"Use Your Heart," a tender slow jam off SWV's New Beginning, became the Neptunes' first true hit as a production team, reaching number 22 on the Hot 100 and number six on the R&B/hip-hop chart. It wasn't until 1996, in the liner notes for albums by Total and SWV, that Williams and Hugo were formally credited as such. Shay Haley would eventually reconnect with Williams and Hugo, who continued under the Neptunes name. Mike Etheridge, aka Mike E., branched out with his own work for Blackstreet and later recorded Riley-produced solo material for Capitol. ![]() He worked with Riley and Riley's brother Markell to co-write Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker," a number two Hot 100 hit in 1992, and the next year he was heard on the Riley-produced "Human Nature" remix of SWV's "Right Here." Hugo officially entered the frame with contributions to the self-titled 1994 platinum album by Riley's Blackstreet, and with Williams co-wrote "Tonight's the Night." ![]() Williams was the first one to benefit from the convergence. Impressed by the Neptunes, the producer signed them to a development deal after they graduated. (Hugo attended nearby Kempsville.) The event was sponsored by new jack swing architect and Guy member Teddy Riley, who operated a recording studio near the campus. They performed in a talent show held at Princess Anne High School, where three of the four members were students. Around the same time, Williams and Hugo, along with Sheldon "Shay" Haley and Mike Etheridge, formed a more R&B-oriented act called the Neptunes. Outside school, Williams recorded with DJ Timmy Tim and Melvin Barcliff, later known as Timbaland and Magoo, in the Native Tongues-inspired rap group S.B.I. Williams and Hugo met at seventh grade band camp in their native Virginia Beach, and continued together in marching band. The duo started their fourth decade in 2020 by entering the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Williams and Hugo diversified and thrived separately and together in the 2010s, as a younger artists like Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and the Internet championed and drew from their foundational recordings and sought them out for collaborations. After more triumphs with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, and Madonna, they were listed at the top of Billboard's Producer of the Decade list for the 2000s. At the same time, they launched the pigeonhole-evading N.E.R.D., topped the Billboard 200 with The Neptunes Present.Clones, and won a Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Having tasted the Top Ten for the first time with Mase's "Lookin' at Me" (1998), the duo repeatedly hit the upper tier of the Hot 100 in the ensuing years with Nelly's "Hot in Herre" (2002), Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body" (2003), Kelis' "Milkshake" (2003), and Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004) only scratching the surface of their early output. Candy-coated, animatedly funky, and often powered by beats that can be replicated with fists pounding a cafeteria table, their work is instantly identifiable, and further distinguished by Williams' voice, a frequent secondary element that has often blurred the distinction between duettist and hype man with bumptious rhymes and falsetto hooks. Heirs to pioneers of bare-knuckled rap and pop-flavored electronic R&B, from Larry Smith and Rick Rubin to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and peers of fellow Virginians Timbaland and Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have set themselves apart with an ever-evolving sound that has appealed to the streets, the charts, and multiple generations of listeners. ![]() Whether measured by sales, radio airplay, critical reception, awards, influence, or endurance, the Neptunes are one of the all-time most successful production teams.
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