Pharrell Williams Says Jay-Z’s “So Ambitious” Is “Ferocious”

“We wanted to make a record that speaks to kids. There’s a couple of lewd words there, but I wanted to make sure that kids heard this record and felt inspired,” Williams told MTV News. “That’s why there’s a little bit of anger to it. There’s anger in his verses, there’s anger in my chorus. That’s why I say spiteful things at the top [of the record]. There’s anger there, because there’s heat. Because you’re young and people are telling you what you can and can’t do. Unacceptable.”

“We did it all by phone,” Williams said. “One-hundred percent. Phone and e-mail. I’ve never done that before in my life. I just sent him the joint, ’cause he beat me up for the whole album. He was just kinda like, ‘I need something to really tell a story.’ And I was like, ‘OK.’ And I sent him this track. I said, ‘I’m sending you clouds with 808s [drums] under it.’ There’s just clouds, and it’s expansive. You can just speak. It’s a blank canvas. Then I sent him the hook and played it for him, and he lost his mind.”

Williams said the song was made the day Jay-Z was mastering his album, and he believes the rapper held off on completing his album until he finished the song. The result, according to Williams, is another classic.

“[Just] the attack on it,” he said of the song. “Ferocious.”

via MTV