The Neptunes

The Gopher

Me attaches the flame retardant for this one.......

I know it is going against the trend seeing as every rapper and his granny seem to be using their production"skills"but am I alone in thinking they are overrated,correction,not all that good at all?
Firstly it seems the Neptunes primarily work with the New York rappers(well,Snoop Dogg being the biggest non east coast rapper to do any substantial work with them,as i know somebody would have pointed it out).Probably the majority of east coast rappers have done quite a bit of work with them.
Now,TBF I have always thought the west coast had better production what with the likes of Dr Dre and the unbeatable beats of the g funk era but I am getting increasingly pissed off when every time i turn on the radio that the only rap that seems to get on air nowadays apart from Mr Ja"look at me im such a thug!" Rule ,Eminem and 50 Cent(they are both great artists but there are plenty who are as good who get far less airplay)is a boring as hell Neptunes produced track.It actually seems nowadays that the only people who are not having the neptunes produce any of their stuff are those who are signed to Eminem and Dr Dre owned/connected labels.
My main gripe with the neptunes is that their sound in general seems too out of place for rap.They seem to use the same exact style for rap as they do when they are producing something by Britney and that crowd.Seriously,download a neptunes produced instrumental and I could nearly guarantee you will think that it could be just as easily used by a pop artist(and PLEASE,no arguing over the defination of pop ,you know who and what I am talking about).The truth is that Neptunes beats are boring and unvaried-it stays the exact same through the verses and only changes a little at the chorus I find.TBH I could make as good in a half hour on a relatively cheap PC producing software program or on cokemusic.com(think thats the adress,havent visited in ages).

I am not saying that everything the neptunes do is terrible,but the fact is that off the top of my head I can only recall a tiny amount of Neptunes productions I actually liked.The first Snoop single from the new album stank like sh1t on a car seat and I dontreally like Beautiful too much either.The fact the Neptunes produced much of the album would put me off buying.
But for me Dre will always be the top producer.I mean just look at the early 90s with the likes of Doggystyle and the Chronic.I just love the sound of then and wish they were still doing it but it disappeared by the mid 90s:( Nevertheless Dre is still IMO the best producer.The neptunes just sound too much like house music or something like it.

Im thinking this thread will get replies by Adnans,Makaveli,possibly Kali and Chernobyl and most probably one along the lines of"So what.Rap is sh1te anyway.Metal rules!"For some reason rap never caught on with most of the users of this board.

yellum

I like the Neptunes and their own Album as NERD is pretty good but I'd class them as producers with a pop inclination not really pure hiphop guys.

They are hitmakers and thats why they are used by so many people. TBH I think Dre is very over-rated. He can make some good tunes but he too is on the pop end of hiphop. If you want a money maker then you get the Neptunes. They know what the pop hungry kiddies want and they'll deliver. Thats what they do, don't be disappointed.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Fidelis

Well, I like pretty much everything they've offered so far. From their work with Britney & Justin Timberlake (no, seriously) to others like Jadakiss, Clipse, Busta Rhymes, Ray J, Snoop, Kelis, Jay Z, Noreaga & Mystikal. The N*E*R*D project with Shay produced a great album.

Although lately, I notice that it's just Pharrell's name on some of the credits. Does anyone know if Chad's doing his own producing?

I understand what you're saying though. They're incredibly commercial at this stage, doing the Nike freestyle commercial really does take the biscuit

Makaveli

As said they are quite clearly no longer just hiphop producers (they never really were in the first place). Their own album is in fact quite rock like, with lots of guitars and drums etc. A good album none the less.

I like most of the stuff they have done, and although you can usually pick out a neptunes produced song, I don't think they all sound the same, as opposed to Dr Dre who basically churns out the same loops just slightly altered time and time again.

Like Yellum says, Dr Dre is quite overrated. I certainly wouldn't pick him out as an outstanding producer. Gangsta irap s pretty much dead and buried at this stage, so you're going to have to go back to early to mid nineties if you want to hear more of it.

Like Dr Dre, Timbaland also sounds quite repetitive. God knows how many times he has used the "Get Your Freak On" sample.
The Neptunes music, although very chart orientated, is quite diverse.

Songs they have produced for Kelis and Clipse don't sound like songs produced for Britney and Justin Timberlake, and the songs on their own album sound nothing like other stuff they have done.

What is happening now is pretty much over-saturation. They are producing an awful lot of the pop/rnb/chart rap that is doing the rounds at the moment. So, what you find is a lot of songs have similar sounds which is a bit tedious. They do a lot of the "dirty south" type hip-hop, with the likes of Ludacris etc.

Personally though, I think they are great at what they do, which is making hits. A lot of these hits are in fact good songs at the end of the day.

What you seem to be looking for is some diversity, while mentioning Dr Dre. Well you're not gonna find it with him, 50 Cent and Eminem don't sound all that different instrumentally.

If you want diversity check out Outkast or well I would have said Busta Rhymes but Neptunes produce for him now too. Basically with most main stream/in the charts/on mtv rap, they have a finger in it, so either go looking for some less mainstream stuff or go back to older stuff. Unless you want to listen to Murder Inc. (don't rate it all tbh), Irv Gotti produces most of that himself.