You already know the story of the Neptunes. World-famous producers and songwriters, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, over the course of their decade-long career, have literally changed the course of music. It started with the redefining of hip-hop, the two of them wielding a minimalist, synthesized palette and a limitless imagination to create a sound that was as sophisticated and elegant as it was raw and rhythmic. Soon the Neptunes would alter the landscape of pop music, as well, creating driving rhythm & blues influenced work that artists in every genre would seek out to help establish their creative impulses. They have worked with everyone from Madonna and Justin Timberlake to Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani; from Britney Spears and Busta Rhymes to Kelis and the Clipse. Think of your favorite songs in the last ten years: most of them are Neptunes productions.

 

But N*E*R*D* are not the Neptunes, and the Neptunes are not N*E*R*D*.

 

“The Neptunes is what we do, but N*E*R*D* is who we are. It’s our life,” Pharrell would say in 2000, in describing the group that includes him, Chad and longtime friend and creative wunderkind, Shae. The three of them together combine for uninhibited explorations of sounds, emotions and truth, adhering to no agenda, subscribing to no rules. N*E*R*D* is the way they live their life, the way they see the world.

 

The words Pharrell used to describe N*E*R*D* in 2000 ring just as true in 2008, with the release of the group’s third album, Seeing Sounds. The album is a blistering mash-up of booming hip-hop beats and rollercoastering rock riffs, rumbling crunk rhythms and scintillating soul music. Whereas their first album, In Search Of…, was an imaginative, exploration of identities, and their second album, Fly Or Die, sought out the range of genres and sounds that have influenced the group, Seeing Sounds grinds everything together, evoking a sound that is un-tethered by preconceptions and convention. It is also an album that amplifies the style and attitudes that have made Pharrell, Chad and Shae transcendent cultural icons.