Sooner or later it all comes crashing down.

                “Sooner or Later”, N*E*R*D, 2008

Standing onstage at the University of Miami, and wearing an aqua polo and a backwards baseball cap, Pharrell Williams is an unassuming yet stylish political pundit. “Yeah, we’re paying attention to what’s going on on CNN with the f***ing bailout,” he says. Pharrell takes a moment to take a breath as many students cheer and howl. One girl who has somehow gotten on stage throws up a U hand signal while another pumps her arm like Arsenio Hall. “We’re not feeling it either. You know what happened on Wall Street, right? I’ll tell you what happened on Wall Street.” And then N*E*R*D strikes up: “Sooner or later it all comes crashing down.”

Addressing the students of the U at a Homecoming concert on Friday, October 24, Pharrell used many moments between songs to rant about the issues instead of telling stories about songs or cracking jokes. Foremost on Pharrell’s mind was the economy, and who can blame him: the value of his and Chad Hugo’s producing duo, The Neptunes, is purportedly over $150 million.

It would be most beneficial for Pharrell to have John McCain be the next president of the United States, at least from an economic stand point. I mean, think about it: McCain intends to cut taxes across the board, while Obama will raise taxes from 35% to 39% on those making more than $250,000 a year. On $150 million, that’s the difference of $6 million, from $52.5 to $58.5 million. And that’s if that money is assessed in privately.

But Pharrell, an Obama supporter who went as far as to design a t-shirt for the campaign, finds Obama and his message of hope and change the difference that’s needed in America for the next four years, and says the taxes he would pay in an Obama administration would be his way of helping the little guy. “Where else is the money going to come from?” he asked me in a private interview at South Beach Studios on Miami Beach.

While I don’t know who has the dough, I invite you to watch and hear Pharrell as he addresses the crowd at UM and talks to me about the issues in my video:

Special thanks to Markeem Middleton for his help with this week's video.