Finally.
The man who became popular by showing up in the videos of some of the music’s biggest stars, singing on choruses and being honored as GQ magazine’s Best Dressed Man in the World in 2005 is now releasing his solo debut album “In My Mind…”
After having produced with his childhood friend Chad Hugo in the group The Neptunes and having had one of the biggest songs in 2003, his collaboration with Jay-Z on “Frontin’,” Pharrell Williams seeks to give his fans a taste of what he’s been thinking for his 14 years in the music business.
Pharrell starts with a sonic boom of warped bass with “Can I Have It Like That,” a collaboration with friend Gwen Stefani that was initially released as a single last October.
On the song “Best Friend,” Williams exercises release therapy about his tough times growing up – from seeing his grandma die in his youth to being in the company of local drug pushers. Fellow Star Trak Music label mate, Vanessa Marquez, urges him to keep reflecting on his trials and tribulations, singing, “Just let it out, P! Just let it out!” Williams (or Skateboard P, as he calls himself throughout the album) then raps that “there’s somethin’ ’bout this girl that” keeps him wanting in pursuit, while Snoop Dogg comes to add verses to the savory club sound that was produced by Pharrell himself.
Having rapped the entire first part of “In My Mind…,” Skateboard P then switches gears, moving into his trademark falsetto for the back end of the LP.
With cuts like “Angel,” he ponders the breadth and size of a woman’s derriere, singing, “She got an ass like a loaf of bread! Want a slice?” He and living legend Jay-Z then prove to show that they can deliver another smash hit in “Young Girl,” as the two thirty-somethings proclaim their taste in women that hit legal drinking age.
The uptempo, hard-pumping bass and synthesizer sounds of “Baby” (featuring Nelly), along with Pharrell’s high-toned vocal act, is reminiscent of Prince in his “Dirty Mind” and “Controversy” eras.
He wraps up “In My Mind…” with a hip-hop ode to God with “Our Father,” asking the Eternal Father, “Please don’t let fall.” The confidence-heavy Louis Vuitton Don himself, Kanye West, gives his two cents about a girl who pays more attention to her MySpace page than him in the current hit “Number One,” as Pharrell then briefly reintroduces his skateboarding rap persona in “Show You How To Hustle.”
While Pharrell’s debut is great in many areas, it is not without its duller moments. “Raspy Shits” chorus is basically a sample from his Snoop Dogg team-up on 2004’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”
Upcoming Houston MC and Star Trak artist Slim Thug adds a bit of depth with his monotone flow in “Keep It Playa,” but the ring tone melody that is the song’s lifeline sounds a bit like Ja Rule associate Caddillac Tah’s Motorola ring tone 2001 rap hit “Pov City Anthem.”
All the while, with Pharrell’s unique insight into music, women, family and God stands to show an eclectic mix of his character and artistic depth as a producer/songwriter/singer/ rapper.
In November 2005 (the original release date for his debut), Williams opted to go back to the studio to re-record his album because it lacked in showing his fans some important dimensions of his thinking and music influences. Mindful of making the necessary changes, the album’s eight month postponement is definitely worth the wait.
