Music
With 'Fly or Die,' N.E.R.D. Injects Life Into Mope Rock
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2004; Page C01
"This is for the kids, this is only for the kids!" Pharrell Williams shouts at the start of the title track of "Fly or Die," the new album by N.E.R.D. And he isn't kidding, at least about that particular cut, a suicidal cry for help by a teenager at war with his soulless, hypocritical parents. It's one of the few songs about drowning at sea that you can dance to, but it rehashes a theme that has been pounded flatter than veal. At least a dozen bands on the charts this week are pandering to the persecuted youth of America. But all of them are selling some shade of alt-metal, and N.E.R.D. is something else entirely.
So what is N.E.R.D.? There are a couple of answers on "Fly or Die," and only one of them seems believable. This Virginia Beach trio mostly sticks to its strengths here: the petri dish experiments in rock-rap-R&B; and the lusty-brainiacs persona that made their 2001 debut, "In Search of . . . " such filthy fun. But on "Fly" they interrupt all the panting to whine about life after puberty, a type of stylized agony that has made the members of Linkin Park very rich. It's merely hackneyed coming from the pierced-tongue brigades, but it's hackneyed and absurd coming from N.E.R.D.
You can almost see the meeting where Williams, Chad Hugo and their last-name-less partner, Shay, decided to venture into mope-rock turf. Hip-hop is huge. Angst-rock is huge. Why not combine the two? So angst-rock pioneers Good Charlotte were recruited to help sing the title track, and there are two death wish tunes here, one after the other. On the second, "Jump," Williams struggles to sound like a confused adolescent ready to end it all. "I'm checking out," he croons.
Doubtful. Williams and Hugo have banked a fortune as the most sought-after production team in hip-hop. Incorporated in their production guise as the Neptunes, the two have spun career-enhancing beats and hooks for the likes of Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige and Justin Timberlake. Their signature is the dance track stripped to its skivvies, with just enough material left behind to force you to "Shake Ya Ass," as Mystikal put it in a hit the Neptunes wrote and produced.
With N.E.R.D. -- it stands for Nobody Ever Really Dies -- Williams and Hugo (and Shay) are true musical polymaths, at ease with jazz and metal, as fluent in Stevie Wonder as they are in Red Hot Chili Peppers. On "Fly" you'll hear traces of the Fifth Dimension (on "Wonderful Place," one of the more vivid accounts of an ecstasy trip ever set to a beat) and references to Mobb Deep (on "Thrasher," a revenge fantasy that is superbly fraught with rowdy tension).
Generally, the naughtier the subject, the bigger the payoff here. There are two songs about the joy of watching a woman dance ("She Wants to Move" and "The Way She Dances"), both of them soaked in Williams's endearingly flawed falsetto. The naughtiest number on the album, "Don't Worry About It," is also the best. And the simplest. Just a droning guitar note, a stalking beat and Williams, begging some knockout for love. You never find out if she relents, but there's just no doubting the man's sincerity.
Chat online about N.E.R.D. or any other band with David Segal at 11 this morning at the Live Online section of washingtonpost.com.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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Virginia Beach's N.E.R.D.: Shay, Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams.
(Sacha Waldman)
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