“Your generation is unraveling deeply entrenched laws, principals, and misguided values that have held women back for far too long and, therefore, have held us all back.” he said. “Imagine the possibilities when women are not held back. The world that you will live in that will be a lot better. This is the first generation that navigates with the security and confidence to treat women as equals.”

These are words from Pharrell’s 2017 NYU Commencement speech which can be seen in full below.

Pharrell was was named NYU’s School of the Arts “artist in residence” in 2015.