is it's pretty good.
Yeah, OK. Went by that.
So some topics we're going to becovering today, we're talking
about gifted children, being different, seeing sounds.

(02:39):
We're also going to be talking about the different people in
our lives that could, you know, make us go into a whole
different direction than what wewere meant to do.
Or maybe we were meant to do that the whole time.
I don't know. I don't know, I don't have the
answers. And we're also going to be
talking about just what it meansto really find your voice and

(03:01):
and to really help others to be.Yeah.
Nuts. Anything before we get to the
show. It's kind of suit Jesus words,
not it's kind of cool to see thethe tism in him and his friends,
you know, divergent. It's kind of cool to see the,
you know, the caregivers, the providers, the loved ones that

(03:23):
pumped into him. It's kind of cool to see him
struggle. He said where are you from?
From the mud. He's a mud where you got out
that bottom of the mud. Yes, I'd just love to see our
people, our creative people, different people, awkward
people, creatives. I love to see us succeed.

(03:45):
People that have been shit on their entire lives.
And then all of a sudden you getaround these other people and
you just get life. And then and then and then you
give life back with his music, his creativity, right?
His beats. To give life back is like a
magical thing to do. So it's pretty dope.

(04:06):
And much love and appreciation to him and his whole team.
Yeah, much love to him. So let's have some fun today
that I feel like we're going to top up some stories.
Spencer's going to take it away,Take the lead.
He going to put that thing on us.
Why is it staying? All right, let's go into it.
Don't worry. Hey, take a shower.

(04:27):
No. Poop, poop, poop.
You know, I always thought about.
What's that? What if, Like, what if nothing's
new? What if life is like a Lego set
and you can put them together whatever way you want, but

(04:50):
you're borrowing from colors that already existed?
Does that make sense? You know, it'd be cool.
As if, like we told my story with Lego pieces.
Seriously. Yes.
Lego. Yes.

(05:11):
Just imagine all the color that could bring to it.
Sure. Limitless color.
This is the best way I can really be my purest self.
Yeah. Without feeling weird.
OK, man, I'm saying just just beopen.
Just be open. So what would you be wearing in
this interview then, Dad? Hat, T-shirt, shorts on a yellow

(05:32):
electric bike. OK, moving on.
Here's an easy question. Well, maybe it's easy.
Maybe it's hard. Where are you from?
I'm from the mud close to the fabled Atlantis.

(05:59):
It was born in a cloud with silver lining.
I just became obsessed with like, water, you know, and like
King Neptune. I feel like my obsession with

(06:30):
water triggered something in me.Different kinds of abilities.
I don't know where it's from, but I knew I was different.

(06:54):
Really. I've always grappled with that.

(07:29):
One from Virginia Beach. The beach was less than a mile
from Atlantis, a housing projectwhere I grew up.
The suburbs thought this was thehood, but really, this place was

(07:50):
magical. You just witnessed music
bouncing off the walls and the Blue Angels, they would fly over

(08:13):
my housing projects. We lived in the crash zone, so
we had the best view. You couldn't tell me that life
was not amazing. And I loved music, like
everybody loves music. But I'm realizing I had a

(08:35):
different kind of relationship with it.
Like it was literally was mesmerizing to me.
I didn't even know that I was mesmerized.
I just thought that's what all black kids did.
I thought we all just stared into the speaker like whoa.

(09:02):
I was seeing colors. It's called synesthesia.
It's not something that you see with your physical eyes.
It's something that you see in your mind's eye.

(09:22):
All the Stevie music would do itto you.
Beautiful hues of light cascading.
I would just start the record over and start it over and over

(09:43):
and over, doing whatever it tookto continue to make it happen.
Man, he was way out there. He must have got it from his mom
or oh. My God.
And me. As parents from a project, we

(10:07):
needed to be encouraging and tell him like, you can do
anything you want to do. People are able to accomplish
things because they work hard atwhat it is that they do.
That's my mom. We basically lived in the same

(10:31):
neighborhood. We were kids, so it was like,
hey, we're going to ride our bikes to Mount Trashmore and I
was the kid in the neighborhood with the skateboard.
Odd child. He's odd and that crushed my
spirit. So I didn't know what the hell I

(10:58):
was going to do. Hold your head.

(11:25):
You're not dead, little blood. You are brown.
And this world is black and white.
You're. But I know how it sounds.
Little. But to be all right.
Little blood. Yeah.
Jen, I bet this song makes no sense to you.

(11:49):
With the world on your shoulders, What can you see?
God blessed us all with a giftedperson.
Just clear your mind and you feel like me in.
Jail. I remember his grandmother

(12:10):
telling him that she had a dream.
Pharrell was lifted up. He was suspended in the air, way
up in the sky among the stars and she said.
God has given you a special gift, but to whom much is given,

(12:34):
much is required. You were made to amaze and bring
change. the IT takes one to knowthe.
So here's one of going on, Bride.
Yeah, get your hands out. Were you making any music yet?

(13:06):
No, because I didn't take band in my first time in 7th grade.
I mean like even singing or playing piano or anything.
The closest I came to music was lining my grandmother's pillows
up off her couch and taking the cake mixer and a whisk.
And those are my drumsticks. She saw that in me.

(13:37):
And that's when, in the 7th grade, she got me a snare drum.
But she started me on my path. My grandmother was the one that
was like, listen, when you go back to school, you should take

(13:59):
music. And that's when I met Chad.

(14:20):
Chad understood the colors and music and we bonded on that.

(14:45):
Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you.
He's a friend of mine. It feels like something.
Both of them was kind of different.
It was like little nerds. Chad was always kind of quiet.

(15:10):
I mean, it's true, but to see the two of them do music
together, it's like they read each other's minds.
We're just being ourselves and we're just having.

(15:30):
Fun. You know, Chad is literally like
a savant. I've learned so much from him.
He was like, I met this kid named Chad.
He has some musical equipment athis house.
We should go and check it out. We started going over to Chad's
house over the garage. I'm sorry, I have to say it.

(15:53):
We skipped so much school. It was so bad.
Every day we would create songs.Everything sounded futuristic.
Let's try this. Let's try that.
It's like the person who invented peanut butter and
Jelly. It's like a weird mixture, and
if you can pull it off, it becomes something new and

(16:13):
different. It feels good.
I like that. After that we went crazy.

(16:38):
Every week we'd send up tapes and then he would market them
around as best as he could, buy the 10 new beats a week.
And then I would then go around to the ANRS, to the artist.
I was sleeping in lobbies, whatever I had to do.
Yeah, actually, like 5. Minutes We.

(16:58):
We did the rounds, we met everybody that was somebody, and
Pharrell was coming full throttle, like I'm coming for
the crown, I'm coming for you, I'm coming for everybody, and
once he turns on, you can't turnthem off.

(17:30):
It got really bad. One exact holds a full-fledged
conversation as we're performing.
In Air Force Ones I'm strictly 1312. 1/2 won't work.
Pharrell gets on the desk and I'm like, bro, why are you on
the desk, yo? He has to see how hard I'm
willing to go. He was like this little brother

(17:58):
that you want to knock upside the head.
I had to have a talk with Pharrell, like, he had no money.
My unemployment ran out. We're all living with our
parents. This was, like, everything I was
banking on. I said, hey, man, yeah, what?
Like, we can't do that, man. You're going to, like, kill

(18:20):
yourself in this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But hey, I'm an artist. But selling beats, that's a way
to get in. OK, fine.
At the time, I chose to look at it the wrong way.
To think that like I was being rejected.

(18:42):
I didn't realize that I was being told to train harder.
Hey, Nori. Hey, what's going on?
It's Nori. Yep.
What's your name? Morgan.
Yeah, Morgan. How you doing, Morgan?
Good. Good, so I was just wondering
how did you know about the Neptunes?
What was it like when you first met them?

(19:03):
I first met Pharrell because RobWalker and at the time I had
never heard of the Neptunes. 2 dudes, one Filipino and the
other black from Virginia Beach.Come on this is this doesn't
even make sense. But they played me one beat,
then he played me another beat. I remember I was on my way to

(19:29):
Miami and Pharrell said this third beat, this third beat,
don't listen to that until you get to Miami.
Why? Why wouldn't I listen to this
third beat? And he's like, yo, listen,
people take my beats sometimes, but people don't let me produce.
I want to produce this. No one had talked to me like
that before. You know what I'm saying?

(19:52):
It took everything for me in theworld not to listen to Track 3.
I would move the hotel like it was yesterday and that's what I
actually listened to Track 3 called Super Thug.

(20:14):
I took a risk with these two kids from Virginia who had this
totally different sound, but when you put on sound together,
it's magnificent. And yeah, we light the candle,
run laps around the English Channel, then clues.
I got a Cocker spaniel. I remember recording the
original track of Super Thug. I will go what, what, what,
what, what, what, what one. That's how I counted my bars.

(20:37):
I Remember Me saying this is allwe got to do is get the hook and
Pharrell saying we got the hook.He kept me and just took out the
ones and I remember telling themthey're going to laugh at me and
he said you're going to laugh straight to the bank.
I just relieved in this kid. I remember the album coming out

(21:01):
and all the DJs start playing the record.

(21:24):
I remember bringing them to Jay.I remember bringing them to Nas,
but everyone was a little skeptical because for our
purpose, he wanted to make hip hop but not look like a hip hop
star. You know, it's like opening a
bakery shop, right? For the first two months, the
bakery shop is not doing good. And then you go and you tell
everybody, this bakery shop is it, It's awesome.

(21:46):
Then you travel somewhere and you come back and the bakery
shop is all over. Everyone is just, they want
these muffins, they want these cookies, they want these bakery
because, and you have to say, I knew this was going to work.
When Super Thug dropped, everything changed forever.

(22:07):
Hello. We started getting the calls to
work on this and to work on thatand to work on this and to work
on that. The magic of the music business
is how many times can you do it again?
How did Happy happen? People are putting up their own
videos. It was like no longer my song.

(22:29):
Roll the tape of that people started.
Putting videos around the world,getting happy.
I belong if you know what happiness feel.
You and I come along if you feellike that's what you want to do.
I belong if you know what happiness feel.

(22:52):
You are happy. I belong if you feel like that's
what you want to do. Come on, Ah.
Makes me cry too. Makes me cry.
Too. Ah, you know, I was just
thinking about your grandmother.I bet you didn't even imagine
that. No, it's beautiful.

(23:14):
Why am I crying on Oprah? Because I'm mad.
I love that song, but it turned into this other thing that I
didn't see coming. People are singing and

(23:38):
celebrating to highlight an emotion, but you realize why
they feel that song because they've been through some shit.
They've been through some shit. I felt that just now.

(23:58):
People would say your song got my mom through her chemo or
like, man, I play a song every day.
It just made me feel better. It took a toll on me though,
just seeing so much pain and boom right after that it got
really dark. So change my outlook on what it

(24:23):
means to be black. I realize that you're black in
juxtaposition to the entire system.
This is literally what we think about every day.

(24:55):
I remember finding these jazz vocal samples and playing this
chord around every time you hearto die.
It just felt like a rainbow of blue, murky water.

(25:15):
And what Kendrick wrote to it was just poetic justice.
Ask my life. Hard times.
Like, yeah, bad trips, like God,Nazareth.
I'm dumb, homie, you dumb. But if God got us, then we gonna

(25:36):
be all right, right? We gonna be all right.
Pharrell had the hood, and that's him on the hood.
We gonna be all right. Do you hear me?
Do you feel me? We gonna be all right.
The all right phrase. What does all right represent?
You know, there's a lot going on.
And still to this day, a lot going on.
It's something else inside of them courts that Pharrell put

(25:56):
down that feels like a statement.
When our pride was low, looking at the world, like, where do we
go? And we hate PO PO.
When the killer's dead in the street, for sure.
I'm at the preacher's door, My knees getting weak and my gum
might blow. But we gonna be all right,
right? We gonna be all right.
We gonna be all right. We gonna be all right.

(26:29):
We going to be all right. That record, it kind of attached
itself to every struggle. You know there's.
Strength in numbers and to inspire people to be
aspirational. You don't just aspire up, you

(26:49):
aspire left to right as well, because that's what creates A
unified front. Hey everyone, before we get into
the show, please check out our collaborator, Bubs Naturals.
They sell a variety of health and Wellness products including
collagen peptides, MCT oil powder, coffee, apple cider
vinegar, gummies, and other amazing products.

(27:11):
Go to bubsnaturals.com and use our code DSP 20 to get 20% off
your entire order. And with that, let's get into
the show and we're back again. We're back.
We're back again. We're alive, just like my gal.

(27:32):
Yeah, yeah. Is it lost my whole foot?
Oh, random thing. Hopefully everything's OK.
I heard some really sad news about Deion Sanders.
I heard like he's really going through a health wise and like
there's a big he's not at practice.
And so I brought the foot thing because he had, he almost lost
his foot the last season. Hopefully he's OK.
Hopefully his family's OK. I heard he was devastated, all

(27:54):
the stuff that happened to his son in the draft.
And like, now there's some serious health issues.
It's kind of scary. Yeah, I saw some people getting
choked up today on ESPN, so hopefully everything's OK.
Hopefully yeah. Shout out to Dionne whole
family. Prime time, Yeah.
Prayers. Prayers, prayers, prayers.
Hopefully everything's OK, then he can make a full recovery for

(28:16):
whatever it. Is whatever it is, Yep.
Let's get in, Spence. All right, so we are doing the
film piece by piece, the biography film of Pharrell
Williams and it's all in Lego, which you know, for this show,

(28:37):
it's bread and butter right there.
That's. Like what are you trying to say?
What do you mean you people? What do you?
Mean you people. Nothing.
I meant nothing. About it.
Yeah, autistic people don't likeLegos at all.
Fucking hate them. That's what I heard.
I like the green ones. That's the green ones.

(28:59):
OK, good for you. But yeah, so this is pretty much
his whole life all wrapped up inthis film.
And the first scene that we go to is him just showing just how
different he is and how he just loves the water.
Like it was just part of him from the get go.

(29:22):
Now, you could say like this wasbecause of where he's from
Virginia, because they always say that something's in the
water because you just have so many talented people that are
actually in Virginia and it's looked at as one of those places
where you don't think like this will be like we're all of like

(29:44):
the top people in hip hop and just music for the next 30 years
are coming out of from didn't see that coming.
But it's one of those things where he just sees himself as
this quiet but creative child. I think also for this film, he's

(30:07):
said this throughout his career.There is a NERD album called
Sing Sounds, which already goes with the theme of this movie,
but he also had his opening track called Time for Some
Action where he actually talks about going into the shower on
these hot days and sitting in there and then he would just see

(30:31):
the sounds. It's very interesting to see
that even though, like years andyears later, because that album
came out in like 2003, that thislong, he still has that and it's
still such part of him, which I was surprised that, to be honest
with you, because I didn't thinkhe would still kind of have that
memory of what happened with himand his synesthesia.

(30:55):
Because some people who kind of had these, like, diagnosis,
especially guys like at this caliber of what he is, they
don't talk about that at all. But I love the openness that
Pharrell has really had throughout this film.
And yeah. So for the first scene now, what

(31:17):
were you thinking? What were you like?
Oh, this is interesting. Oh, I didn't know he made all of
these beats. Like, what the Hell's going on
here? So what were you thinking?
I knew, knew some of the beats. Yeah, Yeah, I definitely knew a
lot of them. I I guess I didn't realize how
it started. And so did you know that he had
synesthesia or No? Because I didn't know that until
just now, even though I'm sure I've heard the lyrics.

(31:39):
Just based off of his song and just seeing sounds.
And. That was creative processes.
I'm like. Interesting, got something.
So we did a podcast on it a while ago.
That was the the Ratatouille scene long time ago.
We did that, the ratatouille where he's like, I can taste it

(31:59):
and I can see it and blah, blah,blah.
And the taste makes me feel blah.
We did that because a client of mine wanted me to do it because
that was like their favorite scene because they're like, hey,
that's me. And then no one else would ever
say that's her, right? As you mean, she was the only
one that could taste sense and smell and see things, which was
kind of dope. So we see him with this

(32:21):
divergent in the brain, which iskind of fucking cool.
And as a young boy, obviously he's he's different and they see
it throughout the film. Spence said.
Like he's dresses different thanJay-Z was.
Like who's this guy who's like, you know, hip hop, but he
dressing funny with a trucker hat and all this, but he's just
always different. He's in hip hop, but also
dresses very alternative, very nerd.

(32:43):
Like I love to see it. But you see this stuff where it
says I got it out the mud or I'mfrom the mud.
Where are you from? The mud?
And so that's a big expression, big quoquium, right?
In rapid and also just black andbrown cultures.
It should be noted that, you know, mud could mean poverty.
Mud could mean dirt. But also should be noted,

(33:05):
they're racist people. Doesn't matter what version.
But mostly white people will saythey're mud people, meaning dirt
or black people, poor people. And you're like, oh, you want to
go look it up? Look it up.
It's in documents where multipleracist folks have said it that
work for Bank of America and they were sued and litigated
against for not letting black people and brown people get
loans and they were calling themmud people.

(33:28):
So I think that's interesting totake the those turns and turn
them for ourselves right. Turn the tides where I got out
the bottom off the bottom of thecereal box.
People will say out the mud. I love that.
I love when people they love stories like this, even though
we know these stories aren't that common, Spence, where
people actually make it because like they I get you bet you they

(33:50):
were about to crash out when they were broke and all that.
We'll get you into it later. So it's cool to see this.
It's magnificent for like the culture and the fact that he's
doing it with these Legos and just different.
Who does a fucking biography of biopic expense with Legos.
Let's be real, even that is different.
The entire introduction scene that you wanted to shoot is

(34:11):
different and I think that's a magnificent way to relate to a
lot of us on the podcast that are no divergent listening to
this. All of you magnificent
listeners, I appreciate you. I love you, Thank you.
We wouldn't be doing this if we wouldn't have had the higher
numbers in which we had the pastcouple years, but it allows us
to keep pushing through. You know, me and Spence have
been exhausted for like the last6-7 months.

(34:34):
Much appreciation. So we get this cat man, He's
making his music expense and you're like, I get it now.
I get why his music is so different, it's just so fucking
different. Yeah.
And not a lot of people love Pharrell.
I've always loved Pharrell. Always.
Oh yeah, He's always had great songs.

(34:55):
And like, he's produced so many,so many people.
Him and Chad. I can't just say him because
it's him and Chad for the Neptunes, which we'll get into
Chad in a minute. But with him and Chad, they both
have done an amazing job of justnot only keeping people like

(35:16):
relevant, but then also just giving such a futuristic sound
that's that we never heard from and people still can't capture
what they did today. So it's all respect to them
because they did such an amazingjob with all these different
artists and songs. Magnificent.

(35:38):
One of the scenes that stuck outSpence is when he was, you know,
listening to music and he's talking about music after they
do all the introduction to the like the scene in the
background. I, I before I forget, I love
that he's playing. His neighborhood is like
magical, vibrant, colorful and music filled to the projects of
the ghetto and gross and gang bangers, crime, murder, death.

(36:02):
And I think that's how a lot of Americans look at it, right
where people will be like, Oh no, is this the hood?
And I'm like, homie, this ain't the hood.
Let me let me take it down Yonder and down Flint and
Saginaw, MI motherfucker. This, this the hood, this shit
ain't that. My my dad.
We was over in Indianapolis going to see the doctor.
Like man, I don't know, man, this the hood here, This ain't
that bad, my guy, This ain't that bad.

(36:23):
He's. The same shit about Minneapolis.
I know. Like you're fucking insane.
No. It's not, brother.
You ain't. You don't know what the hood is,
my guy. No, just.
Because you have more black people around doesn't make up
the hood. Just just throwing that out
there. My God, I tell people I'm like,
I'm moving to Detroit one day. I can't wait.
And I'm like, that's the hood. I'm not not all Detroiters hood.

(36:44):
I'm not buying a $10,000 house, my guy.
Right. Right, like I got it.
I got the. House people, so racist bro.
It's so racist. So I love that he painted his
community in vibrant ways and loving ways, passionate ways,
music and creative ways, which leads to him as a little kid.
Yeah, turn it on. He's.
That was Stevie Wonder, he said.Or was that earth, wind and

(37:05):
fire? That was Stevie Wonder.
Stevie Wonder, Yeah. And that's Stevie Wonder.
Jam was the shit boy. And you just zooming out and
just autistic as shit, just stemming.
He said I would just play that record over and over, in and
over. And you know, he's just
visualizing it and like literally breathing it in and
out. Like, you know, he's becoming

(37:28):
one with the music. So I guarantee you some of you
with music, it affects your likebody Physiology, neurology, your
soul, it just teleports you to adifferent place.
Sometimes you feel certain things in your body and that is
a wonderful thing of being like neuro divergent where music and
transport you, especially the really good ones.

(37:52):
So I thought that was cool. I don't know if you saw that,
like I know you saw it as a kid.That to me looked like straight
up just pure stemming and pure just joy, stemmy joy.
Oh yeah. Fantastic, fantastic.
Yeah. Gotta love it, man.
Yeah, just crazy. Like, you just never know how

(38:12):
people are made or created. And a lot of us are just so
reserved and like, you never getto see these interesting little
peccadilloes and how the their neurology, their brains, right.
And people will be like, wow, man, there's no one like me that
does this or likes this music orthis or that.
And I'm like, they're everywhere.
Yeah, which I find odd now. Like, I think back then, yeah,

(38:35):
because you didn't have the Internet.
You didn't. All you had was finding people
around you and hopefully they liked what you liked.
But you know, there was always that chance that nobody did.
So then now you're kind of doingeverything solo Dolo.
And that's just, and then that'swhen I think bad things start to

(38:56):
happen. Once you get that solo done, you
don't find your people. The depression, that isolation.
Yeah, and thankfully for him, he, you know, because he was
kicked out of school because he had shitty grades.
Yeah, Yeah, he was kicked out ofschool.
He had shitty grades and his momor he didn't want to go back,
but his mom was like or no, he had a grade to where like he

(39:20):
could pass to the next grade, but his mom was like, no, you're
going back because you can do better.
Like you are very smart. You can do better.
And I think also a thing that weshould talk about is his parents
as well. His parents very supportive of
him, even though he might have been like an odd child during

(39:43):
that time, he was, you know, they still loved him for who he
was and still wanted to make sure that he could do things
whatever he wanted to do, even though they might not have, you
know, approved of everything they wanted to do.
Fully understood either, but I didn't fully understand this
little fucking kid. Yeah.
So yeah, I thought that was a cool part that they had in the

(40:04):
film as well. I love seeing too, the
supportive parents in there, Right?
That's that's pretty dope. Yeah.
Especially 'cause it's black parents too.
You just want to see it 'cause they paint black folks so
horrible in the world. Dude, it's bad.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's bad.
Yeah, yeah. Well, So what you were just
saying like, you know, the isolation and all that shit.
So a lot of autistic neurodivergent people feel that

(40:26):
kindly just into the next scene where you know he might all you
this all you need. You need one Filipino is it?
Just one Filipino in Virginia you.
Didn't need one Filipino. Change your whole life.
What do Filipino people eat? I don't know what's their main
dish. You just need one Filipino to

(40:48):
fill you. You know rice.
I don't know. I don't know.
Is it fried? I don't.
Know is it sauce? Fried rice.
Yes. What's that mean?
That version of Asian foggy? I don't know.
I. Don't know, man, I don't know.
Hamburgers. Hey, he could be American.
He could be. He had the whole.

(41:08):
He's not American, so yeah. That's true.
He's true. I'm just saying change your
whole life diversity. He's Ade.
I he's. ADEI friend right there, you
know. Yeah, yeah, he was like, God
damn, found one. Why is this Filipino in all
black neighborhood? That's that's the real question.
Probably. CI plant that sum bitch.
CI plant CI plant, OH. No, he's a plant.

(41:31):
No Chad, No Chad. No get you a Chad, people.
All right, man's the next scene.Let's get into it.
A lot of stuff in this scene A. Lot of stuff, yes, yes.
So it begins with his grandma taking him to church and because
he wasn't finding his way, he wasn't finding his way.

(41:52):
He didn't know what was happening in his life.
But then he had the guidance of his grandma.
They both go to church, and thenpastor feels like the pastor
singing to him and his grandma had this vision of him just
floating up in the air above everyone else.

(42:13):
It's like, well, all right, it'syeah.
God, you start floating in the air and you come back down.
We're so fucked. Fuck you man, when your bad ass
come back down you want to kill somebody?
Oh my God. Is that Shamu?
Oh look, he's fine. That Mitchell, my man, and a

(42:36):
nail. Stay puffed, Marshmallow Man.
What's that shit from? Fucking Is this the the Alien
movie? The fucking Ghostbusters?
Is this motherfucking from Ghostbusters?
That's Stay puffed Marshmallow Man.
That's. What?
I'm saying like, are we any Ghostbusters?
He's gonna start shooting me with a laser.

(42:57):
Why aren't we making fat jokes about me right now?
Let's get back to this thing. Yourself, I'm just saying, I'm
just adding on to what you're. Saying happy that we love two
people. Yeah.
I'll let you taste me for the Ghostbusters thing.
You just do it to yourself. You.
Just do. No one can do it like I can.

(43:18):
Any who we're at this. Church, the church, the pastor,
the mom and grandma. And then the music is, the music
is blaring. And then all of a sudden he sees
this fish that we saw in the first scene where I think that's
where he says like, maybe this is like his either safe place or

(43:43):
it's him just really connecting to this world that he's now in.
And he feels like this pastor istalking to him.
And then later in the movie, thepastor actually does give him
advice about just life in general because he was very
lost. And that's also a good theme of
this movie, too, is that he's very lost at a lot of points in

(44:07):
this movie. And, you know, whether he's very
successful but yet he's unhappy or he is, you know, a weird
black kid in the hood and he doesn't have friends there.
Either way, he's always lost in this part.
And I think a lot of people can really resonate with that,

(44:30):
whether they are from the hood, black, whatever.
Like you feel like you are different in some way.
And so I feel like people reallyresonate with that.
But what about this church scenefor you?
Nas spoke to you. I know you've talked about it in
the past about how the preacher or pastor has told you like,

(44:51):
hey, you're going to do great things, great things.
I know man. So that was wild, man.
Mom, Mom would always take me tochurch or grandma would take me
to church and you know, that's when they'd be like be pinching
you and shit because you'd be sleep, you know, I mean waking
you up, slapping you in the headyou like.
Slightly different how? Are you going to slap me in God
watching them girl? I didn't do it.

(45:13):
I didn't do it. I'm.
Just spitting legos. What?
Strict for so long for an autistic ADHD kid.
It's so long, but you're sittingin there taking in the gospel
man and like he's hearing thingsand listening and he feels like
the preacher is talking to him. And that's not just him.
Like that's a lot of people thatgo without a religious so that

(45:36):
hear them listen to music or whatever it is.
They feel like it's speaking to them.
And like even when I'm watching this Spence, I feel like it's
speaking directly to me or into me.
A lot of good vibes, all that good stuff.
Little trauma vibes too. But I remember mom, when she'd
be in some good moments, she would sit me down and like gas

(45:57):
me up about the potential, my creativity, my heart, my
intelligence. I'm like, that's what?
But I've been expelled from all these schools in elementary.
I'm like, you getting expelled like something's wrong with me.
I don't think I'm normal. And so always being labeled a
different one, the weird one, the awkward one, right?

(46:19):
The little creative kid, little fucking kid that's bouncing off
the walls, the one that everyonethought that was just a terrible
little monster. Because I'd just be beating
people up. Like just I'd be terrorizing
dude. People, dude.
It was bad. The sociopathy was intense back
then, but mom would have her moments where she could just sit

(46:39):
in it when she wasn't like triggered or having like an
emotional outburst or she wasn't, you know, drunk.
And she would just be like, you got a kid out of all my kids,
you, you're the one that's got it and you're going to do great
things. And so I, I felt like that with

(46:59):
the grandma. She, she's these visions.
Mom said she would have these visions of me and it felt really
good. And then your dad gets out of
prison and now it's like, it's no longer just visions.
It's like we're doing this well,I'm not going to contemplate you
possibly being good. We're about to do this kid and
you need to strap it fucking on and we're going to do it strap.
You know, we going full front, full blown, full accent, full

(47:22):
front. Jesus.
Christ, there's a lot of sexual innuendos in there.
You just want to do so many likeyou've stumbled over your words
of which sexual innuendo you wanted to.
Use. I know I kind of feel like the
guy from Brooklyn 99, the littleweird nerdy one that says all
the sexual shit all the time. What's his name?
His best friend Sam Burglar's friend.

(47:42):
I forgot. Sam Burglar.
Sam burglars? I don't know.
Who the fuck is that? That's his name.
Andy. Sam Burglar.
It's Sam Berg. I call him Burglar.
It's whatever. It's probably we're.
Friends. But it's fine.
We know we we know each other. We cool.
Great moments and I know in church man, people can get those

(48:04):
vibes and right, we touched on alittle bit of religious stuff
and the last part that we did with Win Lose was Pence.
And I think it's not a bad thingto talk about.
I feel like a lot of people get that really good healing and it
could be through the music, could be the community.
I said a lot of people have to go to the community in the
church, man. Just love that scene.

(48:26):
I love, you know, just moms, man, grand moms, man, just
stepping up and making sure you love your kid.
I just love it, especially for like this little no divergent
nerdy kid we opened up the scenewith.
I just feel so different and he's just kind of like, I
fucking hate this and grandma's like, come here, baby.

(48:47):
Which leads us into like some ofthe next stuff, Spence, where
like he starts jamming out and like he actually figured out
some creativity. So what's going on with that?
What is that right? Because he wasn't, but he didn't
have no entrance, no money. And then homeboy just started
pulling out the put the pillows.I was wrestling with pillows and
throwing them at people. I wasn't playing drums on them,
you know? Yeah, no, you weren't with a a

(49:10):
whisk and a spoon. Spatula some shit, yeah.
Spat, whatever. Fucking yeah.
He just started doing beats. And then you see like every time
he his creativity comes out, like all of a sudden these
sparkles start coming out. Yeah, that's the sounds that you
see. Boom boom.
Yes, and so he sees that and then this is the intro to

(49:33):
Senorita Justin Timberlake 'cause he produced most of that
album by Justin Timberlake and he started doing that and his
grandma comes with the idea. Like next time, hey, when you go
back to school, do the band and.I know there ain't no black
heads in there, but take your heads in there, honey.

(49:55):
All black kids in there. It's.
Probably all black kids there. Oh fuck are.
You talking about? It's all Filipino.
He literally met like TimberlandMissy Elliott.
He did pusha T all in school. Like all in school, it's.
A. Black.
It's black as a It's so black asthe blackest.
It's a throwback. It's the blackest.

(50:15):
It's the blackest. But.
Ain't no diversity in there. Well, there is.
What are you talking about? I'm sorry, shut the fuck up.
Jesus, let me say this. Holy shit.
Got to fucking get through all these long ass scenes.
You do it. God damn.

(50:37):
If you were like a fucking voiceright now, you'd be a trumpet
and you know that. You're just nothing's coming
out. It's a Synthesia.
All right, And with Chad, they meet and he sees that he finally
found a friend who sees the sounds like he does, sees the
colors, and then they just vibe.And then they start making all

(51:00):
this great music. And then all of a sudden all of
these Virginia people, Virginians call them that come
together and they go into Chad'shis his room or his house, and
they just start making music together.
And it's literally like some of the top people in music that

(51:20):
come together to just make some sounds.
And that's just how easy it was and they would just skip school
and just fucking play music. Wild.
This is also I, I don't want to say like don't go to school and
stuff like that. I'm not going to say that

(51:41):
because I think people need to go to school, get educated, all
that shit. But for some people, school is a
barrier for them and it's not going to do much with Pharrell.
He's one of like a billion people that this works for.
There's not a lot of people thatcan do the what he did not

(52:02):
graduate, not go to school and become such a successful mogul
in everything that he does. But I think it's a great story
of him being able to not have todo all that and still be an
educated individual because he took time to still want to be
educated. Just because you don't go to

(52:24):
school doesn't mean you can't educate yourself on certain
things. And that that's not an excuse.
Just saying like you didn't go to school, Well then I'm just
not going to learn anything thenYou're not really helping
society out as a whole in my opinion.
You kind of have to learn and you have to try new, new
experiences or else you're just going to get stuck in the same

(52:48):
same place you've always been. You will.
You got to better yourself, better your family, better your
life, and education is always one of the best determinants of
bettering yourself and your family.
Yeah. And it's, it works out for a lot
of people. It doesn't work out for some
people. There are a lot of people that
haven't gone to school and, you know, got a diploma or anything

(53:09):
like that. They've done a lot of great
things. But just remember that's not
always the case. It's not always going to be you.
So I think. One of the big things to think
about is like you're looking at school and like him, like really
struggling and like you fucking hated school too, right?
And then. But there's some neuro divergent
minds where you can feed and foster them in other ways and

(53:29):
creative ways. And so they'll still do the
school, but there's other thingsthat pull them in.
So for him, you know, creative minds like that, I guarantee you
they didn't have a fully funded like great music, music or band
or art or creative things. And there's no way.
I went to these poor ass schools.
They were all black and brown and you got nothing.
It's bare bones. And so how do you feed these

(53:50):
minds so that they do stay in the education system and also
make sure that they stay different and you don't foster
them to be this fucking homogenized thing that you make
everyone come out to be? How do you make sure that their
soul and their entity doesn't die?
It's so many neurodivergent folks are the creators and the
leaders of this world. And so he finds a good friend in

(54:13):
Chad. That made me think about me and
you, man, just fucking day one vibe.
Day one vibe, it's just, and it's, it's some people like me
and you're just lucky to just meet magnificent people.
You met some magnificent people in your life.
I've met some magnificent people.
So maybe it's our personalities that draw those people in.

(54:35):
But like when you meet those people, it's so precious and
it's interesting with like even with dating.
So I'll have clients that like, they'll find like this
magnificent person that heals their soul and they'll be like,
you know, but I want to do this or I want to do that, or, you
know, maybe I want to fuck around a little bit more.
And I'm like, you don't find people that like soothe your

(54:58):
soul like that. I just like, maybe you should
like get over whatever shit you're going through and maybe
go like tackle that. And they're like, well, you
know, and I'm like, don't fucking lose out, my guy.
Shooting star. Why?
Why do I say this? People like me and Spence, very
lucky to find good people, very lucky Pharrell to find Chad and

(55:19):
Chad, which introduced him to all the music even more in his
savantness, his genius. There are people out there for
you that you can match with. So I say this wholeheartedly
with honest to God truth. There are people out there for
you to talk to, to vibe with, toconnect with.
Please, please, please go out and find there and find them.
Please, please, please. I just want to make sure we said

(55:40):
that because Chad, they saved each other's lives.
They made each other's lives magnificent.
What did Chad being a shit or nojust.
No, they both like they just they're not on speaking terms
anymore. Oh no, for real.
Yeah, 'cause Chad's suing Pharrell because he wants like

(56:02):
more rights to the Neptunes, 'cause he had a lot to do with a
lot of the production and stuff like that.
So it's. Never trust no one.
So that's what we come back to. Eventually everyone will betray
you. It's like they look they're
friends. Oh fuck.
God damn it Spence, it is what it is.
I know you're going to find out one way or another.
Somebody in the comments would have been like, they're fucking

(56:23):
hate each other now. Just so you know, money.
Pollutes everything. There you go, those fucking
Filipinos. Once again, I got us.
You know, I don't think I don't think any of them are bad in
this situation. I think they both do like the
even cut of what they've been doing and they feel like.
They're yeah. Yes.
And I, you know, I think that especially since Chad is the

(56:46):
quiet one and Pharrell's the outspoken, you know, the quote
UN quote bandleader and stuff like that, you know, I think
Chad could be overlooked a lot. I guarantee you I didn't even
know he existed. Spencer didn't even know he
existed. That's the problem.
And so Chad is this like genius also.
And he doesn't he doesn't get the credit he did.

(57:08):
I mean, even I can go back and there are a lot of people that
just don't get credit, especially in the music
industry. Anything to do.
But one in particular that I remember is Rod Temperton.
And you probably don't even knowwho the fuck that is.
You're like, who is that guy? He wrote Thriller like he wrote
the song Thriller for Michael Jackson.
He was a drummer for this band called Heat Wave, which is an

(57:29):
amazing band and he wrote songs for them as well.
He's this amazing songwriter andnobody knew who he was because
he was a quiet guy. And after he made all these hits
for Michael Jackson, he was like, I'm out.
I'm just going to be quiet and live my life silently until he
died. And he was one of those guys

(57:50):
where you're just like, this guyis an amazing genius, but yet he
doesn't get the credit that he is supposed to get, you know,
because he's not loud and he's not outspoken like some of these
other people that make music, which is fine, which is fine.
You can be loud and outspoken. But also, you know, I got to
also give credit where the quietguys are because, you know, I've

(58:12):
been there, been there, quiet guy, been there.
And like you put input into certain things and then you just
you don't get the same response and as some of the louder
people. And so you know it is.
Interesting point. So a lot of neurodivergent folks
will be the quiet guys or the quiet girlies.
And so I got a couple clients now saying not and they, they,

(58:34):
and they're saying this with full blown tears, Spence, is why
can't I just be assertive? I just need to be assertive and
I'll get the jobs of the respectI need.
I just, why can't I just be confident?
Why do I always got to be so shyand so quiet?
Why can't I just say things in public?
Why can't I just ask or demand things?
Why? Why do I let people shit on me?

(58:58):
And, and, and they'll be so angry at themselves for not
being like this certain person. But that's never going to be who
they are. They don't need to be that
person either. Who they are is magnificent.
But that little magnificent is doesn't always get seen or
acknowledged when she when she asks a question, he asks a
question, right? It's not always, Oh, that was

(59:18):
good. Then someone else asks.
You know that that one was really in my kids.
Like I fucking said that. Been there.
I know, and so you made me thinkabout that, right?
Some of the Chads, man, as they get looked over or look down
upon, not chosen for maybe jobs or this and that, right?
They're not chosen for days, partnerships because they're
reserved, shy, quiet, right? Or maybe they just don't need to

(59:41):
say a lot of things. I got people that struggle with
that Spence, that are magnificent humans and they are
miserable and it sucks. Yeah, that sucks.
That's a good point. It's sad to hear about the Chad
thing. I did wonder that when I was
watching them because I don't even know what this motherfucker
is. Yeah.
Maybe you should have introducedthem a little bit more in your

(01:00:02):
songs, Pharrell. It's Chad, you know, and you
know, I hope one day they can reconcile and they can.
They probably will because they just, they've made so much great
things together that, you know, you just hope that people like
that get back together and they can be friends again 'cause

(01:00:22):
they're both, they both grew up with one another and they've
done so much. So it's like, I hope they can
both, you know, get back together and do things.
But we'll see. Time will tell.
At least when they're old. Yeah.
So interesting. Interesting.
So never trust no one. Yeah.

(01:00:46):
I don't know if that's the pointwe wanted to make there, but all
right. That's how it turned.
That's how it turned. I think this leads us into some
really some some some the deeperstuff now and seeing like 3 and
4. Yeah, so the third one, it
really starts off. So Pharrell he's been trying to

(01:01:09):
make to get their band NERD. They've been trying to get their
band out into the world, but studio execs, they all think
it's just weird. It doesn't it's not.
It doesn't sound like the music that it does now.
They're like, well, we want music right now.
We don't want music in the future.
Like that's what why would we want that?

(01:01:29):
And there's a common theme here when like a lot of these quote,
UN quote, weird artists try to go to these execs and try to
show them like just how you knowhow great their music is that
they're making. They always get blocked by the
personality that comes through the door.

(01:01:50):
Now with Pharrell, he's very outthere.
He was like, I'm the shit. I'm I'm stopping on desk.
I'm the shit like you, you want to be part of this, You want to
be part of this. And it goes back to even Kanye
West, who, whether you like him or not, that dude has come a
long way in his lifetime to be what he is now.

(01:02:11):
And he'd be like, oh piece of shit.
I'm like, no, you know, well, he's their own.
Any who he's a. Nazi now?
Yeah, we can do. We all go through changes.
Who the fuck takes a black Nazi serious?
Has anybody actually taken that serious?
I'm not even going to comment inthis because I feel like this is
a landmine. So this is a landmine.

(01:02:33):
I'm just saying like. See a black Nazi?
You're like, that's funny, like.That's some of these two don't
add up, but. Waldo.
Steer it away from this conversation.
This is the only conversation I feel weird about in three years.
Talk about Dicks and shit and I get weird about black Knights.

(01:02:55):
You can talk about Dicks right now you want.
To I don't see anything you go, I'm going to put my mic up for
this because it's black any who.But there's this common theme
where like with Kanye West, whenhe was trying to get his music
out there, he would go into all these different exec offices,
just play his music and be loud and outrageous.

(01:03:18):
Obviously, the trajectory for Pharrell and Kanye went both two
different directions. But the minds of like the
geniuses and the minds of how they tackle music, it's
something you can't deny. And sometimes it's hard to get
people to actually see your vision because you're new and

(01:03:40):
you're up and coming and they don't know who you are.
They think like you're just someweird kid just trying to sell
them something and they don't understand, like you should get
in on this now because it this train's leaving pretty soon.
And I just find it interesting with this scene because they all

(01:04:01):
keep on rejecting, rejecting, rejecting.
And even Chad and his new manager are like, dude, you're
jumping on desks and all this shit.
Like what are we supposed to do with that?
He's a weird dude. Any and the only reason how he
even got into where he is now isbecause he started and this is

(01:04:22):
what Kanye did too. He started giving away his beats
to other people and then they start seeing it and they're
like, wow, this guy can actuallydo stuff.
What the This is so weird. And then that's when the doors
started opening because he started giving these beats to
each and every artist. It first started with Nori, then

(01:04:43):
it started to go to Jay-Z, then it started going to No Doubt
with Gwen Stefani and all of these different people.
There's literally a scene where it goes artist by artist by
artist, and he has all these different people that wanted
beats from him and they got him and they were all hits.
Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes,all of them.

(01:05:06):
And it just goes to show that people find things weird at the
time until it gets them something.
Whether that's money, whether that's fame, whether it's
whatever. I think people look at others
harshly until all of a sudden now everybody else starts seeing

(01:05:28):
it too. Like if, if it wasn't for Nori
and a lot of these other artists, people might have not
known who Pharrell Williams or even the Neptunes are.
And once you have a vision as anartist, you have that vision and
you know it's going to get there.

(01:05:49):
But others just don't see it at the time.
And he made them see it. Spence so you we are talking in
the pre production where you saythe sad part of The thing is he
got really he lost himself and what what were you talking
about? So what we could you explain
that because right, because obviously he was hustling
selling this thing. He almost gave up on it and then
obviously sold some of his beatsand then became this like this

(01:06:12):
mega star slowly and then he became and then eventually like
things change and they pervert and they palooza.
What what was that you were trying to explain?
He like lost himself. What was that about?
Yes, there's a part in the film where like these execs start
coming in and they start tellinghim what he should be putting
out there as an artist and he starts going to like try and be

(01:06:38):
what's on the radio and what he should be doing.
Like, oh, I got a song for chicks on the radio.
I got a song for this on the radio.
This, this, this and one of the executives for the the bit like
who was a big time CEO. It's just like, it's not like
great. And this is years in years after

(01:06:59):
he's been so successful, won awards and things like that.
But you start seeing that he lost the passion for what he
does and he's old. And then I think that really
affected his like love life withhis wife.
And it just affected him overallbecause he was no longer doing

(01:07:20):
it to be a creative. He was doing it to try and be
popular. Those are two different things.
Once you try to be popular and you just try to be relevant,
that's when you start to really lose yourself.
And we've seen that with a lot of people.
Everything, everything. Like people on social media,
like a lot of the people that try to stay relevant, do stupid

(01:07:44):
shit they do because that's all they have.
They just want to be the next exciting thing again and again
and again. And that really tears you down
as a person. And you, you're no longer
yourself. You're now whatever corporate
machine you have to, you know, be a part of to keep on going.
It's gross. Yes.

(01:08:05):
And he found that out. And then that's when he started
reconciling not only with his wife.
Well, actually it was his girlfriend.
And then she became his wife after that.
And then, and then that's when he made the song Happy for

(01:08:26):
Despicable Me. Inch Oh my God, that was for
Despicable Me. You didn't know that?
Yeah, it was Despicable Me .1. Yeah, it was one.
Yeah, one or two. Yeah, that was one it.
Was 1 he did the whole soundtrack or he did most of the
soundtrack for the first and second one.
There's some really good songs on the soundtracks.
Yeah, so. Interesting.

(01:08:47):
So before we move on and we get into like happy and all that.
Yeah. I think it's to point out, and
this isn't just a neuro divergent thing, is that we
talked about it with the podcastthat released a couple weeks ago
with Doctor Hahn Ren. And when you start to lose
yourself in the corporate and capitalism, it takes over
because you want to make money. You want to stay relevant,

(01:09:07):
popular, famous. And boy, when you got too many
hands in the pot, they call it right, the metaphor, right?
Too many hands in there, cookingin the kitchen and all that
shit. It's crowded.
You get confused, you get overwhelmed, over stimulated,
you start to lose your identity,you're starting to mask and to
assimilate, to acculturate into things and you give up your soul

(01:09:31):
to be acceptable, to fit in, to be agreeable, to be a cookie
cutter thing in which could be seen in the news, the radio, the
media, friends for dating, for Tinder, right For what?
For for interviews, right? You start to hide all the
divergent, you start to hide allyour magicalness, your spark,

(01:09:55):
your creativity you get and the world forces you to hide those
things because you know the the what he's talking about.
So I think it's just interestingand how you can apply to our
lives day-to-day is when you start getting input and you're
consulting like, oh, what shouldI do for this?
Or how should I dress? How should I look?
You know, what do you want to dofor like the eating or your diet

(01:10:16):
or your body? How should I show for these
interviews? I have people that ask like
they'll ask me 100 people about their resume, their personal
statements or this or they had to get jobs, Graduate School and
all that. It's a kid.
You asked too many kids. It's too.
Is it? When, when, when, when is it
you? Have you lost your voice in
this? There's a funny stupid TV show

(01:10:39):
called The League about, you know, about fantasy football.
And there's this one guy. He goes around asking everyone
about his lineups to which lineup to start.
And like, you fucking slut, he'sjust asking everyone.
And it makes me think of that when you ask too many people
now, man, now it's not even you.And it's hard not to do that.

(01:11:04):
I feel like it's a slow progression when you start to
give up your soul. And we see a lot of content
creators being miserable as fuck.
I see a lot of content creators like, hey, man, I just want to
talk about like cool stuff, fun stuff.
And then but whenever they don'ttalk about autism or whatever
that specific thing is, Spence, they get no likes, no no feed.
And so now they're addicted to the machine.

(01:11:25):
They can only say what the algorithm wants them to say and
they end up losing themselves. And a lot of my homies that I
know on the Internet, a lot of people that we've interviewed
are pretty depressed because they trying to hustle their
money, God bless them, but they're hustling their money.
They end up hustling themselves and it's sad.
So I want to talk about that content creation.
US life school, right? Teachers are telling you this,

(01:11:47):
this, this, and you're like, come on, man, just interesting
FY this scene. Then we can move it to the next.
Shout out to motherfuckers getting their money and putting
their soul into things and just betting on themselves.
You need a lot of luck to get put in front of Jay-Z one day
and then all of a sudden he's like, holy shit, this is the

(01:12:09):
beat. Shout out to people that don't
quit and they will die on that hill.
I'm sure many people end up dying on that hell, but I'm sure
a couple people climb to the top.
If those of you that are creatives that are out there
hustling, drawing, creating, writing, do you think maybe you
want the first kids? Just get your degree in your

(01:12:30):
family, APHD, doctorate, maybe just graduate fucking high
school. That means betrayed school.
Do it. Bet on you.
Please please please. Let's get into this last scene.
Let's talk about let's talk about this emotional ass song
happy, because that should save some lives, dude.
Yeah, so the origin of the song was studio that does Minions

(01:12:58):
illumination. They wanted him to do the
soundtrack for it and kept trying to give them songs over
and over again. They kept rejecting his songs
because they didn't like him. It wasn't catchy enough for him,
they just didn't want him. And one day he was just bathing

(01:13:19):
like his son Rocket, which I thought was interesting,
especially since he actually hasa Lego set with a rocket and
stuff and he loves outer space. Oh yeah, isn't that his own Lego
set? Like they made that for him,
Didn't Lego? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's his own thing, Yeah.
Which is pretty. It's pretty dope Lego set too.
But yeah, so he was just like bathing a sun and then all of a

(01:13:43):
sudden it just popped in his head what he wanted to do, and
then it was all from there. You just made happy.
I think a lot of people dislike the song 'cause it played a lot
on the radio, played a lot. Like everybody's playing that
shit when it came out and I I feel like people just got so

(01:14:09):
annoyed with it, but it did. So it was just a such a great
song to just vibe to and just chill and just relax and
actually think about something that's just not negative and
just not in your face. It's just right there.
And with him, the song, like he even talks about how he knew

(01:14:32):
that, yeah, it was getting people happy, but he also knew
why, because people went through, have gone a lot of
shit. A lot of people who love the
song have gone through a lot of things and it's helped them
through really tough times. And I I have to give a lot of

(01:14:53):
credit to him for making that song.
And even though yes, it was a hit, even if it wasn't, I think
like that's one of those songs where it's just it's always
going to be in your head becauseit's just so great.
But game changer of a song. And it's for a soundtrack of
Despicable Me. If you haven't heard the
Despicable Me soundtracks for atleast one and two, not sure

(01:15:15):
about 3, but one and two, like dude goes hard on a lot of songs
on there and check them out because they're pretty fucking.
Good, There you go. I think I remember being in
school, man, just hearing it on the radio and it just changed my
mood every day going into schoolin college, like every just
changes your mood, change your mood going into the gym, you

(01:15:38):
just kind of want to jig, just kind of want to dance.
You know, you kind of want you got a little got a little pop in
your stuff when you hear it and it's awesome, man.
Like the music sometimes that should be like, so grungy and so
dark. It's so sad.
And then you hear this shit and you're like, yeah, maybe, maybe
I don't want to fucking die today.
Like maybe you know, I can live not.

(01:16:00):
Today, son, not today. Not today BB Jesus.
B. Who the fuck is BB Jesus?
BB Jesus. That's a ghetto version of baby
Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus boy, you black as hell. Give me that BB Jesus shirt.
Right now that B.B. King Jesus, I hope.

(01:16:26):
Burger King hears about this andthey're just like marketing
copyright and we got this. Can we copyright the Bible?
I think it's fine. No, it's fine.
Yeah. So that song, man, I'm telling
you, college was hard times. Dad's going through shit, I'm
going through shit, and it's just nice to get something to

(01:16:47):
wrap you in this warm bubble andto give you some soul, some
soul. Shout out to creators like him,
my guy, the different neuro divergent black folk man just
giving people soul. And so Spence, we see that where
he starts to cry on Oprah when he talks about it, when they're
showing all the people dancing. Yeah, I think that's a moment
when you realize, you know, yourmusic is more than what you just

(01:17:10):
hear. And the money that's coming in
'cause you know, you're getting paid, but now you see the joints
bringing around the world, all these countries jigging and have
fun. And it's like, brother, that was
an emotional moment for him. I love that we got to see that
in a Lego set version. Magnificent.
And I feel like that's what happens with a lot of folks,

(01:17:31):
Spence, that go into like helping professions.
They go into the teaching, healthcare therapists and you
know, they give them back to these communities and they see
them affecting souls and they feel so good.
Especially people that have beenlike horribly depressed,
suicidal, right? People like me that have been
outcasts. I'm a piece of shit, weird,

(01:17:52):
autistic, not knowing it and like you'll never make it.
And even to this day, my bosses,you'll never make it.
Not administrator, not smart enough, not professional enough.
And like it's like, shut up. And then you start changing
these souls and it fucks you up,man, in the most magnificent
way. You cry happy tears.
And that's what we saw on Oprah happy tears.

(01:18:13):
I'm glad that he got that. And I'm hoping that a lot of you
get that, you know, spend sometimes I people be like, man,
you know, I don't know if I'm a good person or this or that.
And then and then they we keep talking and we hear the lights
that they've changed and or saved just by being like friends
with like certain people. I'm like, brother, I think

(01:18:34):
you've already changed a couple worlds just by being.
And that's when everyone tanks. Everyone starts solid.
In that moment. I was like, people think that
they're worthless, but I'm like,go talk to your friends and then
they tell them how much worth they have and then they bring it
to me and I'm like, dude, dude, this is pretty good.

(01:18:55):
This is this is pretty good. I don't think you really
understand. He's like, that's not that big
of a deal. I said this will stop someone
from wanting to die. Do you understand that?
And everyone freaks out because they don't think about it like
that. But a good friendship will make
you want to live. A good partner, like your girly
makes you. She makes you excited and
enjoyful and you plan things. It makes you build a future.

(01:19:19):
Pharrell's music did that. I feel like a lot of you people
will do that. Whatever creative thing that
you're doing. Like me and Spence, we got a
bunch of different ways in whichwe show up for our loved ones.
I love that. Yeah.
I. Hope like go ahead.
I just like, I hope he had that same feeling when he was doing
it for those other artists and even for himself.

(01:19:44):
Like I know that he was really feeling it with this song.
I hope I also hope that he was feeling it.
He should have for when you know, he was doing it for those
other ones because he's brought so much music like literally
throughout this whole movie, I was like, this is my childhood
because these songs did so much.He did.
Hollaback girl. For Gwen Stefani, Like that

(01:20:05):
song? I'm not even kidding.
He didn't. That was like, think about the
beat. It makes sense, yeah.
Yeah, like he has done so many songs from my childhood and I
love all of his music. Even NERD.
Like is one of my favorite like groups of all time.
When they started playing some of the songs from his albums on
there that were like deep cuts that not a lot of people

(01:20:27):
remember listening to. I was like, man, this fucking.
Album so good. I actually had to listen to the
album again because it was so good and it's so out there.
And I hope he realizes that a lot of people have loved his
music throughout the years. Him, Chad, everybody.

(01:20:49):
Like, I hope he understands that, like their music brought
so much happiness. And it's not just because of
happy, but it's because of everything else that they've
done throughout their careers. And I hope he realizes that.
Everything you just said, Spence, is what I say to
clients. I hope you realize this one day,

(01:21:11):
that not just the one thing thatyou did when they fell down or
they were crying or they were hurt, but all the ways in which
you showed up for people or yourfamily or your community or your
hood. I'll be realizing how much
impactful that really means. I'll be realizing how much your
identity means to continue surviving.
Everything you just said is exactly what I say to people so

(01:21:34):
that all of you listen to what Spencer said, but search your
soul. And I hope you realize that the
small things in which you've done mean a lot to you and
others, Maybe just for your career, your life, your
well-being, your family. So then you could be like, hey,
man, I'm from the mud, man, I'm from the water, right?

(01:21:54):
When now, now we're here and we're safe and we're content and
we can have money and and buy shit, have vacations, eat
healthy foods, all my clients. Now is when is it going to
change? A couple more years.
I was just talking to a boy today.
I said maybe about five years, Finish your PhD in a couple
years and then you get a couple years of working.

(01:22:14):
I said no one will ever own you after this because your resume
will be so stacked. If you hate a job, you'll be
able to go anywhere in the world.
There's your PhD, black man, yougo, you did, the world is yours.
After this. You just got to get their first
job, build your resume. And I love telling people that
that soon they will be Unchained.

(01:22:35):
World's wild man Love. Love what you said, Spence.
So we're going to pivot into something and well, then we're
going to get out of here, but we're going to pivot into some
real shit with Kendrick Lamar and all this and and kind of how
it ties into the wild shit that's going on right now in
California. Spencer.
Yes. So during this time period, I

(01:22:57):
want to say it was either 2013, 2015, when To Pimp a Butterfly
came out. But this album by Kendrick
Lamar, I just want to just fly out, say this.
It's one of my favorite albums of his of all time.
Like it's, it's so great just talking about being black in

(01:23:17):
America. It it we, I probably played it
for you in the car or something like that.
And like it's, it's one of thosealbums where you're like, this
is huge. And I didn't know until like a
few years ago that Pharrell evendid the beat for all right.
I was like, he fucking. I actually didn't know until

(01:23:38):
this. No, I knew it before because I
looked it up. But like when this movie came
out and they started playing theclips and it was like, Oh yeah,
his voice is on all right. He was the one doing he gonna be
all right. And then I was like, because
it's one of my favorite tracks. And but during this time, it was

(01:24:00):
when Trayvon Martin was killed, murdered, and a lot of these
Black Lives Matter protests started happening actually in, I
want to say I think it was in 2020.
Unfortunately, Pharrell's cousinwas actually murdered by police

(01:24:21):
as well. And so I think it cut even
deeper, especially now that he has time to really even think
about that and just process thatin general, which that's not an
easy thing to do. But for this song, he really

(01:24:43):
took time to make a song that was for people that were
struggling. And it's a song that people play
to this day for protests and then even for just trying to
make sense of what's happening in the world.

(01:25:06):
And just by saying, is we going to be all right?
When when that hook comes in, you know exactly what it means.
Especially people of color, theyknow exactly what it means.
We're going to be all right. We're going to make it through
this no matter what. And just goes to show that, you
know, greatness just equals moregreatness.

(01:25:28):
Because Pharrell giving this beat to Kendrick Lamar was
something that I think really projected this song to be
something amazing, which it is so.
Poetry for the community, for the struggle for resilience or
existence is existence. Like you're not going to kill us

(01:25:49):
and maybe you do take our bodies, but people will continue
to live and move on. It's the same type of vibe for
Arabs now. It's the same type of vibe for
brown people now in California's.
You know, they try to exterminate you and to exist, to
continue moving on, continue to have joy and happiness instead
of becoming this husk of an individual.

(01:26:13):
I love that Pharrell was part ofthat.
But him talking about the black community and the pain and, and,
and the word that he used, right?
That I can't spell the juxtaposition of being black and
how the world is positioned against you, right?

(01:26:34):
It's not, it's not parallel, right?
It's this against you, this intersection in which you exist,
which makes it hard to live. And you can use this for other
folks of color, other marginalized identities, queer,
trans and all that stuff. For like specifically focusing
on black folk though, is you. It is in effects and oozes

(01:26:55):
throughout every single facet ofyour life.
Economically, politically, education wise, all of it
through Genette, all of it. It affects everything.
And this is when we get into things like critical race
theory, you know, you know, we can't read about it anymore
because they kicked it out of schools.
So my dissertation was it was called critical disability
theory was just a subsection outof that theory just for disabled

(01:27:16):
folks. And so we see this and so many
people understand and how blackness has changed their
lives. But then so many of the other
people be like, it's fine, just work harder or your lives aren't
that bad or you should be grateful.
I'm like, motherfucker, we people ain't got food or
education. You tearing people's families
apart like you don't understand what has happened through the

(01:27:38):
eons of this, of these folks, these black population, this
generation. I had a student that was
talking, man, I'm about to go Nat Turner on these
motherfuckers dog. I'm like, wait a minute, not Nat
Turner. Google Nat Turner people.
Nat Turner didn't. Survive.
Didn't survive he he cut up somefolks though.

(01:28:00):
Yeah, and he was also eating. He was Oh my God.
They made like leather shit out of him, out of his skin.
It's terrible. White people are terrible.
I'm sorry. Like a lot of those white people
are. Terrible back there it was bad,
bad, bad, bad. Yeah, yeah, it was bad, bro.
It was bad. Jesus, that's a tasty one.

(01:28:20):
Yeah, yeah. So I said, wait a minute, you're
not going full Turner, He said no, man, brother was crazy.
But like, hey, sometimes shit needs to be handled.
And it's just saying that though, and knowing the story of
like Nat Turner in that fucking trauma of being a slave and then
starting in the rebellion and uprising of slaves against their
masters, well, who else is talking about that?

(01:28:44):
White folk ain't talking about that.
White folks won't go and do that.
And so it's like. Irish.
Here we go. Irish slave son.
Motherfuckers. Our slave son.
We we struggled. Yeah.
We had to assimilate, motherfucker.
I can't tell who's Irish right now.
I can tell who's black though. So I just love this.
I love the Lego sets. I love everything about it.

(01:29:06):
I really hope people listen to this and watch.
This is specifically what what'sgoing on in LA is.
You're going to get these protests and you're going to get
people speaking out and you're going to get some other wild
shit at night too. But you know, with this the
village, what do they say? The person that is unloved by
the village or the the village that is no, the person that is

(01:29:29):
unloved or cared for by the village will burn it down to
feel its warmth. And it's very true that the
riots are the voices in the hatred of the unheard and
unloved. You know, I'm not going to say
much on the topic because I ain't trying to get fucking

(01:29:49):
certain things cancelled for my nonprofit now because now it's a
full thing, but don't condone violence.
But also I understand why these people are doing certain things.
And also there's a lot of like good stuff that's going on, but
I'll I'll stay in that realm. My heart goes out with everyone
that's out there and all the people that's being affected and
everyone that's being deported and my heart goes out to

(01:30:12):
everyone. So thank you so much for
bringing us. It's a bad motherfucker here,
right here. And just the poster right there
of Pharrell, just so creative, so autistic.
I love to see, I love to see autistic joy or just no
divergent joy, Black joy. Love it.
Love it, Spence. Yeah, everyone go out.

(01:30:32):
Go on Netflix. Go out.
Go out on Netflix. Go outside and just put it on
your phone. Touch grass.
There you go. Touch grass while you're
watching this movie. Yeah.
Go watch Piece by PIECE on Netflix.
It is a great story and you'll probably really enjoy the music
as in there as well, because he didn't just do hip hop.

(01:30:56):
He was doing everything. He literally did everything.
He did it wrong. Yeah, it was crazy.
But go please check out this movie and thanks everybody for
watching. I'm Spencer.
That's Nah, that's a different special product.
Yeah, all. Right everyone, much love and
remember, take care of yourselves or don't, it's
completely up to you. Peace, Yeah?

(01:31:21):
What button stops this shit?
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.