Timbaland has been making noise on the CEO/producer side of things lately with the first act off of his Beat Club imprint, Bubba Sparxxx. Next month, the world will finally get to hear more fruits of his labors as an MC.
On November 20, Indecent Proposal, the second LP by Timbaland and his partner in rhyme, Magoo, will finally see the light of day after accumulating dust on the shelf.
“I did it a year ago,” Tim said, somewhat flatly, of the album last month. The production impresario, who handled all the work behind the boards for the LP, confided that while he has lost a little enthusiasm for the album, his fans shouldn’t.
“It’s another classic. Another classic with the beats,” said Timbaland, who infused elements of reggae, garage, funk and R&B in the tracks. “It’s real good for Magoo, ’cause he shined on it. He’s totally different from the last one [1997’s Welcome to Our World]. A [180 degree turn] from the last one. He was bustin’ on this one.”
Aside from Magoo’s mic improvement, Tim is also excited about a collaboration he has on the album with Aaliyah called “I Am Music.” Before the MTV Video Music Awards in September, he revealed that Beck worked on the song as well. He has since said that a version featuring Beck may not come out.
“The song I have with Aaliyah…. It’s me, really. It’s me, Aaliyah and Static from Playa,” Timbaland said. “Beck did his verse, but I haven’t put it on there because… I fell in love with how it originally sounded.”
“I Am Music” isn’t the only project featuring the late R&B songstress that Timbaland plans to let the world hear.
“I’ve got, like, a couple of songs that aren’t even on the album,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of unreleased stuff on Aaliyah. So some of the stuff we’ll put out, but it’s not gonna be the sad Baby Girl. You can’t grieve but so much. The grief can kill you.
“I will not add to my grief by putting a song out about ‘How much I love you, how much I miss you’ and all that,” he explained. “I will put a song out about ‘This is the Aaliyah we know.’ She was a happy girl.” The jovial mood is perpetuated on Indecent Proposal’s first official single, “All Y’all.” (The party song “Drop” was released to radio earlier this year without a video.) “Live life to the fullest/ Drive cars, eat hot food/ Live in a mansion next to Hanson,” Magoo rhymes on the track while Timbaland raps about the love he gets around the world. The pair will shoot a video for the song this week in Miami with director Nick Quested (G. Dep, Trick Daddy).
“It’s one huge, long take,” Quested said of the clip’s concept. “Purely a one-take video. It’s gonna focus on every line of the lyrics.”
Lyrical king Jay-Z pops up on the song “Party People,” as does Chicago motormouth Twista. The two let their lips sprint around Timbaland’s radar bleeps and bounce-creating drum taps.
Members of the Beat Club, Petey Pablo and Ludacris all make appearances on the album as well.
Timbaland and Magoo’s debut, Welcome to Our World, spawned hits with “Up Jumps Da’ Boogie” and the remixes to “Clock Strikes” and “Luv 2 Luv U.” A year later Timbaland put out the solo LP Tim’s Bio: From the Motion Picture ‘Life From Da Bassment,’ where he introduced Ludacris to the masses with “Fat Rabbit.”
