Given his previous work with Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams, and Timbaland, one can objectively say Snoop Dogg has had access to some of music’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed producers. That access has led to a number of hits and some familiar chemistry. Despite the chemistry between Snoop and Pharrell, both artists confirm they didn’t know exactly what they had their hands on after crafting 2002’s hit single “Beautiful.”
“I thought ‘From Tha Church To Da Palace’ was going to be the hardest record out for us, and it was,” Williams told Scott Vener and an assembled crowd at the 2016 edition of ComplexCon. “But that wasn’t the record that did it. The record that did it was ‘Beautiful.’”
Pharrell and Snoop admitted they didn’t pay attention to “Beautiful” until they were urged to do so by the Priority Records Executive, Andrew Shack. The single spent 18 weeks on the charts and Pharrell added that it gave both Skateboard P and Snoop an insight into the Afro-Latino culture of Brazil while filming the music video.
Snoop weighed in on being produced by Pharrell for his No. 1 single “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and revealed Pharrell suggested Snoop re-write his verse.
“I do my verse, and you’re like, ‘Nah. You can come harder than that,’” Snoop said. “So then I have to re-whip it and do it again…It was the fact that you even told me, ‘Nah, my verse is harder than yours.’ In so many words, that’s what you were saying.”
The pair drew also laughs from the crowd as Pharrell recounted catching a severe contact high from Snoop right before meeting with Stevie Wonder for a recording session.
You can catch the full ComplexCon episode of Pharrell and Scott Vener’s “OTHERtone” on Beats 1 here.
