Virginia's production team The Neptunes (Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams)
penned Kelis Rogers' Kaleidoscope (1999), which launched the young
singer-rapper as the heiress to
Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott with her feminist-tinged fusion of hip-hop and rhythm'n'blues.
They crafted Usher's U Don't Have to Call (2001)
Nelly’s Hot in Herre (2002),
LL Cool J's Luv U Better (2002),
Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body (2002),
Kelis' Milkshake (2003),
Snoop Dogg’s Drop It Like It’s Hot (2004),
Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl (2005),
Ludacris' Money Maker (2006),
Gwen Stefani's Wind It Up (2006), their last major hit.
Already among the most successful hip-hop producers, The Neptunes formed N.E.R.D. with rapper Sheldon "Shay" Haley, as their "rock" side-project.
In Search Of (2001), remixed the following year with live instrumentation, and especially Fly or Die (2004) indulged in a neurotic melange of sonic stereotypes and production techniques of metal, funk, soul and pop.
The music on the former is sleek and elegant, effortlessly shifting from the
confrontational and crunchy Lapdance to the
feverish, feathery and funky Things Are Getting Better,
from the booming Rock Star - Poser
to the pop ballad Run to the Sun,
from the flamenco-ish Tape You
to the dreamy and jazzy Bobby James,
with a peak in the catchy noir blues of Baby Doll.
The latter is another exhilarating ride through the annals of popular music,
thanks to
the power ballad Don't Worry About It (somewhere in between Jimi Hendrix and James Brown),
the catchy and hard-rocking Fly or Die,
and the edgy and goofy She Wants to Move.
The eight-minute Chariot of Fire is instead a concentrate of confusion and languor.
The seven-minute pastiche Wonderful Place exhales flavors of Broadway musical.
The seven-minute Merseybeat-sounding Drill Sergeant turns into another
grotesque Broadway-esque tune.
Pharrell Williams debuted solo with In My Mind (2006)
that includes his neo-soul singles
Can I Have It Like That (featuring Gwen Stefani) and Number One (featuring Kanye West).
N.E.R.D.'s
Seeing Sounds (2008) meandered all over the map but delivered (at least)
a dizzying sonic merry-go-round, while Nothing (2010) had little to offer
that wasn't self-parody.
Williams also composed Robin Thicke's megahit Blurred Lines (2013), reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up.
His single Happy (2013), another innocuous pop-soul number, was included on his second album Girl (2014).
N.E.R.D.'s No One Ever Really Dies (2017) excels mainly at
pop-rap hybrids like
1000 (with Future),
Lemon (with Rihanna),
Rollinem 7's (with Andre 3000)
and
Secret Life of Tigers.
Less convincing (or utterly boring) are the collaborations
Voila (with Gucci Mane),
Don't Don't Do It (with Kendrick Lamar) and
Lifting You (with Ed Sheeran).
The album is redeemed by the
eight-minute psychedelic pastiche Lightning Fire Magic Prayer, one of their career's peaks.
