Timbaland
Timbaland first contributed to a Jay-Z project in 1998 when he produced two songs on Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life—“Paper Chase” and “Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99).” The producer worked on at least one song on 7 of Jay-Z’s 12 albums. Timbaland’s producer credits include “Big Pimpin,” “Jigga What, Jigga Who,” “On the Run Pt. 2,” and “Picasso Baby.” On The Black Album, Timbaland produced the album’s second single “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” The gesture of dusting your shoulder off became closely associated with Jay-Z and played itself out across popular culture.
Timbaland began his career in the early 1990s producing R&B songs. In 1996, he produced the majority of the music on Aaliyah’s second album One in a Million and Ginuwine's debut album Ginuwine...the Bachelor. Timbaland’s career took off after the success of these albums. Since then, Timbaland has worked with a diverse set of artists producing songs like Fabulous’s “Make Me Better,” Ginuwine’s “Pony,” Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On,” Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” Madonna’s “4 Minutes,” Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous,” and “Apologize” featuring One Republic. Timbaland and his production team are also credited with composing and writing songs for Fox’s primetime television drama Empire.
Initially Timbaland wanted to be a DJ, and before gaining national success, he formed the group Surrounded by Idiots with The Neptunes, Williams, and Hugo, along with local rapper Magoo. The group later disbanded, but similar to Timbaland, Pharrell and Chad would go on to be extremely successful.
