The Virginia trio is back for the third time. Is that the elusive smell of success? If you don’t nose, now you nose.

By Brendan Frederick; Illustrations by KAWS; Photographs by Matt Doyle; Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker

How are people sleeping on him?

Chad Hugo: People look at [BBC] and they see the imaginary rocket ship and a lot of the animation, and it’s hard to understand at first ’cause it doesn’t fit into the mold of, like, Izod and regular name brands.

Musically, you guys aren’t exactly mainstream, but you’re probably the biggest producers that ever made it from the world of hip-hop. But then from a style standpoint, it seems you try to keep a proximity to the exclusive shit. You don’t have BBC brand in Macy’s, which you could. Why do you feel that’s the way to go for clothes, as opposed to how you handle your music?

Pharrell: Certain things are meant to be amongst a smaller populace. You don’t want everything you do to be ridiculous, you know? Exclusivity is a good thing. It keeps it close to you.

But at the same time, a lot of styles you guys pioneered, and Nigo started, sort of trickled down to a lot of the mall brands. Does that worry you?

Pharrell: I’m not here to take credit. I’m just really appreciative of the opportunity. The most important part is the process.

The process of designing?

Pharrell: The process for everything. It’s just having fun, being creative. Of course you want to think futuristically, but I think that if you just kind of walk with today, and you never fall backwards on yesterday, and you’re not stepping too quick towards tomorrow, it’s fun. Today is a process that leads to the finish line of tomorrow. Does that make sense? I’m not trying to be all philosophical and shit.

You don’t try to overthink it.

Pharrell: Yeah, I just have fun. I think that’s the most important part. If you build this brain-fuck labyrinth for yourself, you become too entrenched in the fact that it’s your stuff. Instead of looking at it like it’s my stuff, I like to look at it like it’s my world and I can have it my way. You can design your life. Whatever it is you want to be, there’s a blueprint for it. And that’s the fun part: creating the blueprint and following the instructions.

When you guys first came out as the Neptunes, you were outsiders: You dressed different and the music was on some next-level shit. But now you’re on this big tour with like-minded artists, there’s an avant-garde sensibility to it. Clearly, the musical climate has changed. Is this tour meaningful to you for that reason?

Chad: We’re from the same influences, and we influence each other. We’re for the same cause, which is moving hip-hop and the culture. It’s a culture thing. We’re all very honest.

What does it say that these artists, who five or 10 years ago were probably looked at as unusual, are now on the biggest tour out there?

Pharrell: We’re all fighting the same fight.

Which is what?

Pharrell: Individuality. Home // CELEBRITIES // COVER STORY // N.E.R.D