DJ Tim He was the star of every party during his school days. The teenager, of course, started by playing other people’s songs and mixing, but he dreamed of something more – he wanted to create music himself or help other artists do it. Talent and hard work turned out to be the key to success in his case. When a rapper Missy Elliottgirlfriend Timothy Mosley, because that’s the musician’s real name, heard his productions and took him with her to New York. This is how the career of the artist began, who soon went from DJ Tim to Timbaland.
For most of his career Timbaland he just makes beats for others or sits behind a console and produces other people’s songs. However, the artist also has released albums under his own name. The longer you are in the music industry, the more good friends you have who are willing to collaborate on songs, and Timbaland is great at taking advantage of this. The music’s albums featured such stars as: Drake, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, 50 Centand even EltonJohn. No wonder many singles from these albums became hits. “The Way I Are“this is one of them. The song was included on the album”Shock Value“, but not only that, because I liked the piece so much Keri Hilsonthat the artist also included it on her album. Timbaland was helped here Danja, another producer who can list top pop stars in the “collaborations” section of his CV. The men created the single in Timbaland’s home studio, recorded the instrumental parts themselves, and then they could only watch the song climb to the top of the charts.
The singer and actress was called the “R&B princess”. The young star became the infamous mentor R. Kelly, but the artist’s next two albums were produced by Timbaland. The musician also worked with the singer on the soundtrack of the film “Romeo must die“, another modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, in which Aaliyah starred. It was on this soundtrack that one of the singer’s greatest hits appeared, “Try Again“The situation was quite unusual, because the star himself was responsible for the music accompanying the film.
What’s more, talks about the album started before the first slap was taken on the set. “Try Again” was originally a song to motivate people. However, one of the singer’s collaborators heard the song at the initial stage of work and stated that the lyrics must necessarily be about love. So the team changed the piece and it turned out to be a great decision. The beat itself was created, as Timbaland recalled, by accident. The producer was playing something on the keyboard in the studio, his sound engineer was recording everything, and at some point Timbo realized that he had come up with something interesting. The gentlemen played the recording and had an idea for a song. He was one of the few people who heard the first version of the song Jay-Z. The rapper just said, “Oh my god!” and immediately said it would be a hit. He wasn’t wrong.
When a former member of a boy band starts a solo career, he has to try hard not to disappoint his fans, especially if he wants to change his image a bit. In 2002, the group *NSYNC suspended its operations, a Justin Timberlake decided to “go on his own”. The singer said that he would cut himself off from his pop roots and instead propose slightly more mature sounds. All the star’s collaborators listened to old records to get a little inspiration. Majority “Justified“, Justin’s debut album, they produced The NeptunesThat is Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williamsas well as Timbaland, Pharrell’s cousin, by the way.
The loudest song from the album was, of course, the single “Cry Me a River“. Not only because it’s a good song, but also because of Timberlake’s high-profile relationship with… Britney Spears, which the hit song was supposed to be about. The song was created when Justin and Timbo were working together in the studio. The singer had just finished a rather unpleasant phone conversation (during which he was told that Spears had cheated on him) and entered the room. The producer immediately noticed that the musician was angry and said something like “Don’t worry” to console him, but it didn’t help. Outraged, Justin kept repeating: “I can’t believe she did this to me.” The irritated artist finally sat down and poured his disappointment into the text. Timbaland not only produced the song, but also sang some vocals. To this day, “Cry Me a River” is one of Timberlake’s greatest hits.
There have never been any musical experiments Nelly Furtado foreign, but with her third album the artist set the bar exceptionally high. The singer said that she wanted to create a mixture of genres that would also be exceptionally hit. The singer decided to prove to the world, and above all to herself, that she can do something interesting that will also be very popular. The record company suggested that the artist hire Timbaland to produce the album. It ended with the musician not only supervising the new songs, but also co-creating many of them, including the single “Promiscuous“.
Interestingly, the song is inspired by the hits of the 80s. Timbo and his collaborator Danja listened to songs by Eurythmics, Blondie and The Police all the time in the studio. Later they added some electronics and hip hop to their ideas and that’s how one of the biggest hits on the album was created.Loose“. Timbaland also showed off his vocals in the song, because it was him who created a duet with Nelly in “Promiscuous”. The song turned out to be a hit not only after its premiere, but also, again, almost 20 years later, when it gained popularity again thanks to To TikTok.
The producer knew exactly how great Nelly and Justin worked together before the rest of the world found out. Furtado recorded one duet with Timberlake on the album “Loose“, but the song was not released at that time. So Timbo decided to use the energy of the two artists on his own album. If you think that only musicians, especially rappers, can have their wars, you are wrong. It turns out that they can also fight quite a few songwriters and producers.
With one of them Scott Storch, Timbaland cooperated in the past, but at some point the gentlemen quarreled over honors and – as usual – money. Timbo decided to respond to his rival in song. “I get half a cup for beats, you get a few thousand. (…) They respect me from California to Japan,” he sang in “Give It to Me” Mosley. The demo version of the single was leaked online a few months before its release, so Timbaland’s new album began to be heard very early. As one might expect, the song, which became a big hit, only inflamed the conflict between the producers. Storch released in response his song, “Built Like That.”
OneRepublic is a pop powerhouse today, but the group didn’t always do great. Her vocalist RyanTedder, is the author of many hits for various artists, including, of course, his own band. However, there was a time when the musician tried his hand at show business and nothing came of it. Ryan and his school friend Zach Filkins, then with the help of the rest of the crew, wanted to interest the world in their songs at all costs. The group recorded their debut album for over two years, and literally a few weeks before the album’s release, the label broke the contract with the artists. The band said that since they already had the songs, they would show them off online.
OneRepublic quickly became loud on the Internet, and then Timbaland came forward and offered the musicians that he would produce “Apologize” in their own way. Timbo said directly: “This song would be a hit with or without me,” but the group was delighted with what the producer did with the song. “Apologize” was included on Timbaland’s album, became an instant hit and finally brought the world’s attention to band. Of course, Ryan and company later released a single on their album as well.
The rapper and producer have worked together for many years. Exactly that Missy Elliott she believed in Timbaland and gave him a chance at the beginning of his career. The artist once had her own band, Sista. The band signed a contract with a label known in the world of hip hop and R&B DeVante Swing, she even recorded an album and hoped for a great career, but instead she had to swallow failure. The album was not released, so the contract was invalid. However, the singer continued to work with Timbaland on music.
When another company advised Missy to start a solo career, the rapper didn’t hesitate. Elliott quickly gathered the songs and in a week she recorded a completely new album, which was co-written and entirely produced by Timbo. For years, the duo has proven to the world that together they can not only draw from hip-hop classics, but also surprise with a modern and unique sound, as in “Get Ur Freak On“. The producer came up with the beats for this song after listening to music from India while traveling. Timbaland and Missy were so delighted with the dance sounds from that region that he decided to create their own version. “Get Ur Freak On” is still considered one of one of Missy Elliott’s best songs, and it must be admitted that there is considerable competition.
It’s a song from the times when Timbaland was not yet a big star, but just an “up-and-coming producer”. In the mid-1990s, the musician collaborated with Missy Elliott and Aaliyah, among others, as well Ginuwine, an emerging R&B artist. “Pony” was included in the album “Ginuwine… the Bachelor”, which is the star’s debut. Both musicians owe a lot to this song, because the single conquered the charts in many countries. Ginuwine quickly gained popularity among listeners, and other artists began to check who this guy actually was. Timbaland. The producer revealed that “Pony” was written a few years before it was recorded and had to lie in a drawer for a while, but eventually it came at the perfect time and place. If the song seems relatively new to you, it’s for a reason. The song recently returned to the charts, in the United States, among others, thanks to TikTok.