Album Review: Pharrell - In My Mind

Eventually I will diversify into reviewing albums in other genres, like rock or soul or something else. Actually I can give you a quick review of all Country Music right now. Country Music sucks worse than any other kind of music I have ever heard. I'd rather listen to a Ravi Shankar album on repeat for 24 hours than listen to any type of country music. That's my review of all country music.

But for now, I'll stick to R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop, and I'll jump into this Pharrell album. I'm not exactly sure what music type this counts as. I guess it's a mixture of all three. For those of you who have no idea who Pharrell is, or Pharrell Williams to put it better, he's one half of the production team known as The Neptunes. They have worked with artists ranging from Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears to Noreaga and Busta Rhymes. Click on the links if you need any more information than that.

Pharrell has been singing on many of the songs he's produced for years now, and it's not completely abhorrent singing. It's not good by any stretch of the imagination, but there are many worse singers. Well, maybe not many, but there are at least some people who sing worse than him. In recent years he has even shown himself to be an adequate rapper, without needing someone to write lyrics for him ala Sean "Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy" Combs.

Somewhere over the years, he decided that putting out a solo album was in his future. He had already been the frontman for the rap/rock fusion band N.E.R.D., but he wanted to go even more solo than that. Pharrell came up with the idea of him doing an album half singing and half rapping. That is how "In My Mind" was born. Quick quotes from a friend upon hearing the Pharrell album:

"While I was listening to the album, I thought Cyndi Lauper was going to hop out at any minute"

"It sounds like he wants to be androgynous, in the vein of a Prince, but the talent unfortunately isn't there"

"It sounds like an 80's pop album"

The lead single on the album came out earlier this year, and is probably one of the better tracks on the album. "Can I Have it Like That", sees him going back and forth with Gwen Stefani on a semi infectious hook. His monotone rapping fits the hard driving beat well, and it comes out as a solid song. It's also the first song on the album. When I was in high school and first song on the album was the lead single, the album was usually bad. And unfortunately, the same follows true with this album. It's is as if Pharrell has no idea where he wants to go on this album. At times he sounds like an R&B crooner in the Gregory Abbott vein, other times he's clearly copying Prince. His singing is painfully whiny, almost like Keith Sweat was writing the songs for him.

As far as Pharrell the rapper, his lyrics are pathetically boring and uninventive. On the track "Raspy Shit" he raps "you wanna get up in my boat and ride, take pictures with the kid up on Ocean Drive" and blends in other big money items like Ferraris, and more mentions of expensive women's shoes. However, this track is one of the better moments on the album, the rest of the album is pretty pointless with appearances from Snoop Dogg, Nelly, Pusha T from the Clipse, and Jay-Z (who lays one of the laziest Jay-Z verses in recent memory). There is one song that definitely drew my ire. The last track on the album is called "Skateboard P Presents Show You How to Hustle"...now not at one point in his musical career has he ever professed to be any kind of drug dealer or street hustler, however on this song he laments the proper way to hustle drugs or any other kind of illicit material. Unfortunately, he also mentions that he has done none of the things he is saying, taking anyway any credence the song might have had. He explains about knowing people who have hustled and went to jail, etc. Whatever, it's stupid to make a song about a lifestyle you didn't lead and then say on the same song you know other people you did so you are allowed to talk about it.

So we are left with an album from Pharrell, that probably none of us wanted in the first place. As I told a friend recently, this album screams out "stick to making music for other artists". Hopefully he will realize that...and move on with his career.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5