In Search Of - N.E.R.D. (2002)

Another early 00s Pharrell production, this one with him and his friends taking the vocals rather than more skilled vocalists. It’s okay; he’d grow into that part.

While Pharrell’s beats are always a breath of fresh air, with live instruments laid alongside organic samples, this still kind of feels like somebody said “Hey Pharrell, you should make an Outkast record!” There’s a lot of rock-ist band stuff that might easily be mistaken for someone who was getting less and less interested in hip hop, and that might be the case.

But while the lyrics are often dumb, there are some great dance-along tunes on here.