Tune your radio to any urban station in the nation and you'll see why his focus might be on other things. The Neptunes have dominated the rap radio game with their otherworldly productions for the past year and a half, and now, after working with pop/rock artists like Britney Spears and No Doubt, they're getting all sorts of airplay that they never expected. Beyond multiplatinum, these Virginia natives--who've also laid tracks for Jay-Z, Mystikal, Moby, Limp Bizkit, P. Diddy, M.C. Lyte, Tha Liks, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and many, many more--have placed their Midas touch on a plethora of acts who may never have received such exposure were it not for such signature forward-thinking grooves. That signature sound is skewered, stomped, exploited, and turned inside-out on N.E.R.D.'s full-length, In Search Of..., a work many months in the making (and re-making). Advance promo copies of the original version were mailed out in late 2000, but when the record failed to hit store shelves any time in 2001, the critically acclaimed mystery LP became a much in-demand item; countless copies were bootlegged, sold, and traded via the Internet by curious fans in search of In Search Of.... The album was eventually released in the U.K. and sold gangbusters throughout Europe, but for some reason, Stateside powers-that-be just couldn't figure out what to do with it. "That's a pretty fair assessment of the situation," Williams concedes.
See, the album zig-zags in so many different directions, it's difficult to pigeonhole. And pigeonholing is what the music industry, especially in America, is all about. From the hardcore bounce of the first track, "Lap Dance," to the sing-songy, feelgood electro-romp that is "Things Are Getting Better," to the psychedelic "Brain," this set is all over the map--and that's just the first three tracks! The folksy blues tinge of "Provider," the driving space-age metal guitar riffs on "Truth Or Dare," and the ecstatic beauty of "Run To The Sun" cover a few more facets, and the disc's remaining six cuts take off in more directions than a compass. No wonder N.E.R.D.'s record label was baffled.
"We didn't make this record for money or sales," Williams asserts. "We made this record for ourselves and for people who love great music." Williams and his fellow Neptune Chad Hugo got so involved in making the record for themselves, in fact, that after about a year of listening to the unreleased original, they went back into the studio with a few musicians to beef up the final product.
"We had to pump up the THC level on this album. The original version...the THC levels weren't high enough," Williams explains. "But we went in and we added some live instruments and got the levels up to where you don't need to take no drugs, you don't need no alcohol, you don't need any of that to listen to this album."
He's right: The fuller, crispier, meatier version of In Search Of... will mess with listeners' heads well enough on its own. Call it Revenge Of The N.E.R.D., if you like.
By Matt Sonzala (01/02/2002)