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The Rundown with Aryez

N.E.R.D

“Nothing”

With their senior installment, No-one Ever Really Dies- or better known to the world as N*E*R*D is back with the project “Nothing”. In this segment of the “Rundown”, can the top production team of the decade, The Neptunes (Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo) along with band member Shay Haley show fans that they can make “Nothing” into something worth listening to, let alone worth purchasing, let’s find out…

The album kicks right into high gear with the titled-song “Party People” featuring T.I. which is definitely a celebratory track- perfect to ring in any New Year or school graduation party and it will suite the dj’s audio needs for those occasions. T.I. compliments the song with an eight-bar rapid fire delivery that leaves the listeners’ ear wishing for a complete sixteen bars. The album’s current single, “Hypnotize U” produced by Daft Punk (Swizz Beats, Kanye West) is a reminiscent, Patron Gold shot of the Yin Yang Twins 2005 raunchy classic “Wait (The Whisper Song)”, with a glass of Moscado from Pharrell as he sings in falsetto. This song is clearly something you would hear at any happy hour sushi bar.

The lyrics offers a sensual and classy, yet direct sexual undertone especially in the bridge as Pharrell proclaims just close your eyes let me hypnotize you/ I can make your storm feel sky blue/ Girl when your lost, you know I’ll find you/ if I’m not beside then I’m inside you. One the song “Nothing On You”, the drum-laced production is full of light kicks, heavy bongos and exceptional arrangement when matching the vocals to the musical count. The song actually takes you back to the style the Neptunes used on Justin Timberlake’s 2002 Justified, which Pharrell and Chad provided half of the production for that project. Other stand out tracks include “Victory”, “Perfect Defect” and “I’ve Seen the Light” which all give the listener a diversity of sounds and musical arrangements that one may either love or hate- period.

N*E*R*D keeps the majority of the songs short and to the point and even in its entirety as the album is only ten songs, which won’t take up too much of the listeners time, especially if they’re not big on this band. You have to, at the very least give the admiration and respect to the group for not abiding by the typical clichés of urban and mainstream pop as they make it a point to venture into the unorthodox of music-vocally and through production.

If you’re a fan of groups such as LMFAO and Black-Eyed Peas you will be sure to appreciate this effort but with so many of the artists the Neptunes have collaborated with, it would have been exciting to hear some of the Star Trak members and affiliates such as Kelis, Clipse, Slim Thug and Robin Thicke add their touch to complete it. Another downslide for this project is the fact that you may still be trying to figure out what roll Shay Haley plays in the group, only sprinkling 4 bars here, 3 bars there and so on. After four albums, the listener may still be left in array of trying to find out what is his position; does he rap, sing, produce? And if he does, he still hasn’t shown much of it, only participating as maybe the album’s unofficial hype man, maybe…?

At times, the songwriting within some tracks can be too abstract, and too direct such as the album’s first single dating back to May of this year, “Hot N’ Fun” featuring Nelly Fertado. On the chorus, there’s a repetitive Let’s get right/ let’s get right as if the listener should be playing this while on ecstasy at a rave and this is okay but the issue lies in the bridges. For example Fertado seems to go in depth with the concept of why girls are “hot and fun”, stating Everybody’s breathing love into lust, so many reasons/ to save the cast, cause tis’ the season. A listener of song lyrics can understand the message the song is trying to convey but with the hook and production being direct and aimed towards making the audience move, the abstraction of the words will surely be overlooked and ignored. Ultimately, if you’re fan of the Top Forty format with a touch of the rock, funk and bass genres, then “Nothing” may be something for you.

-Aryez

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