Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo, together known as The Neptunes for THE FADER MAGAZINE in 2002 !
Excerpt from the cover story article written by Eddie Brannan:
The Neptunes have gone from being faceless up-and-coming producers (Kelis, Noreaga and Ol' Dirty Bastard) to the more public duo who make club anthems (Jay-Z, Mystikal, Ludacris) to the current perception of them as the hottest production team who makes millions doing remixes and songs for pop acts (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, P. Diddy) and aging hip-hop acts (Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J). And now there's NERD, the producers-as group outfit featuring Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and their Virginia Beach buddy Shay, with their debut album ln Search Of....
NERD is an outfit that doesn't generate the standard myths about themselves, and so hopefully won't fall into the predictable hip-hop trap of actually starting to believe them. In many ways they're not really a hip-hop group at all. Not that they don’t talk about drugs and guns and all that good hip-hop shit though: they certainly do, but when they do it feels like it comes with a knowing wink! "Bobby James", a track on In Search Of..., tells the story of a 17 year-old loser who gets into drugs to forget about his life and ends up assed out. It's not your typical rapper iconography, that's for sure. — [ x ]