Earlier this year, Spotify released its first installment of the “Black History Is Happening Now” series with a playlist curated by the immensely talented, Janelle Monae. This week, Spotify has returned with the second installment of the series curated by the legendary Pharrell Williams. Created in partnership with the collective, Saturday Morning, the playlist highlights the work of black creatives through music, visuals, podcasts and more. This installment of the year-long series highlights the creative output of Black women, artists that have inspired the legendary producer and his own work. The goal of the playlist is to highlight what makes the producer tick creatively.
.@Pharrell is taking over our #BlackHistoryIsNow hub to drop gems all month long. Experience now: https://t.co/M0GznLgAJp pic.twitter.com/VLtA7JmYak
— Spotify (@Spotify) July 10, 2018
In addition to a playlist, the series now includes videos in which the Neptune’s producer talks about politics, black culture and more. Most notably, Williams took a jab at Kanye West‘s infamous comments about slavery in one of his videos. When speaking about the contributions of African ancestors in American history, Williams notes that their labor was “far from a choice.” In full context, Williams says, “The one thing that you cannot deny is that this country was built by the hands of many different cultures, but mainly by African-Americans. They were the ones that were to put to task and to actually go out and do the work. All the while, they had to endure the pillaging of where they were from. Their identities were taken from them and they were forced to do things they didn’t want to do. It was far from a choice. Our influence is everywhere.”
You can watch a clip of the video above or you can check out the full collection now on Spotify.
