Timbaland

Timbaland

Timothy Z. Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, composer, rapper and hype man. Primarily known for his work in contemporary R&B, hip hop, and pop music, Timbaland has produced hit albums and singles for a number of artists from the mid-1990s to the present day. Timbaland is similar to producers such as Phil Spector, Brian Eno, or Norman Whitfield in that he helped to redefine the sound of an entire genre of music with an immediately recognizable production style.

His production style is marked by its unorthodox arrangements, sounds, and instrumentation tied together by a trademark sense of space and rhythm. He has produced many top-ten hits, in a variety of genres, and has spawned many imitators. In addition to his production credits, Timbaland has ventured out as a performer, both as part of a duo with childhood friend Magoo and as a solo performer. He can often be found adding (typically vocoded) vocals to many of the songs he produces as well.

Biography

Early years

Mosley was born and raised in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he became acquainted with Missy Elliott and Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff. Originally a disc jockey known as "DJ Timmy Tim", Mosley began making hip-hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard he owned. Elliott heard his material and, taken by Mosley’s unique sense of rhythm, immediately began working with him.

Elliott and her girl group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. Devante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label, and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was Devante, who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after the Timberland construction boots, which were popular in hip-hop fashion.

Sista and Timbaland & Magoo became part of Devante’s stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa, and the girl group Sugah. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with Devante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, and Sista’s debut LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World, which was shelved and never released. At this time Jodeci was pivotal in defining the 1990s new jack swing sound, which mixed R&B and soul vocals with beats, sampling and swagger from hip-hop.

By 1995, most of Devante’s acts had broken their ties with the producer. However, perhaps fostered by the communal atmosphere of "Da Bassment" crew, Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Playa, and Ginuwine continued to collaborate on their individual projects. Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to his connection with Missy, Timbaland was often tapped to produce remixes of Elliott-penned songs. One of these, the remix to 702’s "Steelo" in 1996, became Timbaland’s first major production credit.

As a teenager, Timbaland was also friends with classmate Pharrell Williams, and they dabbled in musical projects together as S.B.I., or Surrounded By Idiots, before Williams went on to find success with Chad Hugo as part of The Neptunes production team.

The "Timbaland sound": 1996–2000

In 1996, Ginuwine released his debut album, Ginuwine...the Bachelor, which was produced entirely by Timbaland. The album was both a commercial and critical success, and its lead single, "Pony", was the first example of what would become the signature Timbaland sound.

The track for "Pony," which Timbaland had created during the Swing Mob days, was characterized by a shifting, syncopated rhythm, similar to samba or drum and bass, which used snare and kick hits on typically non-accented beats in the measure. Stuttering high-hats typical of southern bass music accompanied the basic drum sounds, which were severely gated to create short, strong sounds that were unusual for hip-hop and R&B. This use of the "short snare" is in marked contrast to the "long snare" sound in New Wave music in the 1980s, which featured a heavily amplified, almost white noise snare drum put through reverberation. Accompanying the unusual rhythm were melody lines created by playing odd sound effects (vocal effects and cartoon slide whistles) through a sampling keyboard. Timbaland carried similar production and arrangements throughout the album. On many of the tracks, Timbaland can be heard either rapping or providing ad-libs, similar to what both Elliott and Puff Daddy were doing at the time; Timbaland’s deep voice was usually vocoded to give it an electronic sound.

While work was being completed on Ginuwine...the Bachelor, R&B artist Aaliyah contacted Timbaland and Missy Elliott to write and produce most of her second album, One In A Million. The tracks that were crafted for Aaliyah featured innovative arrangements similar to those on Ginuwine...the Bachelor. One In A Million went on to sell over 11 million copies worldwide, and made superstars out of not only Aaliyah, but Elliott and Timbaland as well.

Elliott and Timbaland became one of the most successful and prolific songwriting/production teams of the late-1990s. By the end of the decade, Timbaland’s sound had been heard in records from artists such as SWV, Destiny’s Child, Nicole Wray, Total, Jay-Z, and Nas. Most of his production work during this period was reserved for his original stable of collaborators: two Missy Elliott albums (Supa Dupa Fly and Da Real World), a second effort by Ginuwine (100% Ginuwine), and Playa’s debut album (Cheers 2 U). Timbaland produced much (if not all) of the material on many of their albums during this period, and also made two albums of his own: one with Magoo, and one solo album. Timbaland’s own raps, which were usually ghostwritten by Elliott, Magoo, or his younger brother Garland Mosley (AKA Sebastian), were almost always accompanied by other MCs, including his main collaborators and numerous guest artists.

Timbaland spawned a plethora of imitators, some of whom went as far as to sample sections of his work to create similar-sounding tracks, and his influence on the genre has been compared to that of Brian Eno and Phil Spector by some reviewers. Another music critic, Kelefa Sanneh called Timbaland “the most exciting producer in pop music” and compared him to James Brown. The popularity of the "Timbaland sound" marked a shift in hip-hop music from rougher, sample-based tracks to simpler, more synthetic musical accompaniment. Since Timbaland worked in both hip-hop and R&B and often combined elements of one in tracks for the other, his work aided the blending together of the two genres, which became less and less distinct during the first half of the 2000s.

Foreign, especially Asian, instrumentation is present through much of his early work (Xscape’s "My Secret" remix, especially, with a rollicking sitar outro and Timbaland ad-libbing "Let’s take a little trip...to India"), but was most successful and prevalent with Jay-Z’s "Big Pimpin'" (1999), which borrowed directly from the song "Khosara" by Egyptian composer Abdel Halim Hafez. Missy Elliott’s 2001 hit single, "Get Ur Freak On" from her third album, Miss E...So Addictive, was also likewise a smash, using a speedy Tabla drumline typical of Hindustani classical music. In his second album, on the track "Party People", Tim sampled a track from Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi, skillfully imitating the illustrious strumming of Mtukudzi’s guitar. His borrowing from these cultures has resulted in mixed reactions, with many critics embracing his musical adventurousness and eclecticism and more esoteric, purist factions reacting cautiously, and sometimes negatively. In an interview with Missy Elliott in RayGun Magazine, he mentioned a diverse base of influences, from UK Drum and Bass to Garage.

2000–2002

Timbaland-produced songs such as Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z’s "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo’s "Raise Up", and Beck’s cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" that were recorded and released during this period, and he contributed to Limp Bizkit’s 2001 remix album, New Old Songs. He also contributed three songs--all eventually released as singles--to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More Than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U".

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés -- some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian, Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days).

The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment, perhaps owing to its release after the September 11th attacks. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the final version, which instead featured Timbaland singing alongside Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah, who had been killed in a plane crash that August. The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland, whose work was less omnipresent after 2001. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:

"She was like blood, and I lost blood," "Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans right now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the [most special] person I ever met."

2002–2005

The first release on Beat Club was the debut album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights. Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s debut album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Missy Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test! He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the massive hit "Cry Me a River". The adult sound and themes of this break-up song would sever Timberlake from his teenybopper image. Timbaland also reached a new level of success, not only for the production, but for his rap and appearance in the eerie music video, where Timberlake breaks into an ex-girlfriend's house. Controversy over credits would eventually lead to a fallout between the two producers, as Storch would claim that he was not given proper production credit for "Cry Me a River". While Storch is credited as a co-writer and pianist on the song, production is credited solely to Timbaland.

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II. Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.

Timbaland continued to produce hit singles and albums for artists; in 2004 Timbaland-produced singles by LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop and Jay-Z became staples on urban radio, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac. The Timbaland-produced song "I'm So Fly" on Lloyd Banks’s 2004 debut album The Hunger for More is significant in that it was the first official Timbaland production bearing a co-production credit from Danja, who would go on to become a requisite collaborator with Timbaland in the future.

Embracing an international audience, Timbaland lent a hand to three tracks off bilingual Japanese Pop star Utada Hikaru’s debut English album, Exodus. He returned to familiar friends to work on tracks for Tweet and for Missy Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)" & "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fifth studio album, Rebirth.)

2006–2007

Production

Timbaland started a new label distributed by Interscope, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E.. Timbaland’s parternship and mentorship of producer [[Danja|Nate "Danjahandz" During 2006, Timbaland had seven singles receiving massive airplay worldwide: "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "All Good Things (Come to an End)" and "Say It Right", all by Nelly Furtado; and Justin Timberlake’s "SexyBack", "My Love" and "What Goes Around Comes Around/Interlude". Additionally, Timbaland also appears in most of the videos.

Adding to Timbaland's radio domination, he provides vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" and "Ice Box" by Omarion, all of which climbed the U.S. charts. Timbaland is rumored to have future singles put out by Tweet, Monica, Chingy, and the first single off Redman’s long anticipated album Red Gone Wild. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK, Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had been working on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

In an interview published in August 2007, Timbaland declared that he had worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album (three of which, "Earth Intruders", "Hope" and "Innocence" will appear on the album), and in another he was later reportedly working on tracks for a new Duran Duran album, due in 2007, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Rounding out the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis.

Timbaland also plays a major role in Ashlee Simpson's fourth CD: Bittersweet World. He produced most of the tracks and called the CD a really moving and party CD. He also made the original version of Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya). It lasted 06:47 minutes. Altough, the single release and album release was with on Simpson's vocals. It's not a official single.

Rounding out Timbaland's creative skills, he partnered with Open Labs to produce the Timbaland Special Edition MiKo keyboard work-center. At a cost of close to $3,000, it contains more than 24-gigabytes of sounds with over 25,000 presets. The proud creator announced “It’s got everything I need in a single box and when I use it, we make masterpieces.”

Shock Value

On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists such as 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The first single, "Give It to Me" featuring Nelly Furtado and Timberlake, topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The album’s second hit, titled "The Way I Are", features Mosley labelmates Keri Hilson and D.O.E. against a slinky beat.

In April 2007, he appeared on WWE programming in segments with several WWE Divas. Later that month, he filmed a music video for the song "Throw It On Me", starring Ashley Massaro, Kelly Kelly, Brooke, Torrie Wilson, Layla El, and Maryse. Timbaland reached a new audience with his October 9th performance with Keri Hilson of "The Way I Are" on the ABC soap opera One Life To Live.

He also hit it big with the remix of OneRepublic's "Apologize" near the end of 2007.

In another example of Timbaland crossing barriers, he produced the track "Come Around" by controversial electronica/rap artist M.I.A.. The track appears on her second album Kala and was also included as a UK bonus track on Timbaland Presents Shock Value.

2008-present

Timbaland has always loved Madonna and was only too happy to work on her new album.

Timbaland and Madonna have worked together in London on tracks for her new album due in early 2008. In an interview with MTV, Timbaland excitedly describes one of the tracks they collaborated on:

"There's this one song, we taking it back to 'You must be my luck-eee starrrr!' ... Remember 'Ugly' by Bubba Sparxxx? I got a beat similar to that. The hook is no words. It's saying stuff named after coffee — all these different names for coffee — is the hook. ... The name of the song is 'La, La.'

Ever the genre-crasher, he is also working with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable to be released in the summer of 2009.

He has produced more than six tracks for Ashlee Simpson's third album which is planned for release in the first quarter of 2008. He has contributed to Mary J. Blige's late 2007 release Growing Pains, and is stated to work on new albums from Missy Elliott (due spring 2008) and Jennifer Hudson.

Jay-Z just released a new song Ain't I on DJ Clue's radio show and it was produced by Timbaland for his upcoming album "The Blueprint 3".

According to an interview with Scratch Magazine in the Nov/Dec issue, Timbaland has been signed to produce the majority of Beyonce's third studio album, which he said the outcome is going to be "huger than life".

He will also work with Usher, Teairra Mari, Stevie Brock, and Stevie Wonder. He also has interest in working with Letoya Luckett on her second album. He also produced a track for French singer/songwriter, M. Pokora called "Dangerous" for his new album, "MP3".

Timbaland has been hard at work on his third studio album, Shock Value II, slated for a 2008 release.

Also, Timbaland always expressed interest to work with Michael Jackson & the Australian Youth Choir

Timbaland designed a t-shirt for the H&M's Fashion Against AIDS.

Timbaland will also produce three times Grammy Award winner Michelle Williams's fourth album.

Personal life

In November 2007, it was confirmed that Timbaland has become a father to a baby girl born that month. The mother is publicist Monique Idlett (who works at Timbaland's Mosley Music Group record company). They have been dating for two years and will marry in 2008. Timbaland proposed to Idlett at their baby shower in October. On February 8th, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album solely on a mobile platform for Verizon V-cast cell phones and was designated Verizon's very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully-equipped Mobile Recording Studio. On February 14th, it was discovered that Timbaland has a long lost son named Etko McCooty.

Plagiarism controversy

Main article: 2007 Timbaland plagiarism controversy

In early 2007, Timbaland was accused of plagiarism regarding his work on the Nelly Furtado track "Do It". He is alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song without giving credit or compensation.

The alleged original track, titled "Acidjazzed Evening", is a chiptune-style 4-channel Amiga module composed by Finnish demoscener Janne Suni (a.k.a. Tempest). The song won first place in the Oldskool Music competition at Assembly 2000, a demoparty held in Helsinki, Finland held in the year 2000. According to Scene.org, the song was uploaded to their servers the same year, long before the release of the song by Furtado. The song was later remixed (with Suni’s permission) by Norwegian Glenn Rune Gallefoss (a.k.a. GRG) for the Commodore 64 in SID format - this is the version which was later allegedly sampled for "Do It". It was added to the High Voltage SID Collection on December 21, 2002.

A video which claims to show proof of the theft was posted to YouTube on January 12, 2007. Another video was posted to YouTube on January 14, 2007, claiming Timbaland also stole the tune a year earlier for the ringtone "Block Party", one of several that were sold in the United States in 2005. A YouTube video comparing all the related songs was posted on February 13.

Timbaland's reaction in a February 9, 2007 MTV interview was direct:

"It makes me laugh...The part I don't understand, the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, 'You can't be serious.'"

On April 1, the track for "Do It" (without vocals) was used as theme music for the 2007 Juno Awards broadcast, which Furtado hosted. The track was played during the show’s opening and before commercial breaks. The controversial samples could be clearly heard throughout.

Another song in Nelly Furtado's album Loose has the same allegations as 'Do It'. 'Wait for You' is told to be plagiarized from a Turkish folk music song 'Allah Allah Desem Gelsem' by Muhlis Akarsu, famous folk music singer. It is believed that the Bağlama (a kind of traditional instrument) sample is used in Nelly's song by Timbaland illegaly. A video comparing the two songs was posted on Youtube.

The owner of the record group of Muhlis Akarsu has referred to IFPI about the issue.

However, there are several other Middle Eastern songs where it is believed that Timbaland has illegally sampled from them. A video posted on Youtube claims to show proof that Jay-Z's song Big Pimpin has stolen samples from Abdel Halim Hafez's song "Khosara" and Aaliyah's songs "Don’t Know What To Tell Ya" and "More Than A Woman" have the whole background from Warda's Batwanness Bik and Mayada El Hennawi's Alouli Ensa respectively.

Another posted video shows similarities between Utada Hikaru's Exodus ’04 and Aitha Al Menhali's Meshkeltek.

Yet another video shows how similar are the songs Ne-Yo and Fabulous' Make Me Better and Sherine's Aal Saaban Aleh. The common point of these videos is that Timbaland took big parts of the songs without making big alterations and without giving credit to the artists.

Rivalry with Scott Storch

In 2007 a rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". He went on to rap that "I get a half a mill fo' my beats, you get a couple grand". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV personality Sway Calloway. He said that he would go after the trash talkers on his new album Shock Value.

Storch responded with the track "Built Like That" on February 26, 2007, which features Philadelphia rapper NOX. On the track, Storch claims to have been solely responsible for the production of the 2002 Justin Timberlake hit "Cry Me a River", for which he received a basket of fruit. He also claims that Timbaland’s production partner Danja has been responsible for his recent string of hits with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, and mocks the commercial failure of Timbaland’s former Beat Club label.

Timbaland responded with the song Piano Man by Mosley Music Group artist D.O.E. The story behind the title is that Scott Storch uses a piano to make his beats.

They recently ended their feud. This was confirmed by Timbaland in the final issue of Scratch Magazine.

Awards and nominations

• American Music Awards
  • 2007, Favorite Male Pop/Rock Artist (nominated)

• BET Hip-Hop Awards
  • 2007, Best Producer

• Grammy Awards
  • 2008, Record of the Year "What Goes Around...Comes Around" (Producer) (nominated)
  • 2008, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals "Give It to Me" (with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado) (nominated)
  • 2008, Best Dance Recording "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows" WON
  • 2008, Best Rap Song "Ayo Technology" (Songwriter, Producer)
  • 2008, Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
  • 2007, Album of the Year FutureSex/LoveSounds (Producer) (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals "Promiscuous" (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Dance Recording "Sexyback" WON
  • 2004, Best R&B Album "Afrodisiac" (Producer) (nominated)
  • 2004, Album of the Year Justified (Producer) (nominated)
  • 2004, Album of the Year Under Construction (Producer) (nominated)
  • 2004, Best Rap Song "Work It" (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best R&B Song "Get Ur Freak On" (nominated)

• Belgium TMF Award
  • 2007, Best International Urban

• BRIT Awards
  • 2008, Best International Male Artist (nominated)

• JUNO Awards
  • 2008, Best International Album- Shock Value (Nominated)

• MTV Europe Music Awards
  • 2007, Ultimate Urban (nominated)

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2007, Most Earthshattering Collaboration "Sexyback" (nominated)
  • 2007, Monster Single of the Year "The Way I Are" (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Pop Video "Promiscuous" (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Dance Video "Promiscuous" (nominated)

• MTV Australia Video Music Awards
  • 2007, Best Hook-Up "Sexyback"

• People's Choice Awards
  • 2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song "Give It to Me"

• Teen Choice Awards
  • 2007, Choice Male Artist (nominated)
  • 2007, Choice Rap Artist
  • 2007, Choice Music Single "Give It to Me" (nominated)
  • 2007, Choice Rap Track "The Way I Are"
  • 2006, Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Track "Promiscuous"
  • 2006, Choice Summer Track "Promiscuous"
  • 2003, Choice Music Collaboration "Cry Me a River" (nominated)

• Vibe Music Awards
  • 2007, Best Producer

Discography

Main articles: Timbaland discography, Timbaland & Magoo, and Timbaland's production discography

• Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment (1998)
• Timbaland Presents Shock Value (2007)
• Remix & Soundtrack Collection (2007)

External links

• Official site
• Musicsnippet Profile
• Mosley Music Group site
• Official Black Planet Page
• Template:MySpace
• Official ReverbNation Page