In My Mind

He'll never win any of those freestyle battles but he can damn sure make a record that you'll enjoy listening to multiple times.

In My Mind intermittently shares the ingratiating weirdness of Williams' N.E.R.D. side project, but his shaky rhyming and occasionally off-key crooning suggest he shouldn't quit his day job cranking out beats anytime soon.

While there are a few too many lounge-bar moments - a hangover from his NERD days - when 'In My Mind' is good, it really is excellent.

The bulk of the R&B tracks are gloopy. [Mar 2006, p.106]

Ultimately, In My Mind falters through narrowness of vision. [Dec 2005, p.120]

A large chunk of the material is second rate compared to his past highlights.

Even the best of these tracks lack the grimy menace of the most thrilling Neptunes beats. [Sep 2006, p.147]

If In My Mind seems divided against itself, rest assured that all of the songs have something in common: They're not remotely catchy.

He just doesn't make a convincing rapper, and it's not only a question of charisma: his voice tends towards the monotone, and lacks honey.

There's nothing as instantly likable as "Frontin'," and even with the presence of some bigwig collaborators the disc sounds strangely inspiration-free.

In My Mind has several potential hit singles, but taken as a whole it falls dramatically short.

A few highlights aside, it’s hard to understand why at least a half-dozen of these over-glossed R&B-lite numbers ever made it out of their maker’s mind.

Next to guests Jay-Z, Snoop and Slim Thug, Pharrell's playa-playa croon gets tiresome.

Stylish and confident to a fault, Pharrell's success as a solo artist is, unfortunately, pretty much where the album title says it is.

It’s an ambitious mess, but it’s a mess.

If you were expecting some next-level shit from Pharrell Williams on his self-produced solo debut, you're in for a huge disappointment.

The idea that a producer of his caliber can’t put together something resembling a likeable LP-- particularly in light of his endlessly amusing Gangsta Grillz mixtape, In My Mind: The Prequel-- is insane. Here, he’s shot himself in the foot. Where the mixtape exploded with enthusiasm and wit, In My Mind the album is corroded and ineffectual. Worse, it’s predictable.

While he is certainly an innovative producer, that originality fails to translate on "In My Mind."

He seems to be a better thinker than a writer and a better writer than a rapper. [24 Jul 2006]

Beyond the artificiality of this album's every attempt to be loved, what's most surprising is Pharrell's failure to program so much as a decent beat.

Pharrell's all-too-shallow schtick becomes monumentally tired over the course of an entire album.