omething in video for Clipse’s “Grindin’” doesn’t quite fit. Someone, rather. Amidst hulking frames, baggy sports jerseys, and intimidating glares is a slight, lithe figure in a grey tracksuit and a yellow mesh (mesh?) hat. He stands out immediately, although the thugs around him don’t seem to notice. Instead of steadily nodding to the percussive stomp of the beat like those around him, he crackles and gyrates, but subtly. Everyone in the video is feeling the beat, nodding in time... but this one... it looks like the rhythm actually moves him.


Or does he move the rhythm? This curious elfin creature is none other than Pharrell Williams, one-half (the most visible and, by most accounts, the most important half) of producer superstars the Neptunes. Pharrell cut his teeth crafting hits for Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Noreaga, but with hip hop’s ascendancy to the top of the pop charts, he straddles a strange divide. He consorts with the coke-dealing-cum-rappers of Clipse as well as celebrity pop stars Britney Spears and N’Sync. Pharrell’s rock band, N.E.R.D., is an MTV darling. One might think it would be difficult to run in all these circles, but Pharrell pulls it off somehow. He doesn’t rush to the latest styles, instead settling on worn jeans, a skateboard t-shirt and the ever-present N.E.R.D. mesh cap (for sale on the band’s website!). Sure, he’ll dress up a bit, donning a stylish suit for part of the video for “Pass the Courvoisier Part 2,” but when he performed the song live on MTV’s Video Music Awards, there he was in full slacker gear, arms covered in tattoos, cap just slightly askew.


It looks like Pharrell frankly doesn’t care too much about his appearance, and maybe that’s the case. Anyone who namedrops Tears for Fears and wears sleeveless Led Zepplin t-shirts gives little heed to his street cred. Perhaps it’s a producer mentality of sorts; he’s so intent on music itself that he overlooks the non-musical aspects of the pop world such as fashion. His eyes often tinged with an inward-focused glaze – maybe cocaine, maybe the beginnings of the syncopated bass thumps for next month’s number one jam. Maybe the coke enables his obliviousness.


This is all speculation of course, but Pharrell’s unique fashion sense works for him. He stands out as a bit of an idiosyncrasy in “Grindin’,” but in the video for Britney Spears’ “Boys,” his casual dress gives him power. While Britney tarts around in several elaborate get-ups, Pharrell is unconcerned with his appearance. Britney has to work hard to maintain a favorable public image: her videos increasingly feel like part of a PR campaign to get the nation to speculate over how her next outfit can top the previous one. She looks a little tired in the video, and far too made-up for Pharrell’s just-threw-these-on ensemble. The video tries to paint Britney as seductress, gyrating in front of Pharrell before nonchalantly scampering off into the club. It’s too canned; too choreographed. Pharrell smiles as Britney attempts to entice him: he likes her dancing, but he doesn’t lose his cool. When she abruptly leaves, he watches her, but with an air of confidence, not longing. He can have her if he wants to, and maybe he doesn’t even want to.


Confidence is the key idea here, and anyone who dominates the charts like the Neptunes do is bound to have a little. On a mission statement from the N.E.R.D. website, Pharrell explains the band’s name: “A nerd is someone who wants to be cool to everybody but it's not his fault he's witty and smart and his social skills aren't the best.... We are the people who are proud of being smart, being witty and being clever when everyone else doesn't understand.” It’s an unusual sentiment for someone who major label executives bank on, but it’s this ethos that Pharrell brings to his music: a natural and distinct sense of rhythm coupled with an ear for uncouth and catchy melodies. The songs are so simple that they’re near impossible to deconstruct. They just work. And I guess I’m just not clever enough to understand.