Thursday, April 17, 2008

Throwback: Timbaland talks Nelly Furtado, Dr. Dre, & Indecent Proposal

The year was 2002 and Timbaland was coming off another year with a #1 R&b/Hip Hop album with Missy Elliott's Under Construction in 2001. Now it was time for Timbo to stop making #1 hits for other labels and instead concentrate on his own, Beat Club. The players needed to realize that vision were being introduced one at a time with Bubba going first and gaining critical acclaim, and a gold plaque, for his debut album. Ms. Jade, Tim's newest signee at the time, was just being introduced with "Dream" hitting the airwaves and the buzz slowly started to build. Tim also created the Missy Elliott "Get UR Freak On" remix featuring a then "folk" songstress named Nelly Furtado. Who could predict what would happen 4 years later when the two hooked up again.

Tim was also in works with Dr. Dre for their pick-your-favorite-rapper album Chairman of the Board which still to this day has Timbo and Dre stans drooling at what would have been. Finally, Timmy had just finished his proposed "last" album Indecent Proposal with longtime friend Magoo and talked about the future with a Beat Club compilation album release in the same vain as Pink Floyd's The Wall:

****LAUNCH: So you got a couple of things going: Beat Club Records, and the first artist is already going nuts. What made you finally decide to get out there in the label game?

TIMBALAND: You know what it is, man? It's like, a lot of times I hear a lot of people saying, "Tim quiet, it's hard for you to get something out of him." And it's the truth, because the whole thing is, the whole industry will destroy you, destroy your personality, destroy everything about you, and turn you into a monster that's really not you. And you gotta stay grounded--I'm real close to my family, I always go home to my Mom, get prayer and everything. So it keeps me grounded to Tim Mosley, not "Timbaland." So that's why I'm kinda just quiet and I just watch and observe and I be like, "When this person goes home, is this person really like this? Do they really talk like this, do you really dress like this, do you really talk to your mom that way, do you really talk to your friends that way?" And it's like, a lot of that was going on and I wasn't feeling it, and that's why I kept quiet, 'cause it seemed fake. But I felt like, with people biting your stuff, biting your beats, you need to speak up, you need to talk. And I was like, "In due time." So now that I got my label, I was like, "Now I gotta prove to people that Timbaland don't just do hit songs"--Missy, Ginuwine, and all the rest of them, you know, my camp, Aaliyah. You know, that's what made Timbaland; Timbaland was known for breaking artists. I said, "Well, I'm going to do it again and I'm going to shock the world, because I changed radio--people gotta understand this music has been going on for decades, and you can count on your hand how many have changed a music for a generation and for our generation. I am the only person to change music for the year of 2000. Nobody has done it like I done it. And then I done it by just making people small believers.

LAUNCH: What was it like back then, working with Aaliyah?

TIMBALAND: Man, God bless her, rest her soul. I mean, that girl was so happy, man. We did One In A Million, me and Missy, 'cause I did this new style. I came with that new style back when I came out with "Pony" and Missy said, "This is a good time to give Aaliyah that new sound that you were doing back in the day." And I was like, "Yeah." And Missy wrote that record and I tell you, we the king of flows and hops. We know how to hop on a beat to make you move your shoulders in a certain way. And when we did that, Aaliyah, her face glowed so much. She was the happiest girl--we always rode together, we did a lot of stuff together. She always asked for advice on a lot of things and this time around, every song I put out on Aaliyah, like the first records, I never thought that I could beat "Are You That Somebody?" "Try Again" was just a fluke; it just came out of nowhere. And [with] "We Need A Resolution," I said, "Let me just start back and work my way back up," like I knew "Resolution" was going to be the one, because it's slow-paced and the songwriting was incredible.

LAUNCH: I understand that losing her has kind of changed your perspective on things.

TIMBALAND: Yeah. I mean, you know, it's hard, man, because I was close to they family, not just to her. You know, I just think about her mom and the dad and stuff like that. And you know, working with another female...I think that I can do it. I have this other female I'm about to sign, I think. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna sign her. Her name's Twanna from Atlanta, but she's not like Aaliyah. But she's makes me feel good like Aaliyah so that's kinda inspiring to have somebody like that, but it's still kinda hard. I doubt if I'll ever have that magic that I had with her, so like, I'm good with R&B because she was magic, as far as female vocalists.****

Full Interview

Definitely a great interview and it's interesting to see how much ended up changing from Timbo's views back then. Imagine if Indecent Proposal was his last album? Or I have to wonder, what if Beat Club Records became a success? Would we have gotten the Nelly and JT albums? Would Tim have changed pop music? Would we have ever heard of Danja? Food for thought.

Now of course in traditional Chronicles style we have to give you that little extra. Re-read those last few lines from Timbo. Does the name Twanna, sometimes spelled Tijuana, sound familiar? Well it should. She was mentioned in The Chronicles very first post as being part of the 30 Years to Life Soundtrack on the track "Explain It To Me" and Sebastian posted 2 tracks by her "Rain" and "Tonite" F/ Petey Pablo last year. She also has another unreleased called "Caught Up" she did with Static. I've been looking for her for a long time, so Twanna if you're out there, hit me up!

5 comments :

  1. I must have missed these too, could anyone post the three tracks Sebastian had on his myspace pretty please? Boog? ;)

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  2. Danja is one of my favorite producers right now but what the masses needs to realize tim put him on sure he is talented and he doesn't bite tim at all timbo gave him this opportunity and he sure is taking advantage of it.

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  3. wasn't she on Father To Daughter wit Petey Pab and Rock N Roll aswell?

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  4. i need father to daughter...someone post it!

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