In a recent episode of Angie Martinez’s IRL Podcast, Teyana Taylor revealed that she felt unprotected when she was signed to Pharrell Williams’ label as a teenager. Despite having talked it out with Pharrell now, Taylor shared that she felt like she was fed to the wolves without any protection.
As a figure and a father-like figure to her, Taylor expected Pharrell to look out for her. However, she explained that he didn’t see or hear her, and he let others mishandle her. Taylor even went on to say that many hands started going into the cookie jar, and Pharrell didn’t stop them.
Despite her feelings, Taylor also acknowledged that Pharrell didn’t know about her troubled relationship with her biological father. She even admitted that she had a deep and honest conversation with him after being featured in Kanye West’s “Fade” music video. Taylor shared that she was proud of their progress, and Pharrell was proud of being her father figure.
Taylor said, “Getting signed to a man, it was like a figure to me…I looked at these people like figures,” Taylor said on the show. “Whether it was as a dad, as a brother, it didn’t matter. So it’s like, you didn’t see me, you didn’t hear me, you didn’t protect me. you kind of just like fed me to the wolves type-s**t without probably even knowing.”
“He was Skateboard P, I was Skateboard T,” she said. “You cannot tell me that wasn’t my pops. I really looked up to him. He didn’t have kids at the time, and he wanted kids. He’d be like ‘Yo she call me her pops.’ He was really proud of that.”Taylor said Pharrell didn’t know about her troubled relationship with her biological father. She adds that he’s literally one of the sweetest people in the world, but “a lot of hands started going into the cookie jar,” Taylor continued.
“It’s P, he not ’bout to be like ‘no, yall n***as back up,” she said. “Maybe he was hurt about some things. You don’t know. It could’ve been a thing of pride and ego at the time. We don’t know. To me, as a 15-year-old, it was, you didn’t protect me. You let everyone mishandle me. I signed to you. You let everybody get in the way, and everybody break us apart. You didn’t protect me, she added.
Taylor remains grateful to Pharrell for helping her start her career, stating that none of the doors would have opened for her if it weren’t for him. She signed to Williams’s Star Trak Entertainment label in 2007 and later signed with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music after being released from the company in 2012.
“I be basking in my blessings, and I will be having them moments when I just think, damn, no matter how I felt when I was younger, none of these doors would have ever opened for me if it wasn’t for P,” Taylor said.
In conclusion, Teyana Taylor’s interview on Angie Martinez’s IRL Podcast has shed light on her experience under Pharrell’s label as a teenager. Despite feeling unprotected, she remains grateful for the opportunity and acknowledges Pharrell’s role in her career.
