In a GQ interview with Tyler, The Creator, legendary producer and designer Pharrell Williams unveiled that he has been working on N.E.R.D. music in Paris alongside his Louis Vuitton endeavours.
Many know Pharrell for his work alongside Chad Hugo as part of The Neptunes and know him as the young man who revitalised Snoop Dogg’s career in the 2000s. However, he was also part of N.E.R.D, a trio that masterfully fused hip-hop and rock with tracks such as ‘Lap Dance’ and ‘She Wants To Move’.
Pharrell always described his band N.E.R.D as a side project but mostly explained his reason for forming the band was to express his love of rock to the world and get his legendary producer duo, The Neptunes, signed as artists.
In 2004, Williams formed N.E.R.D, and they recorded their iconic LP Fly Or Die, and ever since, they have been somewhat of a lost gem in hip-hop. They had hit records and club anthems, but Pharrell received all the focus.
Speaking to Tyler, The Creator (real name Tyler Okonma) about the new material the trio have recorded, Williams explained, “They’re big choruses, but you know, out of nowhere, I’ll just come out of nowhere with the three-bar, crazy-nuts chords that go three-bar to four-bar to eight-bar. It’s good, bro, it’s good.”
He continued, comparing it to their previous album, In Search Of, explaining, “This is like that feeling that I felt when we made In Search Of. I won’t sit here and tell you that they were hits. I knew it was different, and I knew there won’t be nothing out there like this. But I’m talking about the feeling. I wanted to do everything. I wanted feelings. I wanted the motherfuckin’ great composition.”
He also admitted to Okonma that with this project, he is stepping outside his comfort zone production-wise by experimenting with “chords I never used before. Ones that I’ve never done, that I fuckin’ hated.” No official release date has been announced, but it surprises many that even as the creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, Williams is still dedicated to making music.
