Timbaland Celebrates His Birthday In Style

Timbaland celebrated his birthday last night at Dari's Hollywood in the W Hotel (my former employer) in LA last night. Guests included Ciara, Brandy, Ray J, Justin Timberlake, Leo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Iovine, Jaime Iovine, and many others.

-more pics from the event-

Happy 38th Brithday Timbo!

Inside Timbaland's Tour Bus

Dude ain't playin' around!



Alligator skin roof....let that marinate a minute. Props to Raphael for the link.

Jennifer Lopez Wants To Be "Stronger" Too

Hannon Lane created a beauty with the beat for "Stronger" and Davion Farris definitely brought the lyrics and melodies for the track so it was no wonder that a powerhouse like Mary J. Blige would record on it. Though we've never heard Mary's version, I never thought it quite matched her style and it made sense to me that she passed on it.

Yet a good song should never go to waste and that's exactly what J Lo must have been thinking as she too recorded to the track. Take a listen:

Though I am no fan of J Lo's voice, I will admit this song suits her better than Blige in my opinion. What do you think?

Props to The Keepers for the track.

James Fauntleroy "Naked Weapon"

I have to admit I still don't believe Timbaland produced the James Fauntleroy track "Fire." Regardless of what was said or not I simply don't believe it. The production is super sloppy and it just sounds like one of those tracks trying hard to be a Timbaland track.

What IS a Timbaland track is this "new" demo by Fauntleroy titled "Naked Weapon":

Hmmm sounds familiar doesn't it...."I see u where you are, I even see u in the dark"...yes indeed it's the same sample from Attitude, 6'2, & Timbo's track "I See U." I prefer the longer sample better in "I See U" but the beat (and subtle sounds) better in "Naked Weapon."

So who is this track meant for? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Enjoy none the less!

Rico Love Writng With Timbaland For Who?

We've read the Twitter updates and now we finally learn who Rico Love and Timbaland have been working with, check it out:



Props to Luke from The Keepers.

Brandy Signing To MMG?

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MINI Brings The Branch and The King Together

As with all of you, I thought Michelle Branch and Timbo were hooking up on a collabo for a new album she was working on (which still may be the case) but as it turns out the track we've heard a snippet of is the official song for MINI's newest car the Countryman.

MINI recently launched an exclusive party with VIPs and big wigs abound which included a performance of the song by Branch herself. Here's a clip from the event and a brief interview with Michelle Branch:



And here's a clip of her performing her new Timbaland laced track titled "Countryman (The MINI Remix)" no no kidding called "Getaway."

Ginuwine are you reading this?

Hayes Says "Great Is Great"

In his lastest interview, Hayes tlaks briefly about hooking up with Timbo and Dre and what to expect with his debut album. Here are some highlights:

Dubcnn: How did you actually manage to get two of the best producers in the biz, Dr. Dre and Timbaland, to take notice, and ultimately jointly sign you to both of their respective imprints; Aftermath Entertainment and Mosley Music Group, through Interscope Records?

I've known Tim and Dre for a long time. Me and Dre was on Detox, and one day we was just chilling, we was sitting on the couch -- I don’t know if we was watching a football game or a basketball game -- and Dre was like, “Yo, I was thinking ‘bout signing you, you want a record deal?” I said, “Yeah, my nigga, YES I do!” And then, me and him was out shooting dice one night at Jimmy’s club, and Tim came in and asked us, “Hey, what the fuck are you guys doing?” And Dre said, "We were about to do an album together." And Tim said, ‘I’ll fuck with Hayes. Let’s do it together, we’ll make it huge, Dre!’ And after that, we started working, and it’s been going on ever since. I couldn’t believe it was happening.

Dubcnn: Will Dre and Tim be handling/sharing all of the album’s production?

Dr. Dre will be doing half the production, and Timbaland will be doing the second half.

Dubcnn: Nice! Well, what has it been like working in the lab with these two studio geniuses/living legends?

It’s been beautiful. They are both brilliant. They both have their own style, and they both come up with the craziest, most original material. It’s amazing.

Let's hope this album comes out real soon!

Jay-Z at Coachella

It was my first time to see Jay live and dude went off! The whole show was incredible, especially when he brought out Beyonce at the end but you know I got the chills when the bass guitar first hit in this song:



Top 10 Timbaland beat by far.

Timbo Gives Quincy Jones An Idea

Quincy Jones is continuing to grab collaborators for his newest album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra being released sometime in May/June of this year. The album will a collection of Q's work throughout the years with a "modern" update. Those on board so far are Akon, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Three 6 Mafia, Bebe Winans, Talib Kweli, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, and Ludacris to name a few but that's not all.

Not only will the songs be updated with singers and MCs, but various producers will give their interpretation on Q's extensive catalog. They include Scott Stoch, Jermaine Dupri, and I am assuming Timbaland. I say assuming because Q recently sat down with MTV where he revealed where the whole idea for the album came from in the first place:

"Timbaland brought the idea. Three or four years ago, we talked about [it]. Then he said everybody should be involved in this. And one by one, in various ways, it started to be what God wanted it to be."

Timbo is not stranger to Quincy's music as he has sampled many of his songs, can you name them? Be on the lookout for Q's first single "Strawberry Letter 23" featuring Akon coming out soon.

T.I. Gets Ready To Show Us The King Uncaged

T.I. has announced that his newest album will be called King Uncaged with a release date of August 24. Rumored production will include The Runenrs, Jim Jonsin, Danja, and Timbaland (hopefully!).

Stay tuned for more details!

Congratulations to ASCAP Winners!

The Thomas Crown Chronicles would like to an extend a big congratulations to Keri Hilson, Marcella Araica, and Ryan Tedder for their wins at yesterday's American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publisher's Awards.

-Keri and Marcella won for the most played song of "Knock You Down"
-Keri won for most played song of "Turnin' Me On"
-Marcella won for most played song of Pink's "Sober"
-Ryan won for most played song of Beyonce's "Halo", Leona Lewis "Bleeding Love", and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone"

Congrats!

Danja and Tiësto

Tiësto played at this year's Coachella and let me just say he has a HUGE following. He closed Saturday night and the area was packed. Not my bag, but I appreciated what he brings to the table. Last October '09 he dropped his highly anticapted album Kaleidoscope and showed us that he had logged in some studio time with Danja by way of the album credits for "I Will Be Here" with Danja getting additional production.

That isn't the only track from the ablum that Danja helped out with however. Danja also got additional production credit for the track "Feel It In My Bones" F/ Tegan and Sara (who are dope!):



And more than likely from the same studio sessions, Tiësto and Danja also paired up again but this time on an earlier released album, September of 2009, for Dizzee Rascal's album Tongue N Cheek and the track "Bad Behaviour":



Update your Danja lists!

Props to Виктор

Word Is: Timbaland Set To Work With....

This one had me luaghing for awhile. Word is former Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler was so intrigued in what Timbaland did with Chris Cornell (seems as though he was the only one from the Rock arena) that he is teaming up with Timbo to do a....wait for it...."rap record."

Rumored guests are Kid Rock, T-Pain (laughing), and Rev. Run from DMC (tears down my cheeks).

Oh how I loved the Word Is posts....

And the winner is....

As some of you may know the Timbaland Remix of Lil' Mo's "5 Minutes" didn't just appear out of thin air rather some lucky Lil' Mo fan got their hands on the promo single and was selling it on Ebay via the UK. I definitely kept an eye on it but in the end did not bid as the price went far beyond what I was willing to pay.

The final price you ask? 90 quid! That's right nearly $140 for a 2 track promo CD! Too much you say? Depends on how you look at it since someone out there is now the owner of one of the rarest Timbaland tracks ever created.

Whoever won, hit me up! I'd love to at least listen to the full version.

Kiley Dean Interview

Check out this excellent interview with Kiley Dean where she answers a lot of long standing questions about her career, her shelved albums, and her thoughts on herself as an artist. Here are some highlights:

Q: What was going through your head when you found you were being signed to Timbaland’s label, what was it called Beat Management?

A: No, it was Beat Club and now it’s Mosely Music or something. Um, I was excited, I have been working for Tim for a while, so I was excited to be signed to a music label which was Interscope so I was like Oh My God! I didn’t know the ins and outs of the political ridiculousness that comes with the music, it becomes a job, that’s what it was, But it I still, it was such a great time in my life, it was my first album, I was ready, I just wanted to win and sing. I’ve learned a lot more since that time.

Right and the name of the first album was called (in unison) Simple Girl.

Q:Where you influenced by Aaliyah?

A:Oh totally, I loved her to death, but never got to meet her.

Q: So when you got signed to the label [Beat Club], what did you have to combat, was it publicity, Legality or Contractual issues?

A:Um, (sighs) this is gross and I don’t like talking about it, but in true honesty, it was him, I was in a war between both Tim and Jimmy, and Tim wanted me to be the new “White Whitney Houston.” And I wanted to be Kiley.

Q:So it was a marketing issue?

A:I just wanted to be me, I just wanted to put out my album and start my career, it’s something that I adored and loved. That was hard, in 2004, I knew this wasn’t going to work, so we asked for a release, but little did we know that it was going to be a tough time to be signed after being signed by Jimmy, he was the best.

Q:So how long were you signed to beat club?

A:I was signed with beat club for 2 ½ years.

Wow! I found this interview to be very sad in many ways yet so honest at the same time. Kiley has a huge fanbase and I hope one day she gets the proper release of an album that she more than deserves. She's a HUGE talent!

Rihanna's "New Sound"

Twitter is something I never thought in a million years I'd join or report on but here I am. It defintiely has it's advantages but trying to keep up with it all is useless. Just go for the highlights and hope you catch something. Alright enough ranting....

What does Mike Daddy have to say about the 2nd coming of Timbaland and Rihanna, read for yourself:

Rhianna , Timbaland gave her a new sound , im posting a crazy track on Talent Maven in 30min, Jim Beanz get Lil Kim on that joint you did.

Ok so who is on Talent Maven? And who can get us the track he's posted?!

Oh and seems as though Mike Daddy liked the Danja tracks he did with Beanz for JoJo:

Danja got serious joints on JOJO, look out, joints are crazy.

What beef?

Timbaland in the studio with Lil' Kim and...

Speaking of in the lab with Timbaland, Jim Beanz recently tweeted that he was in the studio with Timbaland and none other than Lil' Kim (Czar's favorite!). Check it out:

IN DIS B*TCH WIT TIMBO AND LIL KIM... YEAH, WUT WUT.... I GOT IT GOIN ON... WUT WUT...

But that's not the only person who was in the that studio session. Sunset Entertainment's newest artist Tina Sugandh was also was a part of it:

Been sitting here talking to Lil' Kim for like an hour....she's seriously one of the sweetest artists out there...always smilin!

In studio with Timbaland..he's improvising tons of vocals to a tabla beat I just recorded. It's 5am and it's bananas in this studio!!

2.30 AM..Just getting to work..Timbaland said its like a club in here-but without all the people. LOL. He's playing some craiiiizee beats...

Rico Love In The Studio With Timbaland

Check it out:



Looking forward to this collabo!

Diddy "Hello Good Morning" Sneak Peak

Am I right in assuming someone recorded this at the location it was being filmed at? Gotta love it! Props to Black Arrow.