Under all the glamour, glitz and BAPE's, behind the nuts-palming vroomvroom keyboards of his debut solo single, Skateboard P was just another recovering backpacker. On his new mixtape, In My Mind: The Prequel, co-hosted by (who else) DJ Drama, P goes on the campaign trail, trying to coax skeptical messageboarders, salty artists and fawning supermodels that HE HAS STEPPED HIS BARS AND HOOKS GAME UP.
If you've heard any of the vintage selections from the "rhyme cellar" of Pharrell's brain piece, then you know that the NERD/Neptune headmaster is...well he's working on it. Sometimes he drops gems (see his verse on Clipse's "Hate Or Love It" from We Got It 4 Cheap Vol 2) and sometimes he rides the short bus (stuff like "records sell like dope, man" or wholesale quoting of Biggie three verses after Pusha dissed dudes who quote Biggie. Compare and contrast, Re-Up dudes!).
But on this new joint, Pharrell drops all the crazy synths that the kids love so much and rides over three (!!!) RZA beats, "Fortified Live", and, the winner of the "THAT'S A GOOD LOOK" award, "SOUND BWOY BUREIL". Honestly? We kinna fucking love it. Pharrell brags about his accessory game ("When I wave, bitches call me 'Rolling Stones'") and totally sons himself as Tolkien nerd ("my fans smoke it til they're the size of Smeagol"). Word to Tree Beard, In My Mind just jumped feet first into the hotly anticipated box.