In 2006 Pharrell
released a great album amongst other great albums by other great artist like Jay-Z,
Ghostface, The Clipse, Nas, Game, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Busta, T.I., Ludacris
(whose album Pharrell was on “Release Therapy” and it also took the Best Rap
Album in the 2007 Grammys) etc. That year even saw an epic release from Kevin
Federline. Okay maybe K-Fed (Britney Spear and Shar Jackson’s baby’s daddy)
also known as the white rapper no one really remembers didn’t released anything
nearly worth paying with fire. Even among those titles, Pharrell’s album "In
My Mind" stood tall with stand out singles, the Gwen Stefani featured
"Can I Have It Like That," and just as well as the Michael Jackson vocally
mirroring single “Number One” with a very boastful and complimenting Kanye
verse. The videos as well were celebrated not for its release but for its
appearance, the cinematic pyros in the street behind Skateboard P, the very clean-cut
combo of Pharrell and Kanye on balconies with bright hues animated in behind
them. Don’t forget the other two standalone singles “That Girl” featuring Snoop
Dogg with Charlie Wilson singing along with them and his bright feel good solo
single “Angel.”
The features on the
album are a story in itself all of whom he has worked with recently around that
time, such as Gwen Stefani where she and him got together for her first solo
single “Hollaback Girl” for her album “Love.Angel.Music.Baby.” As well as
Lauren London who was in his video for “That Girl.” Or some who worked together
on numerous hit records together (i.e. Jay-Z they’re connected through “I Just
Wanna Love U” among others hits, Pusha T who was signed to Pharrell and Chad
Hugo’s Star Trak label as a member of The Clipse). This was the same year
Pharrell as half of the Neptunes had executive produced two albums for their
Star Trak Entertainment label, Slim Thug’s “Already Platinum” and The Clipse’s
long delayed “Hell Hath No Fury.” Pharrell stayed busy leading up to the
release of “In My Mind” with the prequel mixtape leading up to the actual album
which is what most artist do now more common then ever. The mixtape was titled
after the album “In My Mind: The Prequel” it was apart of the Gangsta Grillz
series hosted by DJ Drama. It featured T.I., Young Dro, Ab Liva, Twista and
Star Trak’s artists Clipse and Fam-Lay. Listening to all of the work Pharrell
had done around the time of the album it could’ve been a completely different
monster had he spent just 3-6 more months minimum working on “In My Mind.”
It’s exciting to think
that Pharrell intertwined who he was, who he was around and who he was becoming
into that album. He rapped with the confidence of someone who had lived all of
those life experiences, most of which could be believable if he had not let it
be known that it was just a story quickly thereafter. Listen to his crack rap
storytelling through the first verse of “Show You How to Hustle,” he even paints
the vision of the drug dealer’s dream in the chorus, “so we can sip wine and
eat a bundle of truffles,” if that’s not the good life that Reakwon and Jay-Z
were rapping about before they became veterans in the rap game I don’t know
what is. In My Mind was soaked with the bravado of a sex symbol which
Skateboard P had became leading up to the album, being seen crooning in between
verses rappers like Nelly and spitting a few hard bars beside The Clipse would
only help his look as a sex symbol. Take it from Ma$e you can be a sex symbol
who sings for the ladies and the goons too.
Believe it or not Jay-Z
and Kanye aren’t the only ones that tackled the sub-genre of Luxury Rap. Before The Thrones, Swizz
Beatz gave us One Man Band Man in
2007, Pharrell’s In My Mind was the
precursor to those in the last decade possibly the first. Pharrell was not only
rapping about the dream life of any living man from the wine sipping to
lounging in the company of models and celebrities. Throughout How Does It Feel and Raspy Shit Pharrell’s bragging about living
a life like B.I.G. was going for in “Juicy,” but on the same hand Pharrell was
encouraging you to meet him at your place of success in “You Can Do It Too.”
The difference of B.I.G. and Pharrell’s raps is the fact that we know
Pharrell’s means can reach the extent that he’s rapping. That’s the difference
between what was all a dream to B.I.G. and the Luxury raps of Pharrell.
As braggadocio as most
of In My Mind is, whether he’s
talking about himself, his women or what’s in his reach, Pharrell showcases his
rap prowess and how easy it is to rap from the most cliché perspectives while
speaking on those who sell the dream they don’t live.
Below are a few recent
songs that’ll show Skateboard P hasn't a step,
Here's a list of a few more you can find around the web:
CRS “Don’t Stop”
A$AP Rocky “Pretty Flaco Remix”
