10 Classic Music Albums Turning 20 In 2022

10. In Search Of - N.E.R.D.

At the start of the '00s, the focus in popular music was slowly shifting towards hip hop. Though gangsta rap had always had a home on the charts through most of the '90s, this is where rock started to take a back seat to the giants like Eminem and Jay Z on every one of Billboard's lists. One can only take the braggadocious stuff for so long though, and we got something a lot more spacey on N.E.R.D.'s debut record.

Being a lot more downtempo and lowkey, this is the kind of music that felt more indicative of acts like A Tribe Called Quest that what the gangstas had been doing for years. From the first notes of something like Rock Star, you can hear the Neptunes trying to push themselves as producers, chopping up different beats of every genre imaginable and putting them into just the right context.

And you better believe that the rest of the hip hop world was listening to this record as well. Even with his work on records like The Blueprint, Kanye West's trademark style feels indebted to what the Neptunes were up to on here, especially when he went for the more spacious songs on his debut like Spaceships. If we're being honest though, this album deserves most of its kudos by giving us a proper introduction to Pharrell Williams as both a rapper and a producer. When you look at his work past this, In Search Of feels like the spark that was about to ignite a forest fire.