1992–2005 Rapper
Missy Elliott heard Timbaland's material after being introduced by
Magoo. She and her R&B group, Sista, auditioned for
DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the R&B act
Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland after the
Timberland boot. He and Magoo became part of Devante Swings's label called Swing Mob. The label featured signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer
Ginuwine, male vocal group
Playa (
Smoke E. Digglera,
Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah which members included Rolita White, Susan Weems, and Charlene "
Tweet" Keys. Timbaland began his producing career for
R&B acts. In the early to mid-1990s, he produced a few songs for R&B acts such as
Jodeci and Sista. In 1996, he made his mainstream breakthrough by producing the majority of both
Aaliyah's second album
One in a Million and
Ginuwine's debut album
Ginuwine...the Bachelor. This included the major hit singles "
If Your Girl Only Knew" by
Aaliyah and "
Pony" by
Ginuwine. While Timbaland was initially producing for R&B artists, his trademark sound was very much rooted in
hip-hop with its fast-paced nature and clear drum breaks. He was taking a hip-hop sound and applying it to R&B, and in this way his sound was instrumental in blurring the distinction between hip-hop and R&B production. In 1997, he fully produced
Supa Dupa Fly, the debut album of
Missy Elliott, who had been a childhood friend of Mosley. In this album Timbaland continued with his now trademark electronic production style, but since Missy frequently rapped the music was considered hip-hop. Also in 1997, he released his first album with his partner
Magoo,
Welcome to Our World, also a hip-hop album. In the late 1990s, his hip-hop production sound would become very influential and common as he produced for many high-profile hip-hop artists including
Jay-Z,
Nas, and
The LOX. In 1999, he scored a major hit with Jay-Z and rap group
UGK with the hit "
Big Pimpin'. He also fully produced Missy's second album in 1999,
Da Real World. During this time, Timbaland continued to produce primarily for R&B artists. He continued to produce for
Ginuwine and
Aaliyah, as well as contributing significantly to albums by
Xscape,
Nicole,
Playa, and
Total. He remixed
Usher's major hit "
You Make Me Wanna". In the early 2000s Timbaland produced songs including
Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito",
Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and
Beck's cover of
David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to
Aaliyah's self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "
We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "
More Than a Woman", and the ballad "
I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in
Aaliyah's single "
Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote. Timbaland & Magoo's second album together was slated for release in November 2000.
Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by
Beck,
Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--
Ms. Jade,
Kiley Dean,
Sebastian (Timbaland's brother),
Petey Pablo, and
Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck's vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along with
Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah. The first release on Beat Club was the début album by
Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001,
Dark Days, Bright Nights. The loss of
Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show
Total Request Live, Timbaland said: Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet's debut album,
Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Missy Elliott's fourth and fifth LPs,
Under Construction and
This Is Not a Test! He also produced tracks for artists such as
Lil' Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper
Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer
Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former
*NSYNC lead singer
Justin Timberlake's solo debut,
Justified, including the song "
Cry Me a River". Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second
Bubba Sparxxx album,
Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album,
Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though
Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community. In 2004, Timbaland produced singles for
LL Cool J,
Xzibit,
Fatman Scoop, and
Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of
Brandy's fourth album,
Afrodisiac. Timbaland co-wrote two tracks ("
Exodus '04" and "
Let Me Give You My Love") and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star
Hikaru Utada's second English album,
Exodus. He continued working on tracks for
Tweet and for Elliott's sixth album,
The Cookbook: "Joy (feat.
Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for
The Game and
Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album,
Rebirth).
2006–2011 concert tour Timbaland started a new label,
Mosley Music Group along with old friend and legendary Australian music producer John Servedio, also known as his stage name 'ServidSounds' who helped Timbaland bring in some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label were
Nelly Furtado,
Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E. In 2006 he produced
Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album
FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs "
SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "
What Goes Around... Comes Around" and on the prelude to "
My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You". Timbaland provided vocals on several singles: The
Pussycat Dolls' "
Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "
Promiscuous", "
Ice Box" by
Omarion and
Justin Timberlake's "
SexyBack". In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by
Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with
Coldplay's
Chris Martin. Timbaland worked on seven songs for
Björk's 2007 album,
Volta, including "
Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "
Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new
Duran Duran album,
Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator
Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's LP,
Strength & Loyalty and the song "
Ayo Technology" on
50 Cent's album
Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on
Ashlee Simpson's third CD,
Bittersweet World, including the song "
Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)". On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including
50 Cent,
Dr. Dre,
Elton John,
Fall Out Boy,
Nelly Furtado,
Missy Elliott, and others called
Shock Value. A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer
Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "
Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously backlashed Storch: "I'm a real producer and you['re] just the piano man". In an interview, Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch. The dispute partly stemmed from controversy regarding writing credits for Timberlake's "Cry Me a River". Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists in 2008, including
Madonna's
Hard Candy,
Ashlee Simpson's
Bittersweet World,
Keri Hilson's
In a Perfect World,
Flo Rida's
Mail on Sunday,
Letoya Luckett's
Lady Love,
Lindsay Lohan's
Spirit in the Dark,
Chris Cornell's
Scream,
JoJo's
All I Want Is Everything,
Nicole Scherzinger's
Her Name Is Nicole,
Missy Elliott's
Block Party,
Matt Pokora's
MP3, Keithian's
Dirrty Pop,
The Pussycat Dolls's
Doll Domination,
Busta Rhymes's
B.O.M.B,
Lisa Maffia's
Miss Boss,
Teairra Mari's
Pressed for Time,
Jennifer Hudson's
self-titled debut album,
Dima Bilan's
Believe,
Samantha Jade's
My Name Is Samantha Jade,
New Kids on the Block's
The Block, and
Keshia Chanté's
Night & Day. Timbaland produced the Russian entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008, "
Believe" by
Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and
Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in
Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008. In February 2008 the first
Fashion Against AIDS collection -an initiative of
Designers Against AIDS and sold in
H&M stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex. On February 8, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for
Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence". Timbaland was to be joined by
Mosley Music Group/
Zone 4 singer and songwriter
Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album's first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In Timbaland's first effort within the
video game industry, he worked with
Rockstar Games to produce
Beaterator, a music mixing game for the
PlayStation Portable,
PlayStation Network, and
iOS released in the September 2009. Timbaland spoke to
MTV's Shaheem Reid in July 2008 to confirm that he was working on the follow-up to his platinum selling
Shock Value. At the time he confirmed that he had one track with
Madonna which although recorded for her album
Hard Candy it had not been used and could end up on this album instead. In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label,
Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to
blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into
production. In September 2009, Timbaland announced that
Shock Value II would be released on November 23 in Europe and November 24 in North America. However, it was pushed back to December 8, preceded by the first single, which featured a new recording artist named
SoShy entitled "
Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album included
DJ Felli Fel,
Justin Timberlake,
JoJo,
Bran'Nu,
Drake,
Chad Kroeger,
Sebastian,
Miley Cyrus,
Melody Thornton,
Nelly Furtado,
Katy Perry,
Esthero,
The Fray,
Jet,
Daughtry,
OneRepublic,
Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. Ultimately
Madonna, the
Jonas Brothers,
Rihanna,
Usher,
Jay-Z,
Beyoncé,
Kanye West,
Linkin Park,
The All-American Rejects,
Paramore,
Gucci Mane,
T-Pain,
T.I. and
Akon never appeared on
Shock Value II.
Shock Value II is infamous for its use of over-the-top vocal effects. "
Morning After Dark" featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado is the lead single from Timbaland's third studio album. The song was written by Tim Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Deborah Epstein, Michelle Bell, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, James Washington, John Maultsby and produced by Timbaland and Jroc. The single premiered on October 16, 2009, on
Ryan Seacrest's
KIIS-FM radio show,
On-Air with Ryan Seacrest with Timbaland describing it as the kick-off song from the project. Following her performance, the song was sent for radio adds on May 25. The song peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. With this success, the song became Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third nonconsecutive top 10 hit. On May 24, Sparks headed to Europe to begin promotion for the single. "
Say Something" featuring Canadian rapper
Drake was released to US iTunes on November 3, 2009. It was officially sent to U.S. radio on January 5, 2010. It is the album's second single and reached number 23 on the Hot 100, making it the second most successful single on the album. "
Carry Out" featuring
Justin Timberlake is the third single from the album but was initially only released in the U.S. It was sent to US radio on December 1, 2009. It is the most successful single on the album, peaking at number 11 on the
Billboard
Hot 100. The music video premiered on February 18, 2010. It was released as the third UK single on April 26, 2010. "
If We Ever Meet Again" featuring
Katy Perry is the album's fourth single. The music video premiered on January 18, 2010. In the UK, it was released February 15, 2010. Timbaland produced
Chris Cornell's 2009 album
Scream.
Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "
Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album
She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. One of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album
I Am... Sasha Fierce was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay-Z for
Shock Value II but not included. He was a guest host of
WWE's
Raw on December 28, 2009. Timbaland appeared on March 25, 2010, episode (titled "Blowback") of
FlashForward as an evidence agent. In April 2010, a feud arose between the producer and R&B singer
Ginuwine, after Timbaland failed to make an appearance at the singer's music video shoot of "
Get Involved". Later in April, Timbaland released a new single featuring
T-Pain and Billy Blue titled "Talk That". In June 2010, when questioned by RWD magazine about the UK music scene he made the bold claim to be the inspiration for the
dubstep music scene. "The UK scene... they're always telling me that I started it. You have Dub-bass...". When questioned further about it he went on to say: "It's funny cos they went back to some of my old music that really created that sound and just, instead of going fast, they went slow with more bass." In August 2010, a "possible suicide attempt"
APB was put out for Timbaland after his home was burgled. When his family were unable to contact him, they called 911 and a manhunt began. Police eventually found his car and brought him back home, where paramedics examined him, before declaring he was not a threat to himself. When questioned, Timbaland said he only took a drive to think about the burglary, as he thought the possible thief could have been someone close whom he trusted. In 2010, Timbaland split with longtime label
Blackground Records, but stayed with
Interscope Records. Later in the year, Timbaland was featured on the deluxe edition of Chris Brown's album,
F.A.M.E., producing the songs "Paper, Scissors, Rock" (feat.
Big Sean) and the Japan-only bonus track, "Talk Ya Ear Off". Timbaland was also featured on David Guetta's LP,
Nothing But the Beat, on "I Just Wanna F" with
Dev and
Afrojack. Timbaland also worked with teen star
Demi Lovato; he produced and had a small feature in her song "All Night Long" on Lovato's
Unbroken album. In November 2010, Timbaland announced that he would be releasing a new song every Thursday, called Timbo Thursdays; a copy of the initiative shown by artists such as Kanye West (via
G.O.O.D. Fridays), and Swizz Beatz (via Monster Mondays). In an interview with Rap-Up.com Timbaland stated, "So, my brother told me Kanye is puttin' out a new song every Friday called G.O.O.D. Fridays, Swizz got Mondays, I don't know if they are on Twitter but can you hit them up, and tell them reserve that Thursday for Timbo the king baby. We'll call it Timbo Thursday, cool?"
2011–2019 On January 14, 2011, Timbaland began his
Timbaland Thursdays free music initiative, with the first song released being "Take Ur Clothes Off", featuring
Missy Elliott. The first official single from
Shock Value III, "
Pass at Me" featuring American rapper
Pitbull, with uncredited production by French DJ
David Guetta, was released on September 14, 2011, after having been previously used to promote a book titled
Culo. The album's second single, "Break Ya Back" featuring American singer
Dev, was released on April 17, 2012. For the fourth installment in the
Step Up franchise,
Step Up Revolution, Timbaland released a track called "Hands In the Air", which features American singer
Ne-Yo. On January 30, 2014, Timbaland signed to Jay-Z's label
Roc Nation. Later that year, Timbaland would serve as the main producer of
Justin Timberlake's recent LP,
The 20/20 Experience, including the album's singles: "
Suit & Tie" and "
Mirrors". Timbaland also produced
Beyoncé's song "
Grown Woman" which was featured in her
Pepsi commercial and 2014 tour,
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, and the song "I Don't Have To Sleep to Dream" on
Cher's 2014 album
Closer to the Truth. In April 2011, Timbaland and long time friend and business partner Mike Evans signed a deal to with Sony/ATV Music Publishing's
Extreme Music to create 75 new urban pop tracks for the production music house. In August 2013, Timbaland revealed that he was working on a project featuring unreleased material by Michael Jackson, with a lead single called "
Love Never Felt So Good". On September 24, 2013, Timbaland collaborated with
T.I. for his new co-produced Indonesian artist,
AGNEZ MO, in her song titled
Coke Bottle. The premiere launch event of the single became a worldwide trending topic on
Twitter. On November 15, 2013, Timbaland released his first single for his fourth album,
Opera Noir, called "Know Bout Me" featuring Drake, Jay-Z, and
James Fauntleroy. By 2014, it was originally announced that both Timbaland and
Missy Elliott would be an essential component per production of
Kat Dahlia's debut album,
My Garden, however neither of the duo's contributions saw the light of day. On January 7, 2015, Timbaland received production credit for his involvement with the musical score of Lee Daniels and Danny Strong's television project
Empire, which premiered on
FOX. Constructively, Timbaland and his team, including
Jim Beanz,
Raphael Saadiq, and others, compose the series' songs based on material given to them by the show's writing team per each episode. In February 2016, Timbaland and Missy Elliott teamed up to produce the track "Somebody Else Will" for longtime associate,
Tweet, for her third studio album
Charlene. Timbaland collaborated with singer and songwriter Dalton Diehl to create Harmony which serves as the opening to
Skylanders Academy, the animated
Netflix series based on
Activision Blizzard's toys to life spinoff to the
Spyro series. In June 2016, Timbaland and Andy Rubinhas teamed up with
SubPac, a
Los Angeles-based startup working on a wearable sound device. There is still no release date for his new album
Textbook Timbo. On December 15, 2017, Timbaland released the song "Grab the Wheel", which features
6lack on vocals. The song also has a music video which was released on the same day. In 2019, Timbaland began teaching through Masterclass, providing an instructional series on production and beatmaking.
2020–present: Verzuz and AI usage In March 2020, Timbaland, along with
Swizz Beatz, launched the
Verzuz Instagram webcast series. In 2021, for their work on
Verzuz, both Timbaland and Swizz Beatz appeared on the
Time 100,
Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In August 2021, Blackground rebranded as Blackground 2.0, with
Barry Hankerson remaining as founder. Blackground 2.0 signed a distribution deal with
Empire Distribution, which will re-release the label's catalogue on CD, cassette and vinyl, onto digital download sites and, for the first time ever, streaming services. Aaliyah's catalogue began its re-release in chronological order, starting with
One In a Million on August 20, 2021. Timbaland's 1998 LP ''
Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment and Timbaland & Magoo albums Welcome to Our World, Indecent Proposal and Under Construction, Part II'' were re-released August 27, 2021. On 1 September 2023, Timbaland released the single "
Keep Going Up", in collaboration with Furtado and Timberlake. On 20 October 2023, Timbaland released the single "My Way" with singer Anna Margo. He released the single "Desire" with singer VITA on November 17, 2023. In April 2024, an unreleased track produced by Timbaland and
Rock Mafia titled "
Karma's a Bitch" by
Brit Smith surfaced after it was re-recorded the same year by
JoJo Siwa as "
Karma". On November 22, 2024, he released the single "If It Wasn't Up To Me", alongside Zefaan. On December 5, 2024, Timbaland released his musical meditation album,
Yellow, in collaboration with Malte Marten. On March 28, 2025, Timbaland released the
afrobeats instrumental album,
Timbo Progression. Accusations of
AI use have been levelled against Timbaland for the album; Timbaland himself had introduced an AI character in June 2025, Tata Taktumi, and has partnered with AI music platform
Suno AI, something which has been heavily criticized, especially his claim that "AI music has more soul than new artists". On December 5, 2025, "Rack It Up", was released. The song is by Timbaland's AI creation Tata Taktumi and rapper
Fivio Foreign. In January 2026, Timbaland teamed up with cheese brand
Babybel to produce limited edition 3-inch vinyl records, Mini Wax Tracks, featuring pop and
EDM remixes of Timbaland's "I'm Your Baby". Timbaland said of the collaboration, "Working with Babybel on Mini Wax Tracks was just pure fun. I wanted to keep the playful energy of "I'm Your Baby" while adding my own sound. It's creative, unexpected, and all about bringing good energy to something small but mighty." ==Legacy==