#TBT: The Neptunes

25 years ago, new jack swing godfather Teddy Riley came across the Virginia Beach duo The Neptunes, comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, and took them under his wing. They earned their first credit on Wreckx-n-Effect's 1992 smash single "Rump Shaker" and would go on to become the most prolific, profitable, and innovative production duo in hip hop history. Their ability to incorporate live instrumentation, synths, and exotic percussive elements into coherent, radio-ready morsels had never been seen before, and has not been seen since. 

The brevity of this article is an affront to The Neptunes' insane production catalog, but we tried anyway. Click through the gallery to listen and reacquaint yourself.

Pharrell came on an episode of GGN to recall the making of "Drop It Like It's Hot," Snoop's first ever #1 hit. Pharrell remembered that there were about "40 crips" in the studio at the time. Snoop said that Pharrell was in the back mashing away on the keys and humming the hook. Pharrell modestly insisted that he was merely "reading the room." He made Snoop re-write his second verse and they thought it was a wrap—then Chad Hugo added the iconic synthesizer interlude. BANG BANG.

The Neptunes produced Timberlake's debut album Justified, meaning there are several tracks we could select from here. We'll go with "Senorita." Like a rattlesnake's death rattle, the song's opening shaker salvo announces the arrival of JT's love interest. Things progress from there, with a cowbell pulse, slinky, jazzy electric piano vamp, and eventually a white-hot bridge.

"Lap Dance" is a beautiful emulsion of rock, hip hop, electronic music, funk, and Pharrell's moustache phase.

Read our 15th anniversary retrospective on In Search Of...

Mystikal's "Shake It Fast" is by far biggest hit of his career, and it helped him ease out of his deal with No Limit and find greener pastures with lines like "I came here with my dick in my hand / Don't make me leave here with my foot in your ass."

If there's anything present-day producers should learn from The Neptunes, it's the way they altered the entire character of songs with simple drum choices. The hand percussion used in "Hot in Herre," working with minimalist, interlocking electric piano, bass, and guitar, propelled the track to #1.

The ingenious arrangement of "Hollaback Girl" takes its cues from Pharrell and Hugo's days together in the high school marching band. They eventually hand the initial gyrating guitar line to a raucous chorus of sliding trombones. Indeed, it should come as no surprise that "Hollaback Girl" cruised to #1. 

Pharrell's signature "skeleton beat" style recalled the appealing simplicity of hip hop's foundational unit: the break beat. The prospect of additional layers sapping the energy out of a beat was never an issue for The Neptunes.

"Pass the Courvoisier II" is the rare sequel that surpasses the original in quality. A simple acoustic guitar pattern induces a decidedly humid vibe, and the periodic arrival of the horn section is enough to whip the club into a frenzy.

One of the many indelible moments of "Fade to Black," Jay Z's documentary about the making of The Black Album, is when Pharrell plays him the beat that would become "Allure."

"There's something about major 7 chords," Pharrell tells the camera. "I think they were minor 7 chords in 'Dead Presidents.' And the way that nigga blacked out on it is second to none." 

We saved the best for last: "Grindin," the crown jewel of Clipse's Neptunes-produced opus Lord Willin. Like many great works of art, "Grindin" benefited from the intervention of Lady Luck; in an interview with Genius, Pusha T explained how the beat almost went to Jay Z:

Pharrell makes the beat and calls me and says if I don’t get to the studio in ten minutes he’s gonna give Jay Z the beat. And he knows that is one person that I don’t ever want to have a Pharrell beat before I hear the beat.

It’s just the cardinal rule: “Don’t do that, Pharrell.” That causes knock-down, drag-out arguments.

Since “Grindin,” I’ve always rhymed over beats that are sort of left of center.