Who is Timbaland? He is the 49-year-old Timothy Zachery Mosley known professionally as Timbaland. He is a Norfolk, Virginia born American musician, record executive, record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. DeVante Swing, a member of Jodeci gave Mosely the name Timbaland, a takeoff from the Timberland brand on construction shoes he was wearing.
Timbaland & Magoo
In 1989, Timbaland first appeared on the music scene with his boyhood partner, Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff as the rap duo, Timbaland & Magoo. The two grew up together in Norfolk and made three studio albums: ‘Welcome to Our World’ in 1997, ‘Indecent Proposal’ in 2001, and ‘Under Construction II’ in 2003. Timbaland & Magoo had one single reach it to the number 4 position on the R&B charts called ‘Up Jumps the Boogie’ featuring Missy Elliot and Aaliyah in 1997 off their debut album, ‘Welcome to Our World’.
First Productions
Timbaland began producing for R & B groups as early as the 1990’s. The artists he worked with in the years prior to 2005 include Aaliayah, Ginuwine, Missy Elliot, Jodeci, Sista, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Nas, the LOX, Xscape, Playa, Nicole, and Total. He also remixed Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna.” The first work Timbaland received full credit for producing was Ginuwine’s ‘Ginuwine…the Bachelor’ released in 1996.
Timbaland’s Popularity Grows
Timbaland began working with pop artist after 2003. He also continued to work on tracks for Missy Elliot, Lil Kim, and Pastor Troy. NYSNC’s lead singer, Justin Timberlake was working on his debut solo album, ‘Justified.’ Timbaland produced the track, ‘Cry Me a River.’ Timbaland’s contribution to the success of that album was noted, so Timbaland produced Timberlake’s entire second album, ‘Future Sex/Love Sounds.’ Timbaland even contributed vocals on several of the tracks, ‘My Love,’ ‘What Goes Around…Comes Around,’ ‘Chop Me Up,’ ‘SexyBack,’ and ‘Sexy Ladies.’
Pop Artists
After his enormous success with Timberlake, he went on to work with the Japanese American singer, Utada Hikaru, producing three of the tracks on her 2004 album, ‘Exodus’. Stradling both the pop world and rap/ R & B, he also produced one title, for Jennifer Lopez, ‘He’ll be Back’ from the 2005 album, ‘Rebirth’.
Timbaland’s Record Labels
In 2006, Timbaland founded the record label, Mosely Music Group (MMG). This was Timbaland’s second record label, the first one, Beat Club Records wasn’t successful. MMG released Nelly Furtado’s album, ‘Loose,’ which went platinum. One Republic also released their first album with MMG and their single, ‘Apologize’ reached an unprecedented level of spins in one weekend, for a total of 10, 331 making it the most airplays in the history of top 40 hits. Currently, the label represents three artists: One Republic, Carson Lueders, and Timbaland.
Timbaland’s Albums
1. “Tim’s Bio: Life from da Bassment, released in 1998
2. ‘Timbaland Presents Shock Value,’ released in 2007
3. ‘Shock Value II,’ released in 2009
4. ‘Opera Noir,’ released in 2013
Productions for Other Artists of Note
Timbaland is extremely prolific. He has worked with so many of the artists we have come to love and practically worship because of their talent and great music, much of which was produced by Timbaland. Because of his work ethic, the number of artists he has worked with is way too many to list, so here is just a few of the more notable musicians whose work he has produced and or collaborated with. The 2018 release of the single, ‘Say Something’ by Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton was co-written by Timbaland.
• Jennifer Hudson’s debut album, released in Australia in 2008
• Madonna’s album, ‘Hard Candy,’ released in 2008. (Both Timbaland and his cousin, Pharrell Williams influenced or worked on this project.)
• The New Kids on the Block’s album, ‘The Block,’ released in 2008.
• Missy Elliot’s album, ‘Block Party,’ released in 2008.
• JoJo’s album, ‘All I Want is Everything,’ released in 2009.
• Busta Rhymes album, ‘Back on My B.S. (B.O.M.B.), released in 2009.
• Chris Cornell’s album, ‘Scream,’ released in 2009.
• Worked on Chris Brown’s album, ‘F.A.M.E.’ released in 2011.
• Justin Timberlake’s, ‘The 20/20 Experience’, released in 2013.
• Tweet’s track, ‘Somebody Else Will’ on the ‘Charlene’ album, released in 2016.
• Demi Lovato’s ‘All Night Long’ and Beyonce’s ‘Grown Woman’
• And many more.
Staying Productive
Timbaland acted as an evidence agent in a 2010 TV episode of FlashForward, entitled “Blow Back”. In 2009, he guest hosted, “Raw” for the WWE. Plus, he was responsible for two songs for a video game called Def Jam: Underground, entitled ‘Symphony’ and ‘Morning After Dark.’ Timbaland worked in collaboration with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a 2009 PlayStation Portable, Playstation Network, and iOS music mixing game. But don’t worry, he’s still making performing, producing music, being featured in songs, acting, and writing music.
Just remember, Timbaland is still a young man. Given his past productivity, he may prove to be one of the most productive music men of our time. Just look at his contemporaries and predecessors: Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Paul Epworth, Prince, Babyface, Rick Rubin, Nile Rodgers, and Paul Wexler. We can expect as much, if not more music from Timothy Zachery Moseley, professionally known as Timbaland.
