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Can you really be mad atPharrell Williams?

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To reminisce on the sound of the early-to-mid-2000s is to reminisce, at least partially, on the Neptunes.

And there are certainly reasons to bemoan some of N.E.R.D.s excesses.

For one, the band has never shied away from delusions of grandeur.

A 2004 documentary for the French television data pipe MCM featured Pharrell espousing a worldview mired in hubris.

for the people who think like me, he said.

The song also features the cringe-inducing chant: You cant sit still like you ADHD.

Its vintage N.E.R.D, that happens to fit 23-year-old Uzi Vert like a glove.

Think of the frenetic drums in 2008s Spaz, or the oozing guitar riffs on 2004s Fly or Die.

One of the most striking tendencies of modern popular music is its seamless integration of divergent sounds.

In the end, cynicism is for old people.

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