Dig On N*E*R*D's "In Search Of..."

P&B brings you the "Dig On" Classic Album Series.  We'll delve into our vaults to discuss the records that have profoundly impacted our musical tastes.  The albums we present are considered essential to anyone's record collection. In the end, you can't understand the present (or future) until you "Dig On" the past

image via flipbundlez.info

Neptunes' Alter-Ego Project Provides The Perfect Soundtrack to 'Guys Night Out'

The Neptunes production crew, made up of the Virginia-based duo of Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo, took the R&B, Hip Hop, and Pop music worlds by storm with their signature production style starting in the late 90s and well into the 2000s.

Their production sound is instantly identifiable.  You always know a Neptunes produced track when you here it.  Smash hit songs such as Usher's "You Don't Have To Call," Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It To Me)," Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You," and Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful" are just a few of the joints that come to mind when thinking of that classic Neptunes flavour.

From Compton to Consciousness: Kendrick Lamar Enters the Game

(Photo via zatoonblog.com)

When you think of West Coast hip hop, NWA and Snoop come to mind. How can we forget "Straight Outta Compton"? This song was the West's coming out party: times are tough out here and we are sick of it. Gangsta rap made it's presence felt with it's aggressive social "tell all" and the Game changed (Note: I'm not talking about the Game the rapper, but the hip hop Game to make this clear. Game the rapper thinks he's a player in the Game but he's not. He's more like a name dropping, whining water/towel boy). Dre, Snoop and Ice Cube (Sans the "Are We Wherever Yet Againing?") are synonymous with the West Coast sound, with Jay Rock coming up the ranks. But a cat from the aforementioned Compton is breaking the mold by delivering West Coast consciousness instead of aggressiveness: a potential rookie of the year in the Game, Kendrick Lamar.