N*E*R*D's debut album In Search OfÉ arrives facing the challenge of meeting both commercial and critical expectations.

The former are the result of those responsible for the project: the Neptunes, the hip-hop production duo whose production skills have been heard on extremely popular singles such as Mystikal's "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)," Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)," and even Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U."

High critical expectations are the result of the album's glowing reviews in mainstream publications like Rolling Stone and SPIN and the endless wait for the album's actual release. Originally planning to release the record last autumn, the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) pulled the album back from circulation and reworked the vast majority of the record. (The first version was actually put on the streets in Europe and is still the only version available there.) The extended wait has been more than worth it, however, as the new record is a complete artistic triumph.

Although I have not heard the prior version of Search, articles have described its sound as representative of the Neptunes' production, full of programmed hip-hop beats and wailing synthesizer sounds. What a revelation, then, to hear N*E*R*D (No One Ever Really Dies) now: the duo recruited a band by the name of Spymob to freshen up the artificial elements that dominated.

The resulting sound is breathtaking in its variety. The songs themselves are far more experimental than those typical of pop music and they are clearly the Neptunes' attempt at artistic independence. "Lapdance," the album's first cut, immediately reminds one of the recent rap-rock trend on rock radio, yet the live drums and funky bass give it a sense of swinging rhythm missing in the turgid music of the likes of Limp Bizkit. The lyrics suggest a complexity missing in the worthless moans of Korn, et al.

The title, "Lapdance," anticipates the misogyny pervasive in rap-rock, and yet the song's central stripping metaphor is political: "Politicians, they're sounding like strippers to me/They say, 'Ooh baby, you wanted me?/Well you could get this lapdance here for free.'" While the listener is expecting to hear yet more sexist tripe from a rap-rock song, the Neptunes play with our expectations and compare the empty, pacifying lies of politicians to the placating spectacle of strippers; miles beyond what Fred Durst could ever achieve.

After this opening barrage, the album continues to blend genres, combining elements of hip-hop, rock, 1970s funk and 1980s electro into a seamless whole. "Baby Doll" uses a jaw-droppingly funky rhythm section and addictive jabs of keyboards as background for an ode to a mysterious, sexy woman the narrator has just met (improbably declaring to her: "You're my Pop Rocks/You're my cotton candy"). The narrator of "Tape You" spins a pornographic fantasy while "Brain" describes how young man is sexually aroused by his girlfriend's intellect.

Sex and politics are not the only things on the Neptunes' minds, however, as two incredible songs explore different perspectives life in the drug trade. A reluctant cocaine dealer narrates the first, "Provider." He details a life of poverty, that he has to "face the streets tonight" to provide for his girlfriend. Williams' falsetto vocals (heard to stunning effect on Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass," another Neptunes production) reveal the hurt, desperation and resignation behind the drug dealer's bravado, directly referencing Curtis Mayfield's score for the blaxploitation classic Superfly. Mayfield's falsetto voice worked perfectly in the movie's title track and the song "Pusherman" to suggest street life and its simultaneous allure and danger; I find "Provider" (and particularly Williams' singing) a conscious echo of these two songs for precisely that reason. N*E*R*D softens the harshness of the subject matter, however, by occasionally shifting the tempo of the song into an upbeat bossa nova groove, offering a glimmer of hope as the narrator pleads for a family and vows that someday he'll "be a voter."

"Bobby James" reverses the perspective of "Provider" and depicts a teenager whose drug habit leads him to rob. The track's haunting sound perfectly captures the desperation and violence at the heart of the narrative as a subtle backbeat propels the music. The complexity and contradictions of illegal lifestyles are rarely rendered musically with this much passion and artistry, as most artists settle for glorifying the lifestyle and violence of the pusher, as witnessed in the deification of money that is obvious in music videos.

Basically, In Search OfÉ is the latest installment in a series of records that either ignore or deliberately smash ideas simple classification. N*E*R*D seems to be following through on the promise of the joyfully artistic and irreverent multiculturalism of albums such as De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, Beastie Boys' Ill Communication, Beck's Odelay, Cornershop's When I Was Born for the 7th Time, and Outkast's Stankonia.