Read this article on what he contributes to the music and what he does
Best of 2022: The semi-silent partner in N.E.R.D and The Neptunes on producing for Justin and Jay-Z… but not quite Michael Jackson
www.musicradar.com
Producing as part of The Neptunes. What’s the division of labour?
“Well, it’s always a 50% thing. When we started out recording I was the guy with the equipment. And over the years I came to be overseeing the sound palette… Adding beats and drops. Fixing frequencies here and there with the engineer. Maybe some tonalities. I look after the technical stuff. I’d take that responsibility. But it’s whatever the vibe is. We all have our influences and the music we listen to. It’s whatever I can bring to the table for a particular project.”
Tell me about writing as a team. What’s the dynamic there? How does that work?
“Depends on how you look at it. I’ll spend time ‘off hours’ with the engineer. We’re loading sounds and chopping up drum samples. A lot of time is spent on that. And for me, I like to keep up with chord changes. Even to this day I’m still learning chord changes and chord progressions. If you had a chord progression I’d be like ‘Tell me what this is, it’s awesome’. Let’s share this moment so we can play the song together.”
Now on the album It’s Almost Dry, he’s credited on the “Scrape It Off”. But if you remember, before the album was released, it was said to be produced half by The Neptunes and half produced by Kanye. Once the album came out, there was tracks credited to Pharrell but not The Neptunes
I don’t know if all the credits for that album have since been corrected, but once the album came out and Chad Hugo was being interviewed by Vulture and was asked about his involvement with the album, this was said:
The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo helped define a new era of music. Don’t expect it to go to his head.
www.vulture.com
I was looking over the credits for Pusha T’s album It’s Almost Dry, and I didn’t see you in there?
“I was involved in that record, to be honest with you. We’re trying to work that out.”
Was there a mix-up with the credits?
“I guess you could call it that.”
Would you call it something else?
“We made some tunes. There were some good vibes there. We recorded it in Florida at a boathouse studio. I played some keys here and there. I was present.”
Chad went into more detail about the making of It’s Almost Dry with Complex:
We celebrated Chad Hugo's iconic career by discussing hit...
www.complex.com
Pusha-T, ‘It’s Almost Dry’ (2022)
Chad Hugo: “There were a lot of inspirations from
Miami Vice and
Joker. It wasn’t the blueprint, but just as far as vibe-wise. We recorded in the U.S. at the Boathouse Studio in Miami. Pusha wanted to shout out what was happening in Virginia locally, and I think that’s really cool. It’s good to be a part of the product and making the sound.
We aimed to [make] his rhyme scheme be cohesive with the beat and the rhythms. You can hear the way he’s rhyming with the drum. That was really important to Pusha, Pharrell, and myself, because a lot of the rhymes back in the day, we’d write on a piece of paper. But this was more in the pocket, as far as the unison of the rhythm. It was really important to get people moving in that regard. We were just really trying to stab with it and get real with it. I think it’s a communal experience when you vibe with the rhythms, and it’s a dance you do both mentally and verbally.
The weather was really nice. I remember Pharrell took us out on his friend’s yacht and we were playing tunes. I didn’t understand some of the stuff, like the one with Pharrell on the FedEx truck until later. I’ll be honest, I was getting really nauseous, like something’s really uneasy with this. It felt like I’m in one of those delirium movies where things are just blurry. But as Push was laying down his verse at this studio home, I saw the vision of what we were trying to convey.”
No, Chad didn’t help with Kendrick Lamar’s Alright or Mr. Morale songs, but he was apart of helping out with Blue Magic. He even spoke on the song Blue Magic song in that same Complex interview
Jay-Z f/ Pharrell, “Blue Magic” (2007)
“I think that was a Rakim flow he was paying homage to. I don’t know. I’m just probably picking up on it right now. The Frankenstein sample where he said, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” and the thunder. I remember being in for the mix and doing whatever. He released it right after I recorded it. It’s a great track and Jay-Z killed it… I need to go recap on
American Gangster”
