Timbaland
Timbaland
b. Tim Mosley, 10 March 1971, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Timbaland has rapidly established himself as one of the hottest producers of the 90s thanks to his highly acclaimed work with hip-hop and R&B artists including Aaliyah, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott and Ginuwine. Since the late 80s he has worked on and off with rapper Magoo, a fellow Virginian. Timbaland’s concerted efforts to break into the music business bore its first fruits on Jodeci’s Diary Of A Mad Band and The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, co-writing the latter’s “Bring On Da Funk”. His real breakthrough came in autumn 1996, when he worked on Aaliyah’s One In A Million, the follow-up to her R. Kelly -produced debut.
Timbaland worked his magic touch on stand-out tracks such as “If Your Girl Only Knew“, “4 Page Letter” and “One In A Million“. On a roll, he then wrote and produced hits for Ginuwine (“Pony”) and SWV (“Can We”), before hooking up with Elliott, his other long-term musical partner. Timbaland and Magoo’s major contributions to Elliott’s Supa Dupa Fly introduced a new sound to the record-buying public. The funky syncopated beats on the hugely popular single “Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” confirmed the arrival of a new southern dynamic to rival the traditional east oast/west coast hip-hop axis. Timbaland built on his success with October 1997’s Welcome To Our World, a joint effort with Magoo that was hailed as one of the year’s key albums. It was premiered by “Up Jumps Da’ Boogie”, a Top 10 R&B/number 12 Hot 100 hit in September. The following May’s “Clock Strikes” single sampled the theme to Knight Rider, and reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.
By now Timbaland was heavily in-demand as a producer, and the oundtracks for Can’t Hardly Wait and Dr. Dolittle included his remixes of lliott’s “Hit ‘Em Wit Da’ Hee”, Busta Rhymes’ “Turn It Up/Fire It Up”, Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” and All Saints’ “Lady Marmalade”. He then worked with Elliott’s prot?g?e Nicole on her August 1998 breakthrough, Make It Hot, and collaborated with Elliott on the soundtrack to Why Do Fools Fall In Love, which included Destiny Child’s “Get On The Bus”, Coko’s “He Be Back”, Total’s “What The Dealio”, and the Missy Elliott collaborations with Busta Rhymes (“Get Contact”) and Mel B. of the Spice Girls (“I Want You Back”). Timbaland also contributed to Jay-Z’s chart-topping Vol. 2 … Hard Knock Life (“Ni*** What, Ni*** Who”, “Paper Chase”), and, in November, released his debut set Tim’s Bio, the soundtrack to a purported movie about his life and music. The following March saw the release of Ginuwine’s eagerly awaited new set, 100% Ginuwine, and in June Elliott’s sophomore se