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$15.99 CD
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TIMBALAND
Shock Value
(Mosley Music)
"Oh Timbaland"
"Give It to Me"
For the past decade, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley has been the man behind many of the tastiest songs broadcasted across the airwaves, shifting popular taste to digest his sound. From his beginnings with Missy Elliott and Aaliyah to, most recently, Justin Timberlake and the forthcoming Bjork full-length, his beats and arrangements have always been a much sought-after. What's nice about Timbaland is that he "sculpts" songs with a broader scope than his contemporaries, with an unmistakable futuristic, funky, freaky, and often funny mind frame. His talent lies in the ability to seamlessly merge genres with ease, and styles such as Bollywood, crunk, dub, electronica, house, trance, classical, new wave, pop, and soul are all filtered through a southern hip-hop lens.
His latest, Shock Value finds him as the focal point, not merely a producer. For over 60 minutes, Timbaland takes us from the cipher to strip clubs, dance spots, smoke shops, video shoots, and even a safari and an island cruise, with sex being the continuous theme throughout. What separates Shock Value from his previous releases as the duo Timbaland & Magoo, is that here he's the main vocalist, and he's fresh and inspired, continuing to push the edge of what popular music in 2007 should sound like. Granted, he has a positive, though dirty, mind and uses it with humor (i.e. "I killed The Game, I ain't even used a gun"), so this definitely won't be the place to look to for insightful lyrics or a mind-blowing listening experience. This is disposable pop after all. And that said, his guest list is a surprisingly diverse selection of who's-who from the pop world with expected names like Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott and Magoo, as well as Dr. Dre, the Hives, 50 Cent, She Wants Revenge, Fall Out Boy, Tony Yayo, Nicole Scherzinger, and Elton John. Sure, not every song is a keeper, yet among the likes of P Diddy, Pharrell, Swizz Beats and Kayne West, Tim stands tall as both a creative front man and a skilled knob twister, going places none of them have ventured. If you like his half of Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds, you should check this out. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, yet guaranteed to get any party started. [DG] |
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