Teyana Taylor Says Pharrell “Didn’t Protect Me” When She Signed To His Label As A Teen

Teyana Taylor has reflected on her experience of being signed to her first record deal at Pharrell Williams’ Star Trek Entertainment imprint when she was a 15-year-old rising star artist.

During a recent interview on Angie Martinez’s IRL Podcast, the “Rose In Harlem” hitmaker revealed she considered Skateboard P family at the time. However, while Teyana is grateful for the doors Pharrell opened for her, she wishes he did more to protect her.

“I had a really really really really deep and honest conversation with Pharrell because you know, he was the first person to sign me. He was Skateboard P, I was Skateboard T,” she explained. “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.”

Teyana Taylor continued, noting Pharrell is “not confrontational at all” and “one of the sweetest people” in the world. “So, it wasn’t that he didn’t protect me,” she said before adding,” it’s just that a lot of hands started going into the cookie jar…it’s P, he not bout to be like ‘no, yall n##### back up.”

Teyana Taylor Claims Pharrell Let “Everybody Break Us Apart”

She said Pharell might have been “hurt about some things,” and suggested “pride and ego,” could have got in the way.

However, Teyana added, “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.”

Nonetheless, the multi hyphenate creative revealed she bears no ill will towards Pharrell. “I just recently shared that with him. It might’ve been right after ‘Fade’ came out,” Teyana shared. “That’s what made it even doper. Because for me, I was at the top top top when that s### came out. And for me, I love that I was able to share that with him during a high and not like hitting somebody up while you’re angry and sitting around somewhere bitter, nah it wasn’t that. I was in a poised, graceful place, and just let him know how proud I was of just us and how far we’ve come.”

Ultimately, Teyana Taylor is grateful for Pharrell’s contribution to her career. “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,” she said. Check out the clips below and watch the interview here.