Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, the notorious Neptunes, continue their voyage to take hip-hop to the edge on their debut solo album, "In Search of..." Under the pseudonym N.E.R.D. (short for No one Ever Really Dies), they've juxtaposed their masterfully produced beats with lyrical flow, giving literal personality and meaning to their music.
Virginia natives Williams and Hugo, with the help of friend Shay, have poured their personal experience and impeccable talent into this long-awaited solo album. Their move from behind the backroom mixers to the performance stage has been hyped for months and should prove hard to ignore.
The Neptunes' fun beats and lyrical talents have frequented dance floors for years, but always under the auspices of major headliners. Individually, Williams' musical dexterity has been recognized as BMI's Songwriter of the Year for his work on Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money," Jay Z's "I Just Want to Love You" and Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass." As a dynamic duo, The Neptunes have made a name for themselves through collaborations with superstar vocalists like Britney Spears, Noreaga, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Usher and well...you get the point. Their success to date can be directly linked to their ability to see the world - and the music in it - uniquely.
"In Search of..." can be described as nothing other than fusion hip-hop in its finest form. The impetus behind the album's personality goes back to the Neptunes' roots as kids mixing music and rapping in their garage after school. Their alias, N.E.R.D., stems from their awkwardness as kids who never were able to color inside the lines.
Major influences for the album include classic rock and soul talents like AC/DC and Stevie Wonder. There are few who could pull off such a seemingly discomfited mixture, but if anyone can do it, it's the Neptunes.
As N.E.R.D., the Neptunes keep their unique form by putting forth nothing but novel music mixes in the songs off their new album.
Get ready to hear something you've never heard before. The rhythms are hypnotizing. The heavy use of guitar and drum fills is somewhat alarming at first, especially to those of us accustomed to the way hip-hop SHOULD sound. But the layers of sound stay true to the hip-hop creed of block-rockin' beats.
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Envisioning air-time at a club is easy for most of the tracks. Artistic value is concretely present as well in the album, as demonstrated through the musicality of the tracks, as well as the depth of their lyrics. From "Lapdance," a track about the absurdities of American politics, to "Run to the Sun," a hip-hop love ballad, N.E.R.D. use their song-writing skills to put out their personal views and perspectives about life.
This album can be described as different - different sound, different beats, different angle, different style and completely different point. "In Search of..." is show and tell: a showing of musical talents and a telling of what it's like to get inside the head of a N.E.R.D.
The purpose behind the album is honorable. However, the execution is somewhat lacking in intrinsic commercial value, which, unfortunately for today's society, dictates the economic success of any album. There are some extraordinary tracks, but I fear that the masses may not be ready for the album as a whole.
Whether or not the album sells, you might want to check it out to see if it's your thing. My personal experience with this album had its low and its high. I admit I wasn't feeling it at first. But my appreciation of it has grown immensely after I let go of my preconceptions about how it should sound.
Keep one thing in mind when listening: no other producing artists can compare to the amount of innovation that these guys have brought to popular music. They are definitely contributing to the newly found spectrum of hip-hop that's being creating within the industry right now. Here's a chance to get in at the ground level.
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