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THENERD MENTALITYTHHY 6AVffi JAY-X A B*UNCT, LENIT ThIglR FUhIK TS'N SYh*C ANM HUSTLTP BHATS F&R T'{H KINGOF POP. IT WAS *h,l-Y A MATTER OF TIM€ gHF{3Rg TI{K \IIRGII''I[A ME,4CH PR$SLJCTION TEAMCALI-ED TF{€ I\FPTU'XE$ PtJTTi{ENR CLIg'\d?S ON'I HOLP Ah{& LKTTF{€IR OWTd g?RANGg S*UNSSLSOSH ShNT'..If; CI.,IART"S BY ETHAN BROWN

IHARRELL wTLLIAMs HAs rHE EvENING MAppED our "lIsrrN,"

|!|h" explains, "tonight we're gonna hang out with punks,I skaters and brothers from the hood." He glances downat the freshly painted morel parking lot and climbs into hisoversize Lincoln Navigator. "I can t hang with just one group ofpeople." The z8-year-old producer-musician is the mirror im-age of his inclusive social sphere-call it a ghetto-glam-bumpkinlook faded thrift-store jeans, tattered Rolling Stones baseballcap, Versace T-shirt and white Prada sneakers. And though hewears a chunky diamond earring in one ear and a cartoonishlyiced-out Rolex on his wrist, he carries himself with alaid-backswagger and wears the sleepy-eyed expression of a stonedsouthern rocker.

Williams's stubborn refusal to identify with atTy one palticuiarsubculture has served him well. As the nroduction duo lcrownas the Neptunes-and as the eclecric side project cal ledN.E.R.D.-he and his panner, Chad H,rgo, zT,have been equal-opportuniry innovators, puuing their sonic sramp on rap, rockand R&B and reshaping the pop landscape in their own musi-cally miscegenated image. Ever since they catapulted Noreagasriotous'"Superthug" into the mainstream in 1998, the Neptunes

PHOTOGRAPHS BY I I4ICHAEL EDWARDS

have been shockingly consistent hitmakers, racking up ahalf-dozen Top ro hits (and loads of Top 4os) in an arenawhererna'jor players like Sean "Puffy" Combs and legendary hit men suchas Clive Davis often strike out. Moreover. the Neptunes haveproved they can save artists from themseives, spinning stalwartstars in new directions. They transformed JayZ'shrstler-by-numbers "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It z Me)" inro a soulfulsing-along, remixed and rescued the Backstreet Boys' uninspiringu.rth.- "The Call' and converted Mystlfal's clicired boory

"rl'i"Shake Ya Ass" into a brassv. funkw hit.

PRODUCERS ARE THE NEW STARS OF MUSIC, HIGHLY PAID MAESTROShired to craft instant hits for increasingly disposable, telegenicpop stars, to lend fledgling hip-hoppers the necessary legiti-macy and to infuse well-worn rock stars with a bit of neededcurrency. Surely, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears and Aaliyahowe much of their ofFcamera apoeal to the innovative soundscreated by producdon ,,u., ,.r"h u, Rodney Jerkins, Max Mar-tin and Timbaland. Even Madonna, for all her feminist self-reliance , attributes much of her recent success to her menbehind the mixing boards, William Orbit and Mirwais. As a

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result, there's been a predicrable stampede ro work with themost current studio masters. The common refrain in the mu-sic business these days is not."Can you make me a numberone record?" It's "Can you make my record sound like that?"And right now, the sound they're rhinking of when they saythat is that of the Neptunes.

"This 'gimme the homest sound'shit," Wlliams says angrily,"that's what's killing this business. People goua rhink for rhem-selves, bring their own shit to the table. We ain't gonna createsomething from nothing." But in trurh, the Neptunes oftencome close. Their productions burst with falsetto choruses(usually sung by Williams), beat-box rhythms and twangy gui-tars-all underlined by a sly outsider's irreverence. They crafteda hilarious blaxploitation send-up forOl' Dirry Bastard on "Got Your Money''and infused Kelis's woman-wrongedanthem "Caught Out There" with an-gry, boombastic beats without under-mining i ts party-start ing power. "I fyoure in a club and you hear a song bythe Neptunes," explains Keith Wood,executive vice president of A&R at Vir-gin Records, "theres an instant reacfion,a mad rush to the dance floor."

That mad rush should increase con-siderably in the coming months as rheNeptunes' most recent collaborationsfind their way into clubs. ThoughWil l iams and Hugo usually maketracks in their Virginia Beach studio,they recently spent a few monthsworking with clients in Los Angeles."We had four studios rented out si-multaneousln" Hugo says. "One forKelis, one for Mary J. Blige, one forBusta Rhymes and one for No Doubt."They were also among the producersasked to work on Michael Jackson'sIong-delayed comeback, though theNeptunes couldnt schedule him in.R&B heartthrob Usher says rhe tracksthe Neptunes crafted for his newrecord were so hot, the King of Pop at-tempted to snatch them away. "Buthe's not gonna get 'eml" Usher Euntsplayfully. And this monrh, like Timbaland before them, theNeptunes will test the power of their brand by releasing an aI-bum of their own, called InSearchof..., for which they (alongwith high school pal Shay) dubbed themselves N.E.R.D., anotherworldly acronym for No One Ever Really Dies. Thename is a reference to Williams's belief that "humans are iusrmatter in space-always recirculating in the atmosph".", .r..r.,d)org " It also reinforces rheir geek image.

THOUGH PHARRELL WILLIAMS HAS RECENTLY BECOME A REGULAR{ixture on BET and MT{ making flashy cameos in videos forNeptunes-produced singles by Babyhce, Mystikal and RayJ, in-side his Navigator there's little evidence that he's attempring toraise his profile. Brazlliair' lounge singer Sergio Mendes coosBeatles covers on the stereo, and an affable, silver-haired south-erner named Bob sits dutifullv behind the wheel. (Williams has

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been afrad to drive since his truck was struck by a car and "didtwo 36os in the air.") And although Williams manhandles srrip-pers in the video for N.E.R.D.'s "Lap Dance," tonight the onlyfemale in sight is Williams's quiet, platonic pal Keisha.

Williams's idiosyncrasies are holding courr in the backseat;without any prompting, he alnounces the names and sexes ofhis four future children, his seven favorite movies and his fa-vorite song by which ro receive fellatio (Stereolab's "TheFlower Called Nowhere"). But berween his bizarre outbursrsand sexual bravado, selidoubt creeps in. "Youre not supposedto talk about hurt feelings in interviews," Williams sayssolemnly as the Navigator crawls through traffic on VirginiaBeachs Atlantic Avenue strip, but an early, negative review of

InSenchOf... has surfaced in the small butinfluential hip-hop magazine XXL. "Myfeelings have been hurt," he says sadly."I didnt do this album for my pockets.I did it for my heart. That's why XXLhurts." Williams rolls up his windowand turns down the music, fearing theVirginia Beach police will ticket him(again) for violating noise ordinances."I look at ir rhis way," he says of hiscritics. "It's sort of like givinga driver'slicense and aFercari to an infant. He'sgot a license and a great car, but youcan be damn sure that he's not gonnaknow what to do with it."

And so what i f he doesn't knowwhat to do with it? N.E.R.D. is nor aside project in search of approval. Itseems unlikely that the album's con-spiratorial rants (even one disguised asalap-dance fantasy) and off-kilter lovesongs will find much of a mainsfteamaudience. Neither Williams nor Hugocan pinpoint a potential fan base, but,strangely, lnSearch Of .. is winning overtaste-making dance DJs such as PeteTong and Giles Peterson. "I dont dodrugs," says Williams, "and I rhink ir'ssad that it takes mind-altering drugsfor people to get into music, but peo-ple who do ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms?'lhey get N.E.R.D."

Just about everybody in the music business gets the Neptunes."Do you wanna hear this hor new track I just did withBrandy?" Williams asks, pulling a CD from a leather-boundcase and sliding it into the multidisc player. fie song has thehopelessly sappy title "Save the Babies" and seems like rypicallysentimental R&B smff, unril Williams's squawky {llseno gives itabizarre, jarring break. He puts arother CD in the player, con-taining two quirky, spitfire tracks the Neptunes just finished forBusta Rhymes. Then Williams p4oduces yer anorher demo, thisone for Perry Farrell. A wave of guitars roars from the speakers,and as Farrell howls Gloooooorrrry! Williams raises his hands tri-umphantly and sings along. It's as thrillingly ecsraric as earlyJanes Addiction classics like "Mountain Song," and Williamskrrows it (though the song didrit make the cur on Farrell's JulyCD), "See?" Williams asks, grinning rt'id.ly. "I can do anything.I'm a universalist, man! I'm here to change the world!"

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CHAD HUGO, THE SON OF A NAVAL OFFICER AND A MEDICAL TECHNI-cian, met Pharrell Williams, the son of a teacher and a painter,in band practice at Kemps Landing Middle School in VirginiaBeach. "We were the best in band class, so that's what b.o-ughtus together initially," Williams says. .,But ?ibe [A f]ibe CaliedQrest] was the thing that really did it for us. We wanted to bejust like them." The rwo rhrew together aband-,,areal messyversion of Tiibe," says Williams, "but with live instrumensand vocals."

to bypass authority." This isnt an idle boast. ..I stole all theequipment I needed to start my first studio," he says impas-sively. When he wasn't lifting equipmenr, Hugo was ravinguntil dawn at the legendary Catastrophic parties in WashingtonlDC. -The budding producer even had his own techno group,calledLegacy, which once opened for elecrronic popsters Infor-marion Sociery. "I wish I could find those tapes," Hugo says ..Ithink rhar shit would sound new now."

THE NEPTUNES MADE THEIR DEBUT IN THE EARLYtalent show staged by Blackstreet front-

HLrgo calls the Neptunes' unconventional, genre,bustingso'nd "who gives a fuck" music, as in, Who gives a fuck abouihip-hop convendon? Who gives a fuck about whar other peoplegos Ar AN ANNUAL

man and New Jack maesrro Teddv Ri-ley. "Their music was way out rhere."Riley says, "definitely ahead of its time.So I signed them to a production dealand signed them as a group as well."But Riley gave rhe young duo only spo-radic, B-level work. Hugo played sax ona Blackstreet song; Williams penned averse for Wreckx-N-Effect's bump,and-grind classic "Rumpshaker." "I didntknow what direction to take them inbecause as great as they were, theyweren'r able ro do the kind of accessiblestuffthey do now."

Realizing the limitations of rheir ex-perimental sound, the Neptunes aban-doned the band and hammered away arsmall production roles on albums suchas Jay-Z's In N\ Lifetime. Vol. r, untilNoreaga's "Superthug" broke into thefrp 4o. The song introduced the Nep-tunes' twangy, Arab-esqu. ro,.r.rd,brought an aggressive, hard,core brandof hip-hop to Top 4o radio and MTVand gave the Neprunes a profile beyondthe Virginia music scene. "people dontthink the real jewels can exist out here,"says Riley, who is also from VirsiniaBeach, about working ourside i lewYork and L.A. "So you've gor to workextra hard to shine."

,So far, ar least, the Neptunes havent needed any geographicadvantages. "I'm consrandy asked by people in th. i.rd,rrtry,'Why dont you ger out of Virginia Beach and move ro L.A. orlew York s9 l9u canreally be side by side with the big players?' .Hugo

^says di"d,infully. "But you know what? Virginia Beach ispart of our individualiqy. I like looking from the oulide in."

CHAD HUGO IS RUNNING MORE THAN AN HOUR LAIE FOR LUNCH AI Abeachside pizzaparlor. "sorry, man," he says. ..I've been get-tin_g^ my kids ready for the day." Hugo is the more domestichalf of the Neptunes; he and his wife live in nearby Chesa-peake with their rwo young children. Hugo is more reserved.and sensible than his parmer, preferring inlense conversationsto Williams's hammy, atrention-grabbing diversions. But Hugo,who sports two diamond earrings and sil.rer *r.up".oorrdshades, possesses a deep technical pro{iciency and the soul ofa cyberpunk.

"If I wasnt a.producer," Hugo says, ..I'd be a hacker. I love

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think is uncool? Hugo gives accolades to'N Symc, whom he calls'a talented, soul-ful group who immediately saw wherewe were coming from," and character-izes No Doubt as "risktakers." He andWilliams so revere Michael Tackson thatthey often work in the studio for hours,says Hugo, "just trying to see who canmake the bener racl<s for Michael."

Hugo's partner is also a proud afi-cionado of t-he severeh uncool, alan ofthose farthest from the seLlconscious ur-ban rendsetters. After cruising the strip,Wlliams excitedly dashes in and out ofWginia Beach frat bars such as the Edeeand Lagoon as if he were club-hoppiigin SoHo. He ignores offers of free drinksfrom the one bartender who recognizeshim (lemonade is the srongesr beveragehe'll consume), opring to study the ac-tion from the side of the dance floor. Atthe Edge, abartender shouts drink spe-cials over rhe clubs PA and *orks iheCD player, alternating between Tech-notronic's "Pump Up the Jam," DigiralUnderground's "Humpry Dance" and, ofcourse, a Neptunes production, Jay,Z's "I ;Just Wanna Love U (Give k z Me)." As fthe song's chorus, I'm ahustlubaby!, sng :by Williams, comes over rhe PA, thick- ;necked guys in baseball caps and permedgirls wearing scrunchies in their hair put

down their Rolling Rocks and crowd onto rhe dance floor.Williams grabs araver girl in wide{egged jeans and whispers

something in her ear. An Asian reen in puffy break-dancingpants runs off the dance floor and claps Williams o., the back"Hey, man, you were in the Mystikal video, rishd'

Williams nods and shakes the kid's hand. .i loi. th"r. ki.rd,of places," he shouts over the din. "There's a lot of honestvhere." Minutes later an impromptu line dance fearuring ,o-. ofthe bar's more inebriared put onr forms to the thundJring per-cussion of Ludacris's "southem Hospitality," the young rapper'svoice shouting from the speakers: Hitbl stms /Hitby cars.... lHitb2 daNepuna /Hitb2 guitmt

Wil l iams points at the growing number of suntannedAbercrombie & Fitch types shimmying togerher to the Nep-tunes' sound and grins. "I love it when my shit gets peopiethat open." I

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Ethan Brown is a writer who liues in Neut york .kis is hisfim p;rcef0, Ge,