Timbaland is a farce

[Anthony]

i'm starting to get tired of his repetitive, redundant sounding beats. his beat on "4 minutes to save the world" (madonna's new song) is very similar to his collaboration with Nelly Furtado and JT in "Give it to me". you know, that tribal drum background he puts in almost all his songs. is that all he has?

how can he be taken seriously as a producer if all his songs incorporate the same characteristics? his upcoming album he's producing for Chris Cornell is supposed to show he can do more than urban-pop, but i think he's a one trick pony.

that is all.

[rkmsuf]

go with what works

[korme]

i'm down with timba

[Young Drachma]

Timbo is ok, but..you are right. He's jumped the shark big time. But you knew he'd do it eventually. He's a guy that's too hyped up on being a star himself, rather than letting his beats do the talking. The best producers shut their mouths and just produce, but...too many of these guys are hellbent on being noticed, as if getting six figures for a beat isn't enough.

[Young Drachma]

As for him being a one-trick pony, it's too late for that. The guy made Missy Elliot's career in the early days. He's done a lot of other stuff, he's just finally hitting the mainstream now, with the album he released last year and with all of his high profile work with JT, for bringing Nelly back from the pop ledge and such alike.

He's still one of the best in the popular music game, if you're into that. But The Neptunes ran into the same problem after a while when they were the hottest ones out there too, by retreading beats and by sounding the same on tracks, etc., it's inevitable once ordinary people can pick up a "sound" of which producer made a particular beat.

After a few years, he'll calm down and go back to being himself again, though he does seem more hellbent on being noticed than a lot of the others, maybe because he's not a very good singer/rapper or anything else, but with Diddy, Pharrell and Kanye West all releasing albums in recent years and convincing folks they are good artists or at least, serviceable, I can see where he feels a bit left out.

[Anthony]

Promiscuous by Nelly Furtdado was a great job, and his work with JT was also great. i remember when he 1st came out (Timbaland and Magoo, anyone?), then he came out with his own solo album which flopped. he was doing the tribal drum and bass thing as far back as then.

he's a hell of a lot more creative than i, i don't want to sound like a hater, but he's no Rick Rubin. he's no Jimmy Page (one of the most underrated producers of all time). i hear smurf - he's got a style/signature and he sticks to it - but 4 Minutes is such a formulaic song that heavily draws on Timbaland's now increasingly repettitive bag of tricks.

[rkmsuf]

Right, but it will sell at this point and that's the bottom line. He'll ride it till it bucks him and then figure out what the next wave is.

[Young Drachma]

He produced Ginuwine's album Ginuwine...the Bachelor, which killed on urban radio. He produced Big Pimpin' by Jay-Z. He uses the most outlandish samples and pulls it off. I mean, he was using Hindu music before anyone ever thought it'd be a good idea to mix Punjab and Rap in the US. He's got a really good ear for stuff, so you can't really look at his mainstream pop work and think "well, gee, he's not that good." The guy was a hip-hop/R&B producer who effectively crossed over into a mainstream pop producer. He MADE that Justin Timberlake release a few years back. And Nelly Furtado would never have been able to convince anyone she was sexy without him providing the stimulus in the way of auditory pleasure.

He's been doing for over a decade now at a high level. That's no mistake.

[Anthony]

the 1st thing i thought about when i heard 4 Minutes (other than 'oh, this is obviouslya Timbaland produced track') was this is going to be a popular song no matter what. just like epic summer blockbuster movies that you know there's no way it'll flop, like any super hero movie, Shrek or Mission Impossible/big name action popcorn flick. i was like 4 Minutes has it all - big name producer, white hot pop phenom JT and obvioulsy Madonna. i think Timbaland said "i don't even need to try on this one, let me just use the drum beat from Give It To Me, throw in some boombastic sounding synthesizers and call it day".

yes, he said "boombastic sounding synthesizers".

give me JT, give me a cameo by Kanye and maybe Slash on guitar, maybe some tribal soudning drum beats and i'll give you a hit. i promise you.

[Anthony]

He produced Ginuwine's album Ginuwine...the Bachelor, which killed on urban radio. He produced Big Pimpin' by Jay-Z. He uses the most outlandish samples and pulls it off. I mean, he was using Hindu music before anyone ever thought it'd be a good idea to mix Punjab and Rap in the US. He's got a really good ear for stuff, so you can't really look at his mainstream pop work and think "well, gee, he's not that good." The guy was a hip-hop/R&B producer who effectively crossed over into a mainstream pop producer. He MADE that Justin Timberlake release a few years back. And Nelly Furtado would never have been able to convince anyone she was sexy without him providing the stimulus in the way of auditory pleasure.

He's been doing for over a decade now at a high level. That's no mistake.

ok, i didn't know he produced my favorite hip hop song of all time, Big Pimpin'. he also produced 50's "Ayo Technology", my 2nd favorite hip hop song of all time. so i think one can infer he should stick with producing hip hop and maybe not focus so much on pop, cuz while he can create some unique, unheard-of hip hop beats, he just doesn't stretch the boundaries as far as pop is concerned. i'm willing to concede that.

your knowledge of Timbaland is impressive. if we were in a group Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit type of challenge together and the topic "Timbaland" came up, i would let you answer the question.

[Noop]

Timbo is nice on the hip hop tracks but I am not feeling his pop music. JT's album was nice but lately Timbo has fallen off alot. I think he is alittle to abstract nowadays, just a bit too out there.

[Young Drachma]

ok, i didn't know he produced my favorite hip hop song of all time, Big Pimpin'. he also produced 50's "Ayo Technology", my 2nd favorite hip hop song of all time. so i think one can infer he should stick with producing hip hop and maybe not focus so much on pop, cuz while he can create some unique, unheard-of hip hop beats, he just doesn't stretch the boundaries as far as pop is concerned. i'm willing to concede that.

your knowledge of Timbaland is impressive. if we were in a group Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit type of challenge together and the topic "Timbaland" came up, i would let you answer the question.

I don't even like him like that. I just felt the need to set the record clear. He's got a pretty good resume and I also think he's feeling himself a bit too much these days.

[sachmo71]

I enjoy his footwears.

[Logan]

No love for Magoo?

[Comey]

I loved the stuff he did with Aaliyah and Missy Elliott, along with Timbaland and Magoo. And "Cry Me A River" is one of my favorite songs ever.

I felt, when he started to do the stuff where he was singing and the stuff with Nelly Furtado, that he was selling out, somewhat. The stuff he was doing before was somewhat experimental, and his own sound. The stuff he was doing with Furtado, and JT's second go-round, was packaged crap. And he's definitely not a singer.

He's still one of my favorite artists, from what he's produced in the past. But his stuff over the past year and a half hasn't been particularly strong for my tastes.

[Pyser]

his work with bubba sparxxx is amazing

and no, there is no irony in this post.

i love bubba sparxxx (ironically, when he left timbaland he had his biggest hit with "ms new booty" or something, but his earlier work is WAY better)

[gottimd]

I think he is a funky beat maker. To me, I think he rocks the US and all of Jamaica.

[Young Drachma]

his work with bubba sparxxx is amazing

and no, there is no irony in this post.

i love bubba sparxxx (ironically, when he left timbaland he had his biggest hit with "ms new booty" or something, but his earlier work is WAY better)

yeah, his old work was a lot better. I don't like what he's doing now with Outkast's group. He needs to just be a straight country-rap artist. If he did, it would totally work. Someone has to be that pioneer...might as well be him.

[CamEdwards]

My wife uses Timbaland's "Bombay" in her bellydance routine, so I will not be complaining about Mr. Timbaland one bit.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Someone has to be that pioneer...might as well be him.

Too late.
http://us.ent1.yimg.com/images.launch.yahoo.com/000/020/118/20118030.jpg

[Young Drachma]

Too late.
http://us.ent1.yimg.com/images.launch.yahoo.com/000/020/118/20118030.jpg

Cowboy Troy doesn't count. I meant an actual hip-hop artist who happens to fuse country and rap. He's the Vanilla Ice of country/rap. I don't knock his hustle, as it were, but..that's not quite what I had in mind.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Cowboy Troy doesn't count. I meant an actual hip-hop artist who happens to fuse country and rap.

As opposed to a country artist who happened to infuse his work with a little rap?

Not sure I'm seeing the difference ... well, actually, I do see the difference but I'm not at all sure it DQ's Troy from what you said "be a straight country-rap artist". Looks like we're probably parsing the difference between a country-rap artist & a rapping-country artist, but that's a pretty fine hair to start splitting.

[Anthony]

I'm concerned that Jon knows something about hip-hop that i don't.

i need to grab my 9, pop a couple caps in some fools and steal their bling to regain some street cred.

Cowboy Troy sounds like someone who'd be a guest on Pee Wee's Playhouse, btw.

with country being the most popular music in america (and i say that because other than the coasts - all of the mid-west are country fans for the most part), you'd think someone fusing country with hip-hop would be uber popular. imagine that one artist that can take country-hiphop and bring it to the masses. that'd be insane.

[Young Drachma]

As opposed to a country artist who happened to infuse his work with a little rap?

Not sure I'm seeing the difference ... well, actually, I do see the difference but I'm not at all sure it DQ's Troy from what you said "be a straight country-rap artist". Looks like we're probably parsing the difference between a country-rap artist & a rapping-country artist, but that's a pretty fine hair to start splitting.

In order to be an effective country-rap artist, you'd need to 1) be able to sing or 2) be able to rap. Preferably both. Cowboy Troy is a Big and Rich creation who can do neither. I appreciate what they managed to do, but..he's not what I meant. I meant someone (probably a white kid) who grew up in country radio territory, but loved both. Everlast is from New England, but captured an essence of it, with his guitar playing po' man's rock-rap, but he was a rapper through and through and country isn't in his blood like that.

Like it or not, they aren't that different at their core though and it'll happen eventually.

[Young Drachma]

I'm concerned that Jon knows something about hip-hop that i don't.

i need to grab my 9, pop a couple caps in some fools and steal their bling to regain some street cred.

Cowboy Troy sounds like someone who'd be a guest on Pee Wee's Playhouse, btw.

with country being the most popular music in america (and i say that because other than the coasts - all of the mid-west are country fans for the most part), you'd think someone fusing country with hip-hop would be uber popular. imagine that one artist that can take country-hiphop and bring it to the masses. that'd be insane.

The fact that the Nelly featuring Tim McGraw track did as well as it did, proves the point. It'll happen, it's just gotta be the right execution.

[Anthony]

The fact that the Nelly featuring Tim McGraw track did as well as it did, proves the point. It'll happen, it's just gotta be the right execution.

this is actually an excellent example. Over and over again, i think the name of the track was.

[Young Drachma]

This kid is named Chance. He's part of the Muzik Mafia, the Big 'n Rich band o' country misfits that produced Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy among others.

They might have strategically put out Cowboy Troy first, to grease the skids for this kid to do his thing. He's got the skills to do it and seems to want to, but...country radio is a tough nut to crack and they'd never play it. He'd have to get on mainstream radio and then play more country shows. There are better videos of him on youtube doing his act, but..I put this one up because it was on CMT and because it shows a country crowd actually down with him rapping and not being like "uh, what?"

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UH1N5TYY65g&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UH1N5TYY65g&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

This is a better one though...where he even explains why the heck he's doing this. Whether you like his logic or not, at least he's fervent.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kfcc6ZD-N9I&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kfcc6ZD-N9I&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[gottimd]

Has anyone ever seen the movie "Whiteboyz"?