The Neptunes back on the rock
American production team The Neptunes was in Jamaica early this week. The duo, which comprises singer Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, were at Buju Banton’s Gargamel Studios in Kingston, working on a project.
The extent of the project has not been revealed.
The Neptunes have worked with Jamaican artistes. On Beenie Man’s album Art & Life for Virgin Records, they produced three songs — Girls Dem Sugar featuring Mya, Jamaica Way featuring Pharrell and Kelis and Ola featuring Steve Perry.
One year later, The Neptunes produced three songs for Beenie Man’s Tropical Storm album. They were Bad Girl featuring Justin Vince, Feel it Boy featuring Janet Jackson (which made the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts) and Bossman featuring Lady Saw and Sean Paul (which entered the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Songs Chart and the British pop chart).
The Neptunes also shared production credits on Sean Paul’s Grammy-winning 2002 album Dutty Rock. They produced Gimmie The Light remix featuring Busta Rhymes and Bubble which featured Fahrenheit.
Pharrell has scored hits as a singer, the biggest being Happy in 2013. Frontin and Beautiful, featuring Snoop Dogg and Charlie Wilson, were also popular in Jamaica.
In 2003, Pharrell was billed to perform on the Hot Shots concert at Hope Gardens, which was promoted by Solid Agency’s Sharon Burke. Due to rain, he did not appear.
The Neptunes produced 24 Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits during the late 1990s and 2000s. In 2009, Billboard ranked them number one on its Top 10 Producers of The Decade.
They have produced hit songs for Toni Braxton, Usher, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Kelis, Beyonce, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, and Nelly. They have won two Grammy Awards.