Meet the Neptunes

The best thing that anybody dreaming of pop stardom can do these days is to have a recording produced by the Neptunes. Of course, it all depends on whether these guys will want or will have the time to take you in. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who have dubbed themselves The Neptunes, have a waiting list that they probably refuse to think about and a client roster that is the envy of everyone.

N’Sync, All Saints, Babyface, Backstreet Boys, Beyonce, Britney, Destiny’s Child, Garbage, Ice Cube, Ja Rule, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Joe, Kelis, Lil Kim, Limp Bizkit, LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, P. Diddy, Sade, Sean Paul and Usher are but some of the artists they got to work with since they made their debut four years ago. Now add to this their recent Grammy win as Producer of the Year and no one around is likely to protest the fact that they are indeed the hottest producers of the moment.

The Neptunes won the Grammy for their work last year on Rock Your Body and Justified by Justin Timberlake, Excuse Me Miss by Jay-Z, Beautiful by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell & Uncle Charlie, Come Close by Common featuring Mary J. Blige, Luv U Better by LL Cool J featuring Marc Dorsey and their own Frontin’ featuring Pharrell and Jay-Z and The Neptunes Present…Clones.

As this list shows, The Neptunes’ forte is hip hop, which I believe is the best type of music to start with if you want to be a producer these days. You can do anything with hip hop. Sing, mix, rap, sample, etc. etc. Unlike other hip hoppers though, Pharrell and Chad decided to also do pop and subsequently proved themselves as good with the Britney crowd as with LL Cool J. In fact, one of their recent works is a remix of the Rolling Stones classic Sympathy for the Devil. Haven’t heard this one yet but it should be at the very least interesting.

As for their other works, you might want to check out Neptunes Present: Clones. A various artists collection, the album comes across as a sampler of what Pharrell and Chad do best. Among the cuts are If by Nelly; It Blows My Mind by Snoop Dog; Popular Thug by Kelis; It Wasn’t Us by Ludacris and Good Girl by Vanessa Marquez. Some of them like Pop Sh*t by Dirt McGirt and Put ‘em Up by N.O.R.E. feature vocals by Pharrell whose sweet falsetto has now become as famous as that of Babyface.

Grammy Nominees Album

Speaking of the Grammys, the best thing to do if you are interested in owning copies of the nominated songs without necessarily busting your budget, is to get a copy of the 2004 Grammy Nominees Album. A joint project of the Recording Academy and BMG Strategic Marketing this album does not have all the winning songs but it is made up of some of last year’s best releases. There are 21 cuts by some of the biggest pop stars of the moment including big winners Beyonce, Coldplay, OutKast and Luther Vandross.

Among the songs included are Crazy in Love by Beyonce featuring Hay-Z; Clocks by Coldplay; Going Under by Evanescence; The Way You Move by Outkast; Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake; Beautiful by Christina Aguilera; Dance with My Father by Luther Vandross; Lose Yourself by Eminem; Work It by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and Keep Me in Your Heart by the late Warren Zevon.

R&B Reigns

Meanwhile R&B continues to reign supreme in the US charts as per the latest tabulation from Billboard Magazine: Slow Jamz by Twista featuring Kanye West & Jamie Foxx; Yeah! by Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris; The Way You Move by Outkast featuring Sleepy Brown; Me, Myself and I by Beyonce; Hey Ya! also by Outkast; You Don’t Know My Name by Alicia Keys; Hotel by Cassidy featuring R. Kelly; Someday by Nickelback; Salt Shaker by Ying Yang Twins featuring Lil Jon & The East Side; and Sorry 2004 by American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

The albums are the following: When the Sun Goes Down by Kenny Chesney; A Crow Left of Murder by Incubus; Twista by Kamikaze; Closer by Josh Groban; Only You by Harry Connick, Jr.; Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast; Fallen by Evanescence; The Very Best of Sheryl Crow by Sheryl Crow; Shock’n Y’all by Toby Keith; and Soulful by Ruben Studdard.