Pharrell Williams |
Pharrell Williams
Landmark work Nelly, “Hot in Herre”; Kelis, “Milkshake”; Snoop Dogg, “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
Ass-kicking recent release Jay-Z, “Blue Magic”
Wrestling name Elektro!
If Pharrell Williams’s legacy winds up being that of the man who unleashed “The New Justin Timberlake” upon the world, it’ll be apropos: over the past 10 years, no producer’s beats have bestowed more insta-cred than the Neptunes’ spacey synths. He and partner Chad Hugo’s sparse, futuristic Star Trak sound has spawned a thousand imitators — including, no joke, the Trak Starz — but there’s no Korg Triton that can duplicate Pharrell’s inexplicably charming off-key falsetto. Williams has become the ultimate pop shape shifter, splashing bongos on a Rolling Stones remix one minute, making ’hood anthems with Clipse the next, all the while looking like an actual alien with a fetish for colorful Japanese street wear and dookie chains that Mr. T would find excessive. Sure, plenty of producers could’ve gone to number one with a still-kinda-hot 2001 Britney Spears, but this guy managed a hit single out of 1999 ODB, not to mention launching Kelis’s career and revitalizing a post–No Limit Snoop. Though he proved himself fallible this past year with a dud of a solo album, Williams seems to have stockpiled enough cool points to last him ’til the rapture. How else could he get away with a nickname like Skateboard P?
— Chris Nelson
Related:
Guest lists, Neo-new-what?, Post-punk pantheon, More 
- Guest lists
What small, private lists like this remind us is that big, honking institutional lists are largely fictions, mirages of a consensus that no longer exists, if it ever really did in the first place.
- Neo-new-what?
The real album of the year is a disc that probably didn’t cross many people’s paths in 2006, a Rhino comp titled Future Retro that pairs various DJs/electronicists (Richard X, Tiga, the Crystal Method) with classic new-wave tracks by the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, and New Order.
- Post-punk pantheon
They were, by definition, misfits.
- Year in National Pop: New attitudes
Are we fated to pretend?
- Hip-hop is dead
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds — and not just in redneck pockets, where rap music hardly reached before, but in suburban enclaves where acts like Twiztid and Tech N9ne sell out shows with ease.
- Hip-hop from Hell
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds.
- 2008 Listravaganza!
We are not at all sick of bands with animal names yet and seem to have a soft spot for Erykah Badu that we kept very hush about all year.
- Forward into the past!
Could it be just a coincidence that as I sit here writing this, a grizzled Bob Seger is gearing up for the release of Face the Promise , the Detroit rocker’s first proper studio album in, oh, forever and a day? The Lemonheads, "No Backbone" (mp3)
- Portland Phoenix Best Music Poll local winners 2000-2007
- Top 10 Hyphy Videos of all time
With Warner Bros. snapping up the cream of the Yay Area rap scene , TVT capitalizing on Hyphy Hitz , and even indie-rock geeks learning how to ghost ride the whip , we figured it's high time to take a quick look back at how we got here. So get your stunna shades on and get ready to go dumb: it's the top 10 hyphy videos of all time!
- Big business
Now that the music biz has licked its wounds from a nasty 2005, things are finally starting to heat up, and an indie-heavy winter is giving way to a more major spring.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Britney Spears, Timbaland, Amy Winehouse, More
, Britney Spears, Timbaland, Amy Winehouse, U2, Gnarls Barkley, Mick Jones, The Black Keys, Danger Mouse, Danger Mouse, James Blunt, Less
