― deej, Friday, 31 December 2004 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link
The Neptunes redeemed a pretty light year (the Slim Thug stuff was underwhelming IMO) with "Hollaback Girl", it's the most earthbound i've ever heard them, i think.
fake edit: you trumped my LL revelation!
― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Friday, 31 December 2004 21:52 (nineteen years ago) link
for some reason i just feel like my crazy opinion will have many opponents.
― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Friday, 31 December 2004 21:55 (nineteen years ago) link
Here's some more of what jess said at shutyrgob.blogspot.com
From the opening of his Teedra Moses review:
R&B is at a crossroad right now. The heavily syncopated, often harshly metallic music made by Timbaland and the Neptunes (and then codified into a pop aesthetic by Shek'spere, Darkchild, and everyone else who made a soul beat in the following five or six years) has largely been abandoned post-Kanye in favor of more traditional post-new jack swing boom-bap. (Or, more accurately, the sounds of Timbaland and the Neptunes have been folded back into the trad R&B matrix as just one strand of many.) While urban non-rap radio awaits its next Teddy Riley or Tim Mosley, R&B albums have a muted, classicist feel to them. The Brandy album had a few good songs, but nothing as headwrecking as "What About Us?" or creamily undeniable as "The Boy Is Mine." The Destiny's child record frontloads its two best songs (the monochrome-unto-torpor "Soldier" might be even more radical than "Lose My Breath" for the way it somehow makes one of those shockingly empty New South beats pop, if only by dint of over-exposure) and spends the rest of the album making time with reheated American Idol reject ballads. Teen-pop has basically abandoned R&B tropes entirely in favor of grunge-lite, and, conversely, "real" R&B has swung back to a more churchy, soulful, solid foundation. It's hard to think of anything from 2004 with the Technicolor dimensions of the first two Kelis albums or the Wildstyle involutions of the first three Missy albums or the cyberteen sheen of the first Destiny's Child or the range of the self-titled Aaliyah."
― steve-k, Friday, 31 December 2004 22:04 (nineteen years ago) link
And I don't think anyone has reprimanded The Neptunes in this thread for "Flap Your Wings". Nothing short of "Drop It Like It's Hot" could've redeemed their year after that one.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Friday, 31 December 2004 22:15 (nineteen years ago) link
Timbaland by comparison has been on and off the boil for so long that it's easier to accept the odd drought with equanimity.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 1 January 2005 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link
excellent track.
― adam west (adamwest), Saturday, 1 January 2005 03:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 1 January 2005 03:50 (nineteen years ago) link
Oh, I dunno. The backlash was already begining amongst ILM grand poobahs (or whatever that term is that Christgau uses, sorry, I'm a bit drunk) around the time "Boys" was released, and by early 2004 even I (who am usually very loathe to abandon my fave artists) had recognised that the moment had kinda passed. 2003 was the big backlash year, I think, despite the number of generally well-loved singles that they released during that time - "The Neptunes Presesnts Clones" in particular (an album which I think is pretty damn great, fwiw, but that's neither here nor there.)
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 1 January 2005 04:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 1 January 2005 05:21 (nineteen years ago) link
cross-posting cuz wtf the other topic's on the ILE board & I got the insight
this is weird to think about now (well not as weird in this topic cuz it doesn't date back as far) just cuz if I'm comparing old Timbaland to old pre-superstar Neptunes, Timbaland wins no question, but now I'd say Neptunes/Pharrell overall. Used to be more into the "quirky" aspects of Timbo's beats and ignored that with some of the tracks there's not much else there, especially sometime in the early-mid '00s/before his pop comeback his beats ring kinda hollow for me. Also this sounds purist or w/e but Pharrell can (could?) do stripped-down straight hip-hop tracks better than Timbo, although he's not generally aiming for that anyway.
Timbaland's most popular stuff & his best stuff overlaps for me in a way the Neptunes don't though, I think they got more interesting after '02 even though some bad ideas crept in too
― nova, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 04:39 (nine years ago) link
Tim had a pretty long run as a genius and imo has been phoning it in and farming out a lot of the heavy lifting to collaborators for even longer. Pharrell's peak was shorter and less consistently amazing, but he's stuck to his guns and kept making an effort for way longer.
― some dude, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 04:50 (nine years ago) link
I also appreciate that The Neptunes/Pharrell are more melodic than Timbaland, his best stuff makes up for this with how deeply layered it is but I can't listen to Miss E as much these days for this reason
although minimal Hell Hath No Fury I think is great too, but he got worse at those beats afterwards generally speaking
― nova, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 05:03 (nine years ago) link
Hell Hath No Fury style*
― nova, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 05:04 (nine years ago) link