Fly or Die

Fly or Die is the second studio album by American rap rock band N.E.R.D. It was released on March 23, 2004.

For the Rock Mafia song, see Rock Mafia § Discography.
Fly or Die
Studio album by
N.E.R.D.
ReleasedMarch 23, 2004
Recorded2003
Genre
Length61:01
LabelStar Trak • Virgin
ProducerThe Neptunes
N.E.R.D. chronology
In Search of...
(2001)		 Fly or Die
(2004)		 Seeing Sounds
(2008)
Singles from Fly or Die
  1. "She Wants to Move"
    Released: March 9, 2004
  2. "Maybe"
    Released: 2004

Production

The band recorded its second album Fly or Die during 2003. The band actually learned the instruments needed to play the tunes, so they could perform live. As Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 8, 2003, "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. Last time, (on In Search of...) we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."[1]

The band also recruited some assistance to record the album with Lenny Kravitz and Questlove playing on the track "Maybe." Several of tracks concern issues of particular concern to adolescents including "Thrasher" about bullies, "Drill Sergeant" about rebellion and conscription, and first love on "Backseat Love".

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(68/100)[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [3]
Entertainment WeeklyA− [4]
The Guardian [5]
NME(8/10) [6]
PopMatters [2][7]
Rolling Stone [8]
Slant [9]
The Times [10]
Uncut [2]

Fly or Die went on sale on March 23, 2004. The lead single "She Wants to Move" went into the Top 5 in U.K, top 10 in New Zealand, top 20 in Norway, Italy, Ireland and Denmark and top 40 in Australia and the Netherlands as of March 2004. Fly or Die sold 412,000 copies in the United States, but shipped at least 500,000 units making it qualify for RIAA's Gold Certification.[11][12]

Rolling Stone (4/15/04, p. 147) - 3 stars out of 5 - "It's fascinating to hear these rap geniuses go undercover as a bar band you might hear rocking Journey covers in a bowling alley."

Entertainment Weekly (4/2/04, p. 62) - "Fly or Die is craftier and more multilayered than its predecessor....[A] set of clever, complex, studio-crafted pop--complete with musicianly, smooth-jazz licks--that doesn't owe allegiance to any one genre." - Rating: A-

Uncut (p. 91) - 5 stars out of 5 - "N*E*R*D can replicate machine hypersyncopation at the drop of a hi-hat. Prog-pop album of year."

Uncut (p. 74) - Ranked #18 in Uncut's "Best Albums of 2004" - "[A]n object lesson in eclectic art-rock....[T]his prog-pop classic reveal further depths of detail with every repeated play."

Mojo (p. 106) - 4 stars out of 5 - "This is an enthusiastic hymn to the terminally uncool, an un-ironic celebration of nerd-culture....They make a party you want to be invited to."

It was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo; produced by The Neptunes.

No.TitleLength
1."Don't Worry About It"3:41
2."Fly or Die"3:30
3."Jump" (featuring Joel Madden and Benji Madden)3:55
4."Backseat Love"2:48
5."She Wants to Move"3:33
6."Breakout"3:47
7."Wonderful Place" / "Waiting for You"7:09
8."Drill Sergeant" / "Preservation"6:54
9."Thrasher"2:51
10."Maybe"4:22
11."The Way She Dances"4:05
12."Chariot of Fire" / "Find My Way"8:15
gollark: But red dwarves eventually become blue dwarves or something, apparently... I think it's something with having more helium?
gollark: I mean, if you remove mass, it'll become a red dwarf, which is NOT what we want.
gollark: Hmm. This must be prevented. But how?
gollark: <:crow_of_judgement:724658449174233169>
gollark: Do you *not* have a laptop to type on? It would really save time.

References
  1. "N.E.R.D. Step Up Their Game On Fly Or Die, Reminisce About Teen Years".
  2. "Fly Or Die by N.E.R.D. [The Neptunes]".
  3. Allmusic review
  4. "Fly or Die". 2 April 2004.
  5. Petridis, Alexis (19 March 2004). "N*E*R*D, Fly or Die" – via The Guardian.
  6. NME review Archived February 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "N.E.R.D.: Fly or Die".
  8. "Rolling Stone review". Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-28.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  9. "N.E.R.D. Fly Or Die - Album Review - Slant Magazine".
  10. The Times review Archived June 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  12. "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  13. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
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