Throwback: Tim as Mr. Universe

The year was 2005 and Timbaland had come out of his depression rescued by body building. He saw, as we all did, the video of Jay-Z and him in the studio for Jay's Fade To Black. Jay was searching for his next beat and Tim was drinking that mystery pink stuff straight out the plastic gallon. One look at that and Tim realized something had to be done and so he got with trainer José Garcia, lost 100 pounds in 6 months, and went on to solidfy his place as the arguably the best producer in the world. Here's an article with Tim during his tranformation process where he talks about changing his life around, his days with Devante, and his vision for the future:

****Improbably Timbaland is even considering entering the Mr. Miami Classic, an annual bodybuilding contest, when it is held this July. If he actually goes through with it, he may very well become the first hip-hop star to flex his muscles onstage in nothing more than a pair of spandex briefs. "I'm just going to do it to compete to shock the music industry," he says. "In the little thong shorts, the whole nine."

"Timbaland's very quiet. You talked to him once; I'm sure you didn't get more than 30 words," says Rick Frazier, Timbaland's road manager and personal assistant. Frazier, who says he owns a Dallas-based bus company called Side by Side Entertainment, met Timbaland during one of the latter's concert tours. The duo's friendship coalesced to the point where Timbaland asked Frazier to join his staff. "We're like brothers," claims Frazier. "He's not Hollywood," says Frazier. "He lets his music speak for him. And now that he has that body, he's going to let his body speak for him."

Throughout his teens, Mosely met and befriended many of the key players with whom he would revolutionize the hip-hop and R&B world. He made tracks for Faze (pronounced FAYZ-ee), an R&B group led by Missy Elliot. He formed a rap group, Surrounded by Idiots, with Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (who would later form the production team the Neptunes), Magoo (who co-wrote some of Elliot's early solo hits), and Larry Live. But Timbaland says he didn't necessarily plan on pursuing a career in music. "I didn't have no plan. I was just coasting through. I didn't know what I was going to be doing from day one," he says.

Timbaland is an understandably confident man. Like anyone influenced by hip-hop culture, he likes to boast about his achievements, noting unapologetically, "I'm the most creative dude in this game." The sound of the baby laughing on "Are You That Somebody," for example, wasn't necessarily an original idea -- Prince used the sound on his 1982 top-ten hit "Delirious" -- but Timbaland reintroduced it for a modern audience. ****

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Who is Faze you ask? None other than the first incarnation of Sista and you can bet back then Ginuwine was under the name Tornado (we all saw that Rare Reel). There has been a lot of debate over which track Timbaland really did sample for the baby laugh for "Are You That Somebody" though I've always believed Czar that it was Prince since Tim has always said what a big Prince fan he was. Great read for sure!