Between the release dates of their third and fourth albums, N.E.R.D. gained and lost a member and scrapped a large volume of in-progress work.
They came up with another album’s worth of material, only to have Interscope ask for a larger portion of upbeat songs.
Perhaps that’s why Pharrell, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley -- along with temporary member Rhea Dummett in a very limited capacity -- seemingly recorded a significant chunk of Nothing like they weren’t all that invested the process.
It’s as if they were “feeling, not thinking,” to paraphrase “Hot-N-Fun.” That song, as well as a few others, could be classified as modern frat rock, though they’re sonically closer to rubbery pop-funk; they’re shamelessly simple-minded, imagination-deficient retreads of “Lapdance” and “She Wants to Move” minus the ferocity and the sense that the group enjoyed the recording process.
The album’s highlights tend not to be full songs but ideas within them -- the drunken horns and drums in “God Bless Us All,” the twinkling keyboard touches in “Perfect Defect,” the taut programming in the Daft Punk-produced “Hypnotize U,” the gorgeously saccharine and Free Design-like back half of “I've Seen the Light/Inside of Clouds.” One exception is the thoroughly transfixing “Life as a Fish,” a lyrically murky ecological rumination cast in pocket-symphony chamber soul.
Once again, N.E.R.D. are at their best when they abandon all regard for the Hot 100.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Party PeopleClifford Harris, Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 2 | Hypnotize UThomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 3 | Help MeChad Hugo, Jimmy Iovine, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | VictoryChad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | Perfect DefectChad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | God Bless Us AllChad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:29 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Life as a FishChad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 02:36 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 8 | Nothing on YouChad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:18 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 9 | Hot-N-FunPharrell Williams | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:24 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 10 | I've Seen The Light/Inside Of Clouds (Interlude) | N.E.R.D | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 11 | It's In The Air | N.E.R.D | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 12 | Sacred Temple | N.E.R.D | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 13 | I Wanna Jam | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 14 | The Man | N.E.R.D | Play | 03:18 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 52 mins | 120 MB | |||||
| 52 mins | 359 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yaneley Arty | Management |
| 2 | Tom Bailey | Assistant |
| 3 | Thomas Bangalter | Arranger, Composer, Musician |
| 4 | Jason Carder | Trumpet |
| 5 | Demacio "Demo" Castellon | Engineer |
| 6 | Lori Castro | Assistant |
| 7 | Andrew Coleman | Arranger, Digital Editing, Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 8 | Darft Punk | Producer |
| 9 | Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo | Arranger, Composer, Musician |
| 10 | Rhea Dummett | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | Cliff Feiman | Production Supervisor |
| 12 | Geoff Foster | Engineer |
| 13 | Nelly Furtado | Featured Artist |
| 14 | Brian Gardner | Mastering |
| 15 | Matty Green | Assistant |
| 16 | Hart Gunther | Assistant |
| 17 | Clifford Harris | Composer |
| 18 | Chad Hugo | Composer, Saxophone |
| 19 | Jimmy Iovine | Composer, Executive Producer |
| 20 | Martin Kierszenbaum | A&R |
| 21 | Adam Larson | Art Direction, Design |
| 22 | Mike Larson | Arranger, Digital Editing, Engineer |
| 23 | Guillermo Lefeld | Assistant |
| 24 | Daniel Lerner | Engineer |
| 25 | PJ McGinnis | Assistant |
| 26 | Alan Meyerson | Mixing |
| 27 | N.E.R.D | Primary Artist |
| 28 | The Neptunes | Producer |
| 29 | Satoshi Noguchi | Assistant |
| 30 | Terry Richardson | Photography |
| 31 | Mark "Spike" Stent | Mixing |
| 32 | T.I. | Featured Artist |
| 33 | Pharrell Williams | Composer, Executive Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |