Hip hop group N.E.R.D. have spoken to ClashMusic about ongoing work on their new album.
A supergroup of sorts, N.E.R.D. are one of the most acclaimed production teams in hip hop. Alongside their collaborations however sit a series of group releases which have expanded the boundaries of rap music.
Mixing together vastly differing styles, their three studio albums together range from liquid funk to house. N.E.R.D. are never predictable though, and halted recording sessions earlier this year after completing 20 rough cuts.
Deciding to throw away these ideas, the group completed six new tracks before travelling to the UK. Completing a series of rare shows, ClashMusic reporter Karl O’Keeffe sat down with N.E.R.D. to talk about the creative process.
“Chad, Pharrell and myself – although we have a lot of similarities – we all like different things” said Shay Haley. “Like Chad was big on the rave scene at one point. I mean if you check out his record collection, he’s got all types of music, like Harry Belafonte, shit that I would never listen to, but respect.”
“Pharrell is big on the whole ’70s jazz scene, soul scene, and I’m more into the indie bands of today, and you fuse all that together and you get a nice blend of a lot of different sounds. It’s cool.”
Despite their deeply American background, N.E.R.D. have always been embraced by British audiences. Musing on this, Shay Haley referred to Britain’s famous musical magpie tendencies.
“You guys love eclectic music. If it’s good it makes it, if it’s shit, it don’t. But even the songs that don’t make it on the radio and the sounds that don’t make it on the radio, they make it in the club” he explained.
“There’s a scene and you go there and everyone’s immersed. There’s loads of things about England, and about being in this band that we love and so much musical diversity.”
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