Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Rihanna "Good Girl Gone Bad"

Today is the release of Rihanna's latest album Good Girl Gone Bad. "Umbrella" has become a big hit and she seems poised to continue her success with her 3rd album. I'm not a huge fan of Rihanna's but this is one of those albums where the production makes up for what the artist may lack. I'd definitely recommend checking it out if anything for those Tim tracks. With that said there's also a small twist to the Timbaland puzzle which I know we will start seeing more of in the future. Here are the Tim tracks:


"Sell Me Candy" produced by Timbaland only


"Lemme Get That" produced by Timbaland only


"Rehab" produced by Timbaland and......wait for it.....Hannon Lane

That's right there is no Danja on this album. Surprising to some but you will actaully see Tim and Danja only working on major releases from now on and instead Tim and Hannon working together more. Danja has established himself and now it's time for Hannon. I thought for sure I would see Jim Beanz name all over the Tim tracks for vocal production but rather Terrius "Dream" Nash is on almost every track of the album with the exception of "Rehab" which has vocal produciton my Justin Timberlake.

The most interesting fact about the whole CD in my opinion is that Tim used a brass band for "Lemme Get That" Tim has never used so many live brass instruments for any track so to see him branch out like this speaks volumes on his diversity. If you remember he sampled a lot of the strings back in the Da Real World days but traded those samples in for live strings with Larry Gold handling the brunt of the work for Justin's 2 CDs, Bubba, and others.

Definitely a solid album that I recommend.

17 comments :

  1. This is rihanna's third CD. So she kinda already beat the sophmore slump.

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  2. I literally was just correcting that as you posted your comment. Fast on the draw :D

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  3. Are you sure there weren't any live brass players on "Overcome"? It sure sounds like it...

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  4. Danja holds Tim back and Hannon brings even more heat out of him...

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  5. im feelin rihanna
    but shes soundin like nelly furtado to me jus a lil bit lol
    but i love these songs, theyre really hot and i like umbrella even tho tim didnt do it

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  6. This album is REALLY solid if you're into pop. But I've gotta say the Tim productions definitely aren't my favorites. They're just alright for me at first listen. The Christopher Stewart productions are amazing and I'm liking that J.R. Rotem track, too.

    Totally disagree w/ the "Danja holds Tim back" comment...unless "holding back" means "creating hit songs with". And I'm not seeing what exactly Hannon's bringing to the table w/ this track, but maybe because I don't care for it much...for the same reason it's taken me awhile to get into "Anonymous". I don't like those copycat tracks, but at least Justin's on it for the "tie-in". And I really don't like the super loosely-played and loudly-mixed tambourine on this track at all. I just hope it'll grow on me.

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  7. thank god tim has left danja - danja is very overated and it is rite he has made tim more softer - i dont care if they have made hit number 1's etc i want the old gully tim sound back

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  8. The Danja criticism is just unwarrented, what did he ever do wrong? I'm glad Tim isn't exclusively working with him but I think what they do together is great. I realize that people are always going to complain no matter what. Now everybody wants Tim to go back to working with Missy, Magoo, Playa and Ginuwine when 5-7 years ago people were crying for him to branch out. Just be happy that he's still making music. FYI the Rihanna tracks are killing it and there are definitely brass instruments on "overcome"

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  9. I am a fan of all three productions, "rehab" reminds me alot of what goes around comes around...i guess it kinda makes sense seeing as justin wrote the song.

    Danja has some serious talent no matter what any1 says, true say he has had a few so so tracks but then if you look at scott storch he has had a dreadful year.

    Not sure how much Hannon brings to the team but we'll find out :)

    al3x

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  10. "Danja holds Tim back and Hannon brings even more heat out of him..."

    cray-zay talk. admittedly nothing Danja's done by himself has been as hot as what Tim's done with/without him ("We Takin' Over" is nice though,) but still. they're the unstoppable duo!

    i wonder if Danjahandz's gonna be Tim's "rap arm" or somethin' for a while though, he seems to poppin' up on more and more hip hop lately. just saw he's on three beats on Tip's new joint. little disappointed there was no Timbo track, but hopefully Danja'll keep improvin' on his Timitations, hah

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  11. also, "Rehab" soundin' near-exactly like "What Goes Around" and "One and Only" bein' some of the worst ish on Shock Value, i gotta wonder what this dude added to Tim's beats.

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  12. "admittedly nothing Danja's done by himself has been as hot as what Tim's done with/without him"

    I disagree. Nelly Furtado's "Showtime", all the tracks he produced on Katharine McPhee's album, Nikki Flores' "Suffocate" and "Beautiful boy" and "Miscommunication" on Tim's Shock value are as stellar as anything Tim has done in my opinion. Danja's production is alot more melodic than Timbaland's which is why I dig it. I wouldn't say Danja's held him back at all. If anything he's made him a better producer. Tim had finally found a producer who can bring it like he can and it makes him more hungry, which is something that was missing before and had him wanting to stop making beats. Tim and Danja make a great duo because Danja is alot about the melody and Techno / dance influences and Tim is all about the drums and odd sounds.

    As for the brass on "Lemme get that", Tim has used brass before. Not as extensively, but he has used 'em. PCD's "Wait a minute" had a fair bit, as did Brandy's "Who is she 2 U" and also Ludacris' "Roll out".

    I do miss Larry Gold and Tim's use of strings. I just love strings in general, they sound so rich and can make all the difference to a track. Tim's beats + strings = win. To this day I still play Kiley Dean's "Keep it movin" and "Kiss me like that" because the strings just make that track something else. Even though he doesn't use strings much anymore, he works 'em a fair bit on "FutureSex/LoveSounds". "I think she knows" is my fave track on that album, even though it's the shortest.

    As for Rihanna, the production definitely saves that album. "Rehab" should've been given to Kiley Dean. She would've owned that whole track and injected some emotion into it. It's a great track, but it does wreak of "What goes around..comes around" and "Deliverance". Tim's tracks are hot, but the production on "Good girl gone bad" is so solid overall that they're hardly the best tracks on the CD. Also, it's all about the beats. Rihanna doesn't really add much to any of Tim's productions. Anybody could've sung over those tracks and they'd still sound hot. Unlike say Nelly F's "Loose" - where she made those tracks her own and nobody could've done them but her.

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  13. Do people really still care about Kiley Dean? Let that shit go, man! She is the definition of a failed artist. Also, Showtime, McPhee as good as anything Tim has ever done? GTF out of here man! That's just absurd. I readily defend Danja against the hate but he is no Timbaland. He brings a unique flavor to the sound but comparing him to one of/if not the best ever is retarted. I don't care how "melodic" Danja is.

    I didn't care about Rihanna at all before this album but now I see a star quality in her. She's charasmatic and sexy. I like her music better than any R&B female since Aaliyah (Nelly is not really R&B).

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  14. i think J makes a good point 'bout Danja bein' more melodic, he probably helped balance some of Timbo's more out-there tendencies and give his beats more of a pop sheen. Timbo didn't have near as many number ones before Danja came into the picture right?

    that said though, with every Danja solo-produced beat i always feel like there's somethin' missing, "We Takin' Over" included (the hottest Danja beat i've heard.) i ain't heard McPhee's album but while "Showtime," "Miscommunication" and both tracks on Diddy's album weren't bad or anything, but they felt a little cookie-cutter to me. compare 'em to Timbo's solo beats on his album (and Rihanna's) and they aren't as good.

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  15. Melody is a main attraction to Danja's beats for me, as well. So many beatmakers seem to ignore it altogether.

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  16. Actually, I guess I'd say Danja's very musically driven overall as opposed to just rhythmically driven.

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  17. Yes Nathan, people still care about Kiley Dean. She has talent and hasn't recorded a weak song. Not to mention that Tim did some of his hottest cuts with her.

    As for whether you think Danja's beats are as good as Tim's, it's all subjective. Tim does better hip hop beats than Danja, but Danja has the radio friendly accessible R&B / Pop sound on lock. Another thing I like about Danja's tracks is the vocal production. I dunno whether he does them himself or has somebody that works with him and does them, but the vocal production and arrangements on Danja's tracks are always hot. Nikki Flores' "Beautiful boy" is the best showcase of this.

    Also... "I like her music better than any R&B female since Aaliyah (Nelly is not really R&B)."

    You have the cheek to dismiss everything I said and then make a comment like that? You're actually a joker, you know that! *lol* Rihanna's whole album is just a good showcase of production rather than her. Don't get me wrong it's a good album, but I still think the verdict is out on how much of an artist she is. The music on "Good girl gone bad" is so solid that it could be given to any female artist with a passable voice and yield the same results. Unlike say Nelly F's "Loose" which was unique to her as she stamped her style and seal on every track to the point where you couldn't give those songs to another artist and have them do them the way she did.

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