"Hip-hop producers turned artists start off on the right foot."
Best Tracks: Lap Dance, Run To The Sun, Stay Together, Provider, Truth Or Dare
It's been known in the past for producers to become fed up with producing somebody else's music and to put themselves in front of the mic.
But more likely than not the album's don't cross over as well as expected (i.e. Jermaine Dupri and Timbaland's latest efforts.)
For one reason or another the beats that they gave us on other singers or rappers' songs that were so great and innovative seem to lose to lose thier flavor after the
first few tracks. N*E*R*D's innovative "In Search Of" seems to defy this curse and rise above the usual poppy beats that The Neptunes (N*E*R*D's production name) put out.
The music on "In Search Of" is a wide mix of new wave, alternative, funk and hip-hop that rarely ever blends together nicely but on this album it does.
The album starts off on the right foot with the politic bashing "Lapdance" and moves smoothly to the funk infused "Things Are Getting Better" which is the essence of a feel good song.
The album moves on to some very thought provoking songs about street life and drugs ("Provider","Bobby James") but for all the thought provoking material it falls prey to odes to sex and
everything dealing with it ("Brain","Tape You"). But even with the lack of lyrical depth the album's beats stay tight, quick and most importantly different. Pharell williams'
unique choice of harmonies and style help him to cover up the times when his voice tends to fall flat such as a few parts in "Run To The Sun". In an interview Pharell commented that with "In Search Of"
the band just did whatever they felt like doing and maybe that's why the album seems to have such confidence behind it and doesn't forced like other acts that have trie it before to make some extra money.
Williams' voice shines in "Stay Together" with it's Beatles-like harmony and James Brown-like scream and also"Bobby James"
with its 80's sound but new millenium freshness and not to mention a great background harmony that saves the last half of the 5 minute epic. Even the mosh inducing "Rock Star" that could've been terrible by many other bands
seems to have a special quality to it that has been missing from much of the rock scene lately.
The album is without a doubt refreshing blend of original ideas and never falls into the usual cliches of big hip-hop or pop appearances that so many other album's have done.
It excels in every genre that it borrows from and no one would've ever guessed that it would come from a pair of pop producers. Pharell said "we titled the album IN SEARCH OF…. We want to show you what you might be looking for and, if you don't find it, hopefully this is the first brick in the yellow-brick road to your destiny."
Well if that's so then this album is truly a yellow brick on the road to stardom and possibly a creative change in the music business.
