Speaking to Time magazine, Pharrell explained that “taking somebody from A to B is cool, but when we produce we want to take people from A to D, to challenge their artistic natures, their image, everything.” The track caught the attention of Britney Spears, who, keen to break from the constraints of her bubblegum pop past, saw the appeal of The Neptunes crossover aesthetic and wanted the group to produce her next single. Punctuated by Pharrell’s falsetto outcries of “I just wanna laaaaaaav ya!” and held up by The Neptunes alternately terse and heavy beats, the track scored Jigga his first number one on the hip hop/R&B Billboard chart. The turning point for this transition came when Jay Z, perhaps the biggest household rap name, enlisted Chad and Pharrell to twiddle some knobs on “I Just Wanna Love You”. However, it was their work in the 00s that concreted their legacy as not just hip-hop beatsmiths, but maestros of the modern day pop song. Its beat, which would be tapped out on hallway lockers across the world, inspired a whole range of copycat tracks, like J-Kwon’s one time hit, “Tipsy”.īy the dawn of the millennium, Pharrell and Chad had pretty much cemented their reputation within the hip-hop world, having produced tracks not just for Diddy, Ma$e, Kelis and Clipse, but also for Ol’ Dirty Bastard and a Q-Tip featuring remix of Prince’s ") The Greatest Romance It’s Ever Been Sold”) (which is so rare it isn't even on YouTube). The track is a clinical definition of the quintessential Neptunes sound – sparse and subtle – and put Clipse on the map. This year, Complex magazine awarded The Neptunes and Clipse’s “Grindin’” as the best Neptunes beat of all time. Although the debut record from Clipse ultimately failed to generate a commercial impact, resulting in the group being dropped from their label, both records were the beginning of two healthy working relationships. This tract continued in 1999 when The Neptunes produced both Clipse and Kelis’ debut albums. In fact, Kanye West must have been listening, because he borrowed Ma$e’s first verse for last years “Cold”. Both were distinct in their sound and along with their higher profile features, started to pave the foundations of The Neptunes, slowly starting to paste their position as credible hip-hop producers. The first, Ma$e’s “Lookin’ At Me”, which featured Puff Daddy, peaked at number eight on the Billboard chart and the second, Noreaga’s “Super Thug”, featured backing vocals from Kelis. The fashionable melange of psychedelic pop, classic rock and new wave that The Neptunes have become known for first found its foothold in two tracks released at the latter end of the 90s. Although The Neptunes had assisted Teddy Riley with production, it wasn’t until the late 90s that they started to formulate their own sound.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |