Released in Summer of 2006, "In My Mind" is the debut solo single from Pharrell Williams. Prior to the release of this album Pharrell had been known as both one half of the Hip Hop, Pop and R&B production team The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, as well as part of a Funk Rock band, named N*E*R*D. In both of these roles he often lended his vocals to songs in the choruses, and had done so since the late ninties, but it wasn't until the release of his first solo single "Frontin'" in 2003 where his potential as a solo artist was discovered.
This album has Pharrell switch from one persona to another as he shows the range which he posseses as an R&B singer, and when going under the name of Skateboard P and rapping. Pharrel does all the writing and production himself for this album.
1. "Can I Have It Like That"
As this was the lead single from the album, you would expect it to display the best in what Pharrell had to offer, but for me this was definately not the case. I felt left with an annoying pop rap tune, but with a decent bass-lead beat by himself.
Now looking back on the tune, I think that it;s populairty was a result of the collaboration with Gwen Stefani, who had then recently gone solo (away from the Ska-Punk band No Doubt),,a nd she was on a roll then. However, as I had no strong feelings for her later work, such as at this time, her performance didn't excite me at all.
**Two Stars**
2. "How Does It Feel?"
You have a lot of energy in this one with some rolling drum beats in roder to raise the tempo of the LP. I have to say that I felt that he was successful in getting some variety in there by sticking this in the album, but the lyrics tended to be slightly too plain to make anough of an impact on me, and so overall it was rather unmemorable.
**Two Stars**
3. "Raspy S**t"
This
one has Pharrell use one of his lines from a huge collaboration from 2004, "Drop It Like It's Hot", with Snoop Dogg. Here he makes a whole trachaving people ask things from him, and I now see similarities in how he made a track with Tha Dogg Pound earlier this year called "Cheat", as they both worked off the raps which he came up with for the Snoop tune.
I liked how this one had quite a bit of Jazz encorporated into it to show that he has quite a lot of variety to offer. Also as he is such a weak performer when going under his rapping persona of Skateboard P, you can excuse him for using lines from the past to get his way through these ones.
You are immediately hit by the spacey sounds which The Neptunes are famous for coming out with from the start of when they got big in Hip Hop and R&B production (which expanded over time to other styles), and so if you are a fan of their style, you will thoroughly enjoy this album, especailly with tunes like this one. Here the beat sounds like an R&B one, but he turns into Skateboard P again and takes over undr this MC persona without seeming forced.
**Three Stars**
5. "You Can Do It Too"
We are taken into some smooth lounge music from the artist, and I felt that when he came out with it on the new N*E*R*D album, "Seeing Sounds", I thought that it was quite similar, but I didn't really enjoy it. However this calm Jazzy one does work if it's your genre of music.
**Two Stars**
6. "Keep It Playa"
The large variety of sounds fromthe album is extended as Pharrell shows off one of his signings to Star Trak (his record label) from Houston's Slim Thug, coming with a gangsta style, unlike naything which this skater MC and singer. I didn't expect such a clean collab from the pair. it wokred so well, and I was happy to see that Slim Thug taook on the Neptunes Production, instead of Skateborad P trying to be 'G'. The production is amongst the best which the Neptunes pull out for the LP, and it's just what you expect for Pharrell.
**Four Stars**
7. "That Girl"
This is another huge collaboration for Pharrell, and once again he performed alongside Snoop Dogg, and as the previous attempts from them were a massive successes, "Beautiful", "Let's Get Blown", and "Drop it Like It's Hot", and you get something quite simialr to the one which I mentioaned first as it has a laid-back Summery vibe to it, and it does create a very nice atmosphere for relaxing. As always, Snoop performes excellently under these specifications, and shows why he is one of the biggest P-I-M-Ps in the game.
**Five Stars**
8. "Angel"
Thsi is another of the tracks from the album which showed enough potential to be put out there alone as a single, and when you hear it in the actaul album, you definately notice that it sticks out from the rest of the material. Although we know Pharrell for his R&B (and half-decent rapping) this one brought out the angelic falsetto, presenting his vocals range better than anywhere else in the album. This is a classic number with a soulful, yet up-beat twist.
**Five Stars**
9. "Young Girl"/"I Really Like You"
This one is strange as it's wo tracks put into one, collectively spanning over eight minutes. he did this to emphasize the fact that the theme spills over from the first tune into the next one, but I don't think that he went about doing this the right way. I feel this way because for me the first one, "Young Girl" was boring (apart from a couple of bars by Jay-Z) and then "I Really Like You", which follows it, is much better in comparison. I would want to skip over the first to get to this one as Pharrell's vocals are extremely exciting in it.
**Three Stars**
10. "Take It Off"
Of course with an R&B album, you have to cocme out with a sensual track for the ladies, and on this occasion Pharrell doesn't disappoint with his approach. Although it does have all the usual elements which you would typically have in this type of tune Pharrell switches it up a few times with some big beats at small intervals in the track.
**Four Stars**
11. "Stay With Me"
Now I have to say that Clipse are one of my favourite duos in Alternative Hip Hop, so to have Pusha T of them come out with Pharrell I expected big things in the tune, but it dind't really have too much to offer in reality. It was very much like the R&B which he always comes out with, but I heard the production attempting to push through something qutie differnt with a little backtracking. Despite these efforts, it was too little to save it.
**Two Stars**
12. "Baby"
Pharrell come out with some of his amazing R&B vocals for this one, and he gets help from someone which I wouldn't expect to get on his album, because it's Nelly who raps with P. I was surprised by this selection as Nelly is one of few mainstream acts who I can't recall working with The Neptunes in the past, but I thought that he had a place on Pharrell's album.
**Four Stars**
13. "Our Father"
Thsi particualr tune did notihn but annoy me, primarily because he goes all religous on us (which he has never mentioned in his music prior to this album), but even if we allow this then for me, he should have backed it up by singing in a style which suits it (Gospel perhaps), but he didn't, leaving us with an R&B track with African drumming as it's basis of the percussion. None of it really amkes snse, but I repsect that he had to express his religious views somehow, and since this is his first soslo album he should be allowed to tell us exactly what he is about, and where he has come from.
**One Star**
14. "Number One"
I thought that this was one of the best tracks from the album, so I felt that it was good to have this as one of the singles from the album. There are many aspects of it which could explain it, but personally it was my belief that because Kanye West had shown tha he was hear to stay (after coming with a successful second LP, "Late Regestration"), and so by inluding him on here allowed Pharrell to come out with his best quality singing as he always sounds the best when complimented by an MC (instead of another R&B singer).
**Five Stars**
I thought that this was a ap and R&B was just enough to show that he could do both styles with ease. The album was quite predictable with the production, collaborations and such, but Pharrell still manged to show some originality with some hints on genre which haven't been associated with him in the past.
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