![]() ![]() Or you could just take the whole disc as is, as a strong if patchy reminder of the Neptunes' pop prowess. For The Neptunes Present. Doing this would hopefully eradicate the middle patch of innocuous rock - Spymob's "Half-Steering," the High Speed Scene's "F**k n' Spend" - while retaining the aforementioned highlights, along with saving space for Vanessa Marquez' "Good Girl," which has to be the best ripoff of late-'80s Jam & Lewis-style production. When Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams are behind the boards, hit singles are expected, and hit singles are usually granted. Besides, you can whittle this disc down to your favorite dozen and have one of the year's best albums. At 18 tracks, there's a little too much to digest, and not everything is top rate - but knocking the disc for the fact that a few cuts aren't Top Ten material would only further illustrate how spoiled listeners have become, and how remarkable the Neps' run has been. (It also must be said that no one but Williams could make a chorus like "Pop sh*t, n*gg*, what's up?" so effective.) "Popular Thug," originally a track on Kelis' import-only Wanderland, gets a deserved new look, with Pusha T's role bumped in favor of Nas, who proceeds to take the track over and knock Kelis into the supporting role. Amidst whirling sirens, Dirt McGirt's turn, "Pop Shit," boasts a comical Looney Tunes-worthy arrangement. (It also must be said that no one else could make the line "And I was gon' tear your ass up" seem so charming.) The spare cattle-prod funk of "Light Your Ass on Fire" pings and jolts with sharp zaps, accompanying Busta Rhymes' more sexually aggressive and explicit come-ons. Williams steps out with some help from Jay-Z on "Frontin'," one of the biggest Neptunes-related singles yet the light, simple arrangement is ideally suited to Williams' lighthearted falsetto. Pharrell & Ab-Liva) Clipse 3:50 4 It Wasn't Us (feat. Pharrell) Busta Rhymes 3:40 3 Blaze Of Glory (Club Mix) (feat. If anything, Clones puts an end to any thought that the duo randomly selects a track from their beat bank when collaborating, since it ably demonstrates how their skills can adapt to any conceivable personality. 1 Intro The Neptunes 0:27 2 Light Your Ass On Fire (Club Mix) (feat. For The Neptunes Present.Clones, the tables are somewhat turned the producers aren't in need of any more hits, but they do the enlisting here, and they snare an all-star cast of featured players who are willing to join up and/or return the favor, all the while reaping the cachet that comes with being in such venerated company. Though Hugo and Williams pursued solo projects in the 2010s, N.E.R.D returned in 2017, and they produced Justin Timberlake’s diverse, rootsy Man of the Woods in 2018, yet again drawing from a deep well of inspiration.When Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams are behind the boards, hit singles are expected, and hit singles are usually granted. ![]() Meanwhile, they also created their own left-field band, the gleefully genre-bending R&B/rock hybrid act N.E.R.D. And their 2006 pairing with Clipse on Hell Hath No Fury remains a high-water mark for lyrical hip-hop production. They helped Britney Spears reinvent herself as a deliciously bad girl on “I’m a Slave 4 U.” Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Usher-for each artist, they brought productions steeped in hormonal immediacy. They produced for JAY Z (“I Just Wanna Love U”) and Mystikal (the spacious “Shake Ya Ass”). From that point on, they took over the airwaves. Their aesthetic can be heard, in embryonic form, on Mase’s 1998 track “Lookin’ at Me” it stormed into the mainstream a year later with bangers like Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Got Your Money” (the perfect setting for the rapper’s off-kilter flow) and Kelis’ album Kaleidoscope. ![]() ![]() By the late ’90s, the duo had crafted a uniquely spacious, rhythmically complex sound that drew on their marching-band past, frequently oriented around a single, stabbing melodic line and futuristic, off-the-wall flashes of flourish. They first used the name “The Neptunes” at a talent show sponsored by R&B impresario Teddy Riley, who signed them upon graduation from school. Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams met at band camp in Virginia Beach, VA, in 1990 (Williams drummed, Hugo played sax). The Neptunes are one of the most influential production duos of the 21st century, both madly prolific and startlingly original-and as capable of topping the charts as of pleasing the snootiest underground hip-hop heads. ![]()
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