N.E.R.D.

As the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have quickly become one of the world's top pop and hip-hop production teams, crafting hits for everyone from Britney Spears to Snoop Dogg. But Williams and Hugo apparently desire something more from their career than the accolades and cash that come from making other people's music. And so in 2001, with help from colleague Shae, they formed their own band, N.E.R.D. Their debut, In Search Of . . . , is a preposterous blend of influences -- '60s psychedelia, '70s AM pop, classic R&B, '90s rap metal -- held together by unshakable hooks and Williams' charmingly wayward falsetto. It's hard to know whether these guys actually believe in the Neanderthal lyrics of "Lapdance" or "Rock Star," but damn, those tunes are catchy.

With Fly or Die, N.E.R.D. continues to score high on the guilty-pleasure chart, offering loose-limbed paeans to "Backseat Love" and putting Steely Dan chords to flamenco rhythms on "She Wants to Move." Hugo and Williams are clearly the funkiest producers-turned-performers going. Alan Parsons, eat their dust. (MAC RANDALL)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide