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Neptune's |
The Neptunes are one of today's most successful production teams. They are known for creating #1 hits for other artists. Their latest project just happened to be for their own group. N*E*R*D is made up of the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, and longtime friend Shay. The group's name comes from their life philosophy, No One Ever Really Dies. The idea for the group came about almost a decade ago.
Pharrell and Chad, both twenty-eight, met in the seventh grade in their hometown, Virginia Beach. They both played in the school band. Pharrell played the drums and Chad played the saxophone and the drums. They got their first break when Teddy Riley opened his New Jack Swing production company next door to their high school. Riley signed them, and let them produce his song titled "Rumpshaker." They also produced tracks for SWV and BlackStreet. They left the company in the early 90s. They would soon become the Neptunes.
The first chart topping song they did was Noreaga's "Super thug (What What)." They went on to produce "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It To Me)" by Jay-Z and "Southern Hospitality" by Ludacris. The Neptunes soon became a household name for hip-hop artists and listeners. They also worked with the Alkaholiks, Nelly, Angie Martinez, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, Mystical, Ray J, and Fabolous. Then they started working with artists from other genres of music. They produced tracks for R&B artists like Babyface, Mary J. Blige, Sade, and Faith Evans. They even worked with pop acts such as *Nsync, the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears. They also produced songs for No Doubt, Moby, Garbage, and Kid Rock. Over the past few years, the Neptunes have probably written and produced more #1 singles than any other producer. It's understandable that Pharrell was named BMI's "Songwriter of the Year." They have already established their own production company with Arista Records called Star Trak Entertainment. They have signed Clipse, a rap duo, Spymob, a four-man rock group, and Kelis, a female soul singer who the Neptunes have worked with before. Creative differences sometimes made it hard to work with other artists. "We'll say 'why not try this?' and what usually happens is they sit there and stare at us," says Pharrell, according to their website. "Eventually we figured if we were going to ever hear any of this stuff, we'd have to do it ourselves." That's when they decided to make their own album.
In Search Of… was planned to be released during the summer of 2001. The original sounded like the previous songs they had done for other artists, with their signature programmed beats and samples. They pulled it off Virgin's release list at the last minute to rework it. They went back into the studio with Star Trak rock group Spymob playing on the tracks with live instrumentation. The songs that used to be straight hip-hop now have a touch of rock.
The CD starts off with the first single, "Lapdance," featuring Vita and Lee Harvey. It's not about what it sounds like. It's actually a song about "Politicians sounding like strippers." The lyrics pretty much say that a politician's promise is like the come-on of a stripper. This track sounds like a great hip-hop song with stuttering guitars and agitated drum beats in the background. The next is just a little different. "Things Are Getting Better" starts off with "Walk in the club with a bunch thugs…see a hundred girls, get a thousand hugs," which makes it sound like a rap song, but it slows down during the chorus. Pharrell's smooth melodies and the keyboard make it a little more mellow. "Provider" is also a slower track that sounds bluesy. It's a sad song about an afraid, unhappy person in the drug economy. "Goodbye beloved one, do you know what I am…I'm a provider girl, I gotta hit the streets tonight." The acoustic guitar sounds good up against Pharrell's purposely off-key voice.
The next track is "Truth or Dare" featuring Kelis and Pusha T from Clipse. It's about exactly what it sounds like, an interesting game of truth or dare. I like this song because the guitar sounds like a 70s rock song. Another song I really enjoy is "Run To The Sun." The melody and the lyrics make it a sweet love song. "While you're here, I wanna tell you something, is that I love you girl, and I wish I could run to the sun, and never come back." It sounds like Pharrell is singing to his girlfriend. In an interview with MTV, he disclosed what it's really about. "It's really about my grandmother that has leukemia.
The concept is if we ran to the sun, we'd be out of earth's orbit and could escape the concept of time and life and she wouldn't have it anymore. It's just a little super extensive wishful thinking." "Stay Together" is also a really sweet song about wanting to stay with his girlfriend. "You were my sun rays, without you girl there was no day." It has a slightly slow beat, but it has good drum and bass. "Rock Star" also has great drum and bass. It sounds more like a rock song than hip-hop. Since it is the second single, KROQ has been playing it a lot recently. It's a mean song about posers. "You can't be me, I'm a rock star!" It's definitely a change of pace from the rest of the album. I really enjoyed In Search Of… because when you listen to it, you aren't really sure what type of music you're hearing. Which, according to their website, is exactly what they wanted.