The internet’s got something to say.
Pharrell Williams‘ new album, G I R L, is set to hit stores this coming Monday, March 3rd, early listens via iTunes Radio confirm that the bonafide hit-maker–“Happy” marks his third single in three tries to peak at least at #2 on the Billboard charts–has one hell of an album on his hands.
Still, with the spotlight on Sk8board, not everyone’s happy.
Former Source Magazine writer, and veteran author and content curator, Dream Hampton, largely responsible for the architecture of Jay Z‘s famed Decoded book, spoke up about the lack of representation of black women. Hampton tweeted this about the album cover:
I’m sure Pharrell’s album is great, he’s been making the best music of his life. Cover was disappointing. Google Chokwe Lumumba.
— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) February 26, 2014
She followed her opinion by re-tweeting the views of another Twitter user:
Again. There is a real and serious need of representation of black women. But I’m not interested in being represented as an accessory.
— Veronica Miller ☀ (@veronicamarche) February 26, 2014
The concept behind Pharrell’s album, whose cover depicts him standing beside three women–only one of whom appear to be white at first glance–in bathrobes, is explained below.
The reason why I named it G I R L in capital letters is because when you look at it, it looks a little weird,” he told Zane Lowe. “And the reason why it does is because society is a little unbalanced. And I just thought like, if I’m gonna make an album, I need to make an album that says everything that I’ve ever wanted to say, like dreamt of. Women have been so good to me over this entire career and they’ve done so much for my family. Everything I’ve ever gotten is because they’ve paid for so they’re like my bosses—indirectly and directly. I wanted to analyze that for a second.
