Throwbacks: Pharrell Williams - In My Mind

In July 2006, Pharrell Williams stepped out from behind the boards at Chalice and South Beach Studios to drop In My Mind. Star Trak and Interscope backed the play. He was already a god-tier producer, but this debut was him figuring out his frontman voice in real time.

The tracklist splits its personality between contemporary R&B and pop-rap. You get Gwen Stefani trading vocals on "Can I Have It Like That" and jazz singer Jamie Cullum sliding onto "You Can Do It Too." It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, moving 142,000 units that first week. The Academy even gave it a Best Rap Album nod at the 49th Grammys. My take? It is a wildly uneven record. The transition from maestro to solo star left some joints sounding like unfinished reference tracks. But when he locks in on a groove like "Raspy Sh*t," you remember exactly why everyone begged for a Neptunes beat back then. He needed to make this exact stumble to eventually find his stride. Check it out below.