Hua Hsu, while reviewing the new N.E.R.D. album Fly Or Die: “There are the rowdy, absurdly oversized Neptunes who traffic in sex and cartoons (the guys kids love), and there are the signifyin', self-conscious Neptunes whose hybrid-minded compositions and outsider sentiments suggest they're smarter than they are famous (the guys critics love).” Hua Hsu goes on to give the album a negative review.
Brent DiCrescenzo at Pitchfork has also panned the album: “In trying to expand their sound beyond commercial hip-hop, N.E.R.D. has exposed both the shortcomings and silver linings of the genre. Taking the simple chest-beating, booty-humping themes of club hits into overproduced Phish-rock territory merely exposes their offensive banality. Expanding the minimal, percussive rhythms of turntables to florid, multi-layered studio fusion rock only underscores the power of economy. And that's in the "spartan production" sense, not the "Pharrell Williams' presents The Billionaire Boys Club Clothing Line" sense. Each track is bloated and soft like Morgalis' middle, and waxed clean of texture like Ricardi's back. Though Pharrell Williams poised himself at the center of millions of people's attention, he's spilled his head to show nothing but unsharpened pencils.”
