Right now, there’s no place I’d rather be than here in New York City. There are two great reasons. First, the Video Music Awards are in town this whole week, with the big awards show taking place on Sunday night. But it’s also the start of New York’s Fashion Week. It all kicked off last night with New York’s famous Fashion Night Out, where stores from Bloomingdale’s to BAPE all kept there shop fronts open until late to showcase new designers and clothes. Outside the Billionaire Boys Club boutique store in Soho, hundreds of kids were lining up, eager to get their hands on some exclusive limited edition gear. Inside the store, there was a special guest cashier: Pharrell Williams. We ducked into the store to talk to Pharrell about why he was manning the till, his take on the nominees at this years VMAs and who he thinks are the hottest MCs in the game right now (Kanye, Drake, T.I., Jay-Z, The Game, Rick Ross — he says hip-hop is in a good place right now). He broke down what it was like working with Jay-Z on The Blueprint 3 and how “So Ambitious,” arguably the best track on the album, came together. He talked about working with Drake — who he called “The Truth,” which is a huge compliment coming from a producer of his stature. Before we left him to meet the hundreds of waiting fans, we grilled him with the Ultimate VMA Quiz. I wouldn’t say he cheated his way to getting everything right, but imaginary-phoning a friend might be bending the rules just a little bit.

*mtv.com