Justin Timberlake Performs Surprise Music Tribute to Pharrell Williams at Recording Academy Honors 

An impressive lineup of entertainers performed tributes to Pharrell Williams, Brandy and Kirk Franklin at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles Thursday night, where the artists were celebrated at the Recording Academy Honors Presented by the Black Music Collective.

Among them was Justin Timberlake, who closed out the tribute to Williams at the end of the night, following an introduction by Tyler, The Creator and performances by The Clipse and Leon Thomas. Barely a seat was left occupied as Timberlake performed a medley of his and the producer’s hits, from “Senorita,” “Rock your Body” and “Like I Love You” to N.O.R.E’s “Nothin,’” Mistikal’s “Shake it Fast,” Snoop Dogg’s “Beautiful” and Jay Z’s “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” closing out with Daft Punk’s “Lucky.”

“Anybody who’s come in contact with or been in the same frequency with Pharrell Williams is changed forever,” Timberlake stated. “He came into my life at a time when I was entering my own, and funny enough, he made me feel like I belonged. Your creativity is unparalleled, your energy is infectious…you changed my life. And I will forever be grateful.”

Williams, in his remarks as he accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award from the L.A. rapper and producer and Recording Academy President Harvey Mason, Jr., made a plea to government leaders.

“This is the impact award, so I’d be remiss not to say I want to pray for the leaders of this nation,” Williams began. “I want to pray for the leaders of this nation and the powers that be, the ones who are giving these orders. I’m praying that they find in their hearts some empathy, some grace, and most importantly, some mercy for these people who may not have been born in this country, but love it just as much as you do. Because, trust me, they would not be here if they didn’t believe us when we keep saying that this is the greatest nation on the planet. So please, empathy, grace and mercy, we should all be praying for that. It doesn’t matter how you voted; it’s how you pray.”

Earlier in the night, Kirk Franklin and Brandy received Black Music Icon Awards. The 20-time Grammy Award-winning gospel artist performed a medley of his own hits, including “Stomp” and “Silver and Gold,” after John Legend, Lacrae, PJ Morton and Tamela Mann’s tribute, which included “Melodies from Heaven, “He’s Able” and “Lean on Me.”

Franklin called for more unity among the Black church in his acceptance speech.”I learned early on about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and never wanted to be afraid to say that, never wanted to be afraid to fall in love with him and to believe that he loves everybody,” Franklin stated. “It hurts when I see the faith that I really believe in be so divisive and be so cruel. If you only knew my mistakes, if you only knew my failures, you can only know it’s only the grace of God.

“I just really hope that I can make God proud,” Franklin continued, “and I want to do it by how I love people, how I treat people. I want to walk in humility, and I want to be a good man.”

R&B girl group Flo sang Brandy and Monica’s 1998 Grammy Award-winning hit “The Boy is Mine” during her musical tribute, in addition to a rendition of “Full Moon” by Coco Jones and “I Wanna Be Down” by Kehlani.

“I am not a woman of many words, but I’d like to say to all of you, I’m truly honored and grateful to be standing here in this beautiful space celebrating music and legacy; never did I imagine my name and the word icon to ever merge, and it feels a bit too much because I’m humbly just a vessel chosen to use the gift to inspire, touch and change lives,” Brandy said in her acceptance remarks after performing “Almost Doesn’t Count.”

The singer, who recently ended her co-headlining tour with R&B singer Monica in December, added, “This recognition, along with the success of The Boy is Mine Tour, awakened a part of me that I thought was gone forever, and it has lit a fire inside of me I didn’t think could ever be reunited. But I’m very much alive. I’m still here. And by the grace of God, I have unlimited opportunity to get out here and be somebody, maybe even an icon.”