Pharrell Williams, in a partnership with MasterClass and Uninterrupted, released a six-minute mini MasterClass episode on the much more in-depth topics of empathy, racism, and social justice. Williams, 47, tweeted the news on Nov. 11 and the full video is available now to stream on the Uninterrupted website.
Williams’ social justice work didn’t start or end with this project. In 2019, the singer songwriter showed off his entrepreneurial chops, and started his own music and cultural festival in his home town of Virginia Beach. The Something In The Water festival celebrated music and culture, and in Williams’ own words, “the North Star” of the festival is empathy.
The year prior to the debut of Pharrell’s festival, three shootings occurred in the same spot on Virginia Beach during Beach Week, where HBCU students frequent for spring break festivities. When his community reached out to Williams to see what could be done about “the locals” he told them to “change the temperature of the racial tension” in his city, fraught with systemic racism, and give them a creative outlet.
“Empathy’s greatest potential is equality for all mankind. We’ve never seen that. We don’t know what that looks like. It’s never happened. Because equal means equal,” said Williams, ending his powerful class.
Speaking of a social justice business focus, Williams also released a new song, “Entrepreneur,” in which he collaborated with Jay-Z to celebrate Black pioneers. The music video, which was released in August during the surge of the Black Lives Matter protests, featured Black celebrity entrepreneurs like Tyler the Creator, Issa Rae and a moment of silence for the late Nipsey Hussle. The rest of the video was dedicated to sharing the stories of other Black business owners.
William’s MasterClass is just the first from the new film series, and while the rest of the episodes have yet to be announced, a new class from Issa Rae has been posted on the site, slated to go live in January 2021. The rest of “The Power You Hold” series will be available on the Uninterrupted site and potentially on MasterClass, so stay tuned as to not miss the next release.
