1. 702 - I Still Love You

BOOM!

From the opening, immense explosiveness of the ceremonial drum, you know you’re in for something special, something rhythmic, and something lovely. Unlike with the #2 entry Beautiful, there is no lengthy background story with this track. It made it to number one on sheer epic musical quality alone. From the rather decent and ultimately slept-on 2003 album Star comes this equally slept-on soulful offering by Sin City R&B lady trio 702 and a sheer Neptunes masterpiece of production.

I originally posted this song here. And amazingly, it has received 580+ plays as of this writing (which is surprising because I’m certain my readership is NOT that huge). So peeps out there are apparently playing the sh!t out of it. Or if you’re the one that’s played it 500 times, you no doubt love the song more than I do and should be the one writing this post (haha). But honestly, I can’t blame them (or you). I Still Love You is all things lovely, grandiose and just plain epic sounding. And it’s also one hell of an overlooked Neptunes gem that rarely gets mentioned when discussing the best beats that them VA boys have created. So hopefully my placing it at number one gives it a miniscule push out of obscurity. Or maybe not. Either way, on to the beat…

The 3 vintage Neptunes staples are all present and punctual here. Better still, each component is turned up to 11. The aforementioned drums (slammed with mallets for drum sticks, I’m sure) announce their presence with thunderous glory (turn it up and you can feel it in your soul 4 real). The instrumentation here is simply majestic with pure and thick synths that are incredibly pronounced. And of course the hand claps. Like a necessary slap in the face to wake you up, the very crisp claps echo with style and purpose; it almost feels like the ‘Tunes are in the room with you, clapping hard ‘til their hands turn beet red. As for the bridge, with a beat like this you don’t really need an elaborate bridge and that’s what we get: subtle tonal changes in the instrumentation and even some xylophone/cowbell style percussion scattered all around to give some twinkle to the production. Finally, the way that it all comes together is like a sweet and tender kiss on the lips…not those ones, you dirty devil (c) Ali G.

I’ve always liked 702 better than most other girl groups of the time (plus I had a little crush on Irish). It’s a shame that their popularity never reached the impressive levels of some of their musical peers (like Destiny’s Child, for one), because as far as voices and harmonizing go, they were quite good for a 3 person R&B girl group. Unfortunately, their 3rd album Star (the title track of which was also produced by the ‘Tunes and featuring the Clipse) ended up being their final album before the group disbanded. Even worse, a few years later, the sister of two of the band members (whom she herself was one of the founding members of 702) passed away due to kidney failure at the tender age of 27. Yes, a damn shame, indeed.

“See it don’t take a rocket scientist to” realize that the lyrics are nothing complicated. It’s the love movement, plain and simple. Despite everything we’ve been through, both good and bad, “I decided I still love you.” Awwww. Yep, this isn’t rocket science OR brain surgery and doesn’t need to be. Plus you got Pharrell on the hook doing what he does worst (singing) but doing it with passion and soul. And that’s what counts. As for P and Hugo, even though I’m not really feeling any of the beats that you dudes have so far given the Clipse for their upcoming 3rd (aka 4th) album. And even though you guys often produce individually under the Neptunes banner and continue to confuse your fans as to who’s really behind the boards. And even though the rumours of your supposed break up continue to annoyingly show up and disappear. Despite all that, I still love you, Neptunes!

True (not Hollywood) story: very early on in my nephew’s life (when he couldn’t yet crawl), I would carry him around the house and dance with him to some of my favourite tunes (trying my best to instill some rhythm into him). Much to my delight, he responded to the booming bass of this joint in particular. And even though he was tough at times to take care of (hey, I’m no professional father, I’m just an amateur uncle), I would sing along to the hook, declaring that my inexperience and resulting impatience in conjunction with him being a handful was all just part of the learning process of life. “I still love you!”, I crooned to the little guy, who then smiled at me (probably because I was out of tune).

This is my favourite Neptunes beat (Ichiban numba won!). Maybe one day I’ll waste even more of my (and your) time and compose a list of my Top 8 Neptunes beats which they produced for themselves (because really, that’s a whole ‘nother musical monster as their discography is that huge). But this current countdown is proof that Pharrell and Chad show their ass when crafting and selling their music to their clientele; whether high profile or up-and-coming, they don’t discriminate (as they shouldn’t).

*relaxed breath* So as my latest self-imposed writing exercise comes to a close, this Planet Neptunes list is simply a small offering of the kind of music that reminds me of the summertime. So on this July weekend, whether you’re still sobering up from your 4th of July festivities. Or if you’re Canadian (like me) and haven’t stopped drinking or partying since Canada Day this past Wednesday (yeah baby!), take a listen to these 8 joints and 3 deleted selections in order if you haven’t already (on a booming sound system preferably or a pair of ear-incasing headphones) and chill out to your remaining buzz. But more importantly, thoroughly enjoy these summer days playing whatever music takes you to that special place and makes you happy enough to lose your inhibitions and get up and dance. Finally, if you, the reader, actually read each verbose selection in this countdown and enjoyed the accompanying music. Then you’ll believe me when I say: I STILL LOVE YOU!!! Happy summer!