In Search Of… 20 years later
Twenty years ago, the world was blessed with N.E.R.D.’s debut album, In Search Of…
By Anwuli Adeola Onwaeze
March 12, 2002, N.E.R.D. re released their debut album In Search Of… worldwide, marking the beginning of the band's massive influence in the music industry. Pharell Williams teamed up with his high school friends Chad Hugo and Shae Haley to create this band that would push this novel, never before heard sound. Hugo and Williams’ duo, The Neptunes, had been around long before N.E.R.D. and established themselves producing hits for Jay-Z, Britney, and so many more. At one point, The Neptunes had produced almost half of the songs playing on the radio. It’d be easy for this duo to overshadow the music they’d created in their new group. However, N.E.R.D. delivers a completely different sound and they even made sure of this by rerecording their debut album once it was set to release worldwide.
The first version of In Search Of… that released in Europe on August 9, 2001 had electronic instrumentals that kind of paralleled the Neptunes’ sound. When the album was released worldwide less than a year later, they had opted for live instrumentation to make an epic, influential album.
I can only describe this album as grand, glamorous, forward thinking, and free. It almost fails to confine itself within a genre as N.E.R.D. fuses rock, rap, pop, and funk along with a creative use of instruments to create a sound that can only be their own. Lots of their music sounds like it’d be part of a movie soundtrack, making every song sound like a piece of a journey.
The album commences with bang as a heavy, staccato guitar riff pulls us into “Lapdance”. This first track sets up the grandiose mood of the album and the philosophy of their sound well. Pharrell weaves between singing styles smoothly, Vita chants seductively on the chorus, and Lee Harvey drops a hard verse in between; within the first track they establish themselves as versatile, raunchy musical rebels. It really is “something you’ve never seen before”, but they’re just warning you of the nonchalant, cocky attitude which will carry through the rest of the album.
N.E.R.D. - Lapdance ft. Lee Harvey, Vita
They take a delightful turn into a bouncier, cheerful track- “Things Are Getting Better”. Of course this song is no less suggestive than the last. The track slips into that cocky, seductive attitude during Pharell and Shay’s verses, but pulls back for the optimistic chorus that hopes the happiness found today carries on into tomorrow.
We see a darker side of this lustful sound in “Brain”. They use a guitar riff similar to the one on “Lapdance”, but they give it a fresh take. You can hear the passion in the way Pharell’s voice stretches through the lyrics as his breathy adlibs cloud the track. Their signature chants excite the chorus and the funky rhythm makes it fun. N.E.R.D. makes this track a composed chaos.
We turn it way down for the next track, “Provider”. Williams says goodbye to a dear lover out of pride. The cacophony of sound present in the previous tracks dissipates a bit to leave room for the emotion in the lyrics. The dry guitar tune hangs on to the regretful vocals while the simple drums set a steady pace. Halfway through the song, we’re met with a latin style interlude right before the regret in Williams’ voice turns from soft to aggressive. You can hear the confidence strap his vocals for a bit right before he returns to his sad regret.
N.E.R.D. recruits Kelis and Pusha T for a hot provocative track “Truth or Dare” which seems like a rebound for the last song. It has the classic early 2000s back and forth between male and female love interests. Pusha drops a verse before the harsh instrumental turns exhilarating, releasing into a euphoric outro with a gushing guitar solo.
“Tape You” takes on a similar vibes as “Things Are Getting Better” with an upbeat, eager vibe. It’s not one of the best songs from the album, but it adds a cohesiveness to the project as a whole. Shay delivers a fun verse and the synth ridden chorus gives the track a nice lightness.
“Run to the Sun” quickly redeems the previous mediocre track. Once again the sound is simplified leaving a lot of room for the instruments to shine. The ballad holds onto different musical styles here, the instrumental fuses pop and funk while Pharell sings soulfully over the track. He laments over not having spent enough time with his grandmother who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness at the time. You can hear a different type of regret in this song; Pharell’s ego is gone and the tears he’s cried can be heard in his voice. It’s an interesting break as this humble energy isn’t really found anywhere else on the album.
“Baby Doll” is another track which doesn’t shine as bright as the others. It has the fun energy Brain offers with the cool guitar riffs and hyper vibe. It just doesn’t make itself unique from some of the other tracks that showcase N.E.R.D.‘s sound better.
You’re woken up by an anxious guitar trill on “Am I High”. The synth arpeggios guide the song as the drums and guitar follow its lead, progressively becoming more and more layered through the song. Pharell turns up the arrogance in this one, even pausing his strained voice to ask “is that cocky?”. The chorus elevates you with a falsetto background vocal trailing behind Williams’ repeating question: Am I high? We slowly spiral away from this beachy wonderland as the song fades away.
The angriest song on the album is definitely “Rockstar”. This ironic jam is made up of all of the elements of a solid rock instrumental while Pharell calls out “fuckin’ posers” who are trying to pretend to live N.E.R.D. ‘s rockstar life. The song seems to double down on itself at times creating this intense headbanger. “Rockstar” is the song on the album which is most tied to a genre
N.E.R.D. sounds tapped out and strung out on “Bobby James”. The simple drums come back with a whimsical set of string instruments. Williams takes on this 17 year old persona that is being bullied and falls into drugs because of it. He walks sorrowfully along the beat as he begs “Hey there, mister, give me some cash/ I'm high as hell and I'm ready to blast/ I'm just one hit away from being passed out/ Young and assed out”. The song starts to fade out as he repeats the chorus and flies start surrounding his body, possibly symbolizing a close encounter with death. It cuts into a more animated, chipper tune led by some synths and a saxophone. Hopefully, this signifies a turning point in Bobby’s life. This all makes for one of my favorite songs on the album, it’s a story on its own and has some beautiful musical arrangements.
“Stay Together” closes this album offering a wonderful mix of vocal harmonies, scratchy vocals, a stompy drum, and skippy piano chords. It again, isn’t a standout track but it wraps up the project very well. It leaves on a funky bassline, a shaker and Pharrell's voice kind of highlighting each part of the trio as they head out.
This album marked a very important debut in the world of music. Specifically in the rap genre, many artists like Kid Cudi, Tyler, the Creator, and Lil Uzi Vert took notes from the unapologetic eccentricity of N.E.R.D. and built a devoted following siml\ilar to theirs. Since this debut, they’ve gone on to make 4 other albums, but there's definitely something special about this one. It sounds like they let everything they had out on these tracks to properly establish themselves and it worked wonderfully.
20 years later and there’s still nothing like In Search Of…