The duo started their fourth decade in 2020 by entering the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Williams and Hugo diversified and thrived separately and together in the 2010s, as a younger artists like Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and the Internet championed and drew from their foundational recordings and sought them out for collaborations. After more triumphs with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, and Madonna, they were listed at the top of Billboard's Producer of the Decade list for the 2000s. At the same time, they launched the pigeonhole-evading N.E.R.D., topped the Billboard 200 with The Neptunes Present.Clones, and won a Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Having tasted the Top Ten for the first time with Mase's "Lookin' at Me" (1998), the duo repeatedly hit the upper tier of the Hot 100 in the ensuing years with Nelly's "Hot in Herre" (2002), Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body" (2003), Kelis' "Milkshake" (2003), and Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004) only scratching the surface of their early output. Candy-coated, animatedly funky, and often powered by beats that can be replicated with fists pounding a cafeteria table, their work is instantly identifiable, and further distinguished by Williams' voice, a frequent secondary element that has often blurred the distinction between duettist and hype man with bumptious rhymes and falsetto hooks. Heirs to pioneers of bare-knuckled rap and pop-flavored electronic R&B, from Larry Smith and Rick Rubin to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and peers of fellow Virginians Timbaland and Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have set themselves apart with an ever-evolving sound that has appealed to the streets, the charts, and multiple generations of listeners. Whether measured by sales, radio airplay, critical reception, awards, influence, or endurance, the Neptunes are one of the all-time most successful production teams.
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