Pharrell Williams’ marvelous upcoming solo album G I R L was marred with a bit of tardy controversy this morning of February 26 after a color war was spawned over his the model selection he used for the album’s cover. The artist/producer unveiled the photo more than a week ago but no sooner did the album become available for free stream did the peanut gallery get to tossing their shells in his direction. G I R L’s artwork depicts Pharrell posing with sunglasses in a spa back by three fair-faced ladies of the same or lighter complexion of the Academy Award-nominated artist. While there were definitely some tongue-in-cheek-responses to combat the backlash, renown journalist Dream Hampton expressed her disappointment with the album’s cover by not wishing to hear the album’s contents as result and several others felt the same way. This isn’t the first time Pharrell caught hellfire and brimstone for his racial preferences. Repeated upstart rapper Azealia Banks accused The Neptune of disassociated himself with their “ATM Jam” duet to support his “lite skin comeback.” Yet, talk is cheap without proof and we over here at Hip-Hop Wired found 10 good reasons with songs and videos to show why the notion of Pharrell being a reverse racist or abandoning Black faces to gain mainstream acceptance is nothing more than trolling. Real art is colorblind. — Photo: Instagram/Kelly Rowland
