Pharrell was certainly a star at last night’s Grammys ceremony. If not for his wins with French duo Daft Punk than for his choice of headgear. While Pharrell didn’t show up to the ceremony dressed like a robot, he did sport an interesting hat that had everyone talking. While some called the Grammy winner Smokey The Bear, others were convinced it was a tribute to the Arby’s restaurant logo.
Interesting enough, Pharrell’s hat wasn’t worn without meaning. The hat made Grammys history by being arguably the single most talked about item of the night, while paying tribute to a classic hip hop video “Buffalo Girls” by rapper Malcolm McLaren.
According to The Cut Pharrell’s styled hat was just an oversized homage to the 1982 hat worn by Malcolm McLaren and the World’s Famous Supreme Team. In addition it was also pointed out that the track “Buffalo Girls” itself was a throw back to the 1844 song “Buffalo Gals” which at the time was famous by being performed in Blackface by singer John “Cool White” Hodges. After the “Buffalo Gals” track became popular it was sampled in a later song released in 1988 by the name of “Buffalo Stance” by Neenah Cherry.
At least now we know that Pharrell definitely had the weight of the Grammys ceremony on top of his head. Even though Pharrell meant to pay homage that didn’t mean the singer shied away from being the butt of the jokes because of his attire. In fact, the Grammy winner had a pretty hilarious Twitter exchange with Arby’s restaurant when the famous chain tweeted at him.
Hey @Pharrell , can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Arby’s (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
Y’all tryna start a roast beef?
Arby’s tried their best to capitalize one last time while Pharrell’s hat was still a trend.
So… Arby’s for lunch today?
— Arby’s (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
That said, if going by Twitter Pharrell Williams had the ultimate last laugh. Carrying on the celebratory mood of the night, the producer turned singer has been having fun tweeting superimposed images of himself with the hat on his head. Most are fan made graphics that Pharrell has decided to retweet and some of them are really spot on. We have to admit, after Pharrell tweeted a photo of his head on a Toy Story image, we can’t get the image of Pharrell as Woody out of our heads.
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) January 27, 2014
All jokes aside, Pharrell took home plenty of awards for the night. In total he earned four awards which means Pharrell won all of the Grammys that he was nominated for with Daft Punk. After the Grammy ceremony ended, Pharrell kept his cool back stage as he was interviewed by Quddus about his feelings on the multiple wins .
“It’s pretty crazy. I didn’t expect any of this. I would say that it’s been awesome because this is not my doing. I did a song but on the other side of the song it’s what you quantify where the magic is, and that’s the people voting for the song. When you see the views on the view you see people investing in our ideas. I jus know that it doesn’t have to be that way, so I’m thankful for it. It’s been cool.”
Hopefully Pharrell brings back the hat for other award shows.