As he should've. Still don't like Kanye all that much these days as an artist, but Pharrell with or without Chad doesn't have one of these to his credit:
Aaliyah- One In A Million
Ginuwine- The Bachelor
Missy- Supa Dupa Fly
Ginuwine- 100%
Justin Timberlake- Futuresex/Lovesounds
And Timbaland was better with making hit songs for artists that weren't established.
Yeah, I prefer the Neptunes because they were the soundtrack to my high school years but Timbaland is waaaaay more influential.
You could argue Timbaland’s peaks were from the Mid 90s to the early 2010s. And like you said, he made unknown stars because of his production. The Neptunes tried and failed to do that a few times.
The Neptunes’ peak was from the late 90s- mid 2000s. At their peak, they were untouchable. They dominated the airwaves with pop but could still make underground hip hop bangers. But like you said, they don’t have ONE album which defines their career.
They made hits but they don’t have a “Thriller”, “One In A Million”, “The Chronic”. Until then, it’s hard to put them in the conversation.
And I say this as a huge Neptunes fan.
Edit: the Neptunes did make a star out of Kelis so I was wrong there. But her debut album wasn’t as commercially successful or redefining as the albums mentioned above.