While Pharrell was still a teenager, Teddy Riley brought him in to work on Wreckx-N-Effect‘s 1992 sophomore album Hard or Smooth. Pharrell helped write a verse on the albums lead single Rump Shaker.
Rump Shaker has 11 different writer and producer credit; Aqil Davidson, Anton Hollins, David Porter, Markell Riley, Teddy Riley, David Wynn, Etterlene Jordan (Bunny DeBarge), El DeBarge, Randy DeBarge, Ty Fyffe, and of course Pharrell Williams. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, right behind Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You.”
There were rumors of The Neptunes producing the record but Ty Fyffe, a producer on Rump Shaker, clarified Pharrell’s involvement in the song saying,
“Me and [Teddy Riley] are the only producers that did that song. A lot of people got credit…shouts out to Pharrell; he was down with the camp back in the day. But he really didn’t produce ‘Rumpshaker’ – no disrespect, Pharrell’s a genius. I love Pharrell’s music. But he only wrote Ted’s rap.”
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Read: Pharrell, Timbaland and Magoo were in a group called S.B.I. which stood for “Surrounded by Idiots”
