Words by T.C.

You know him well. You’ve bounced, bopped, and blacked out to his mind boggling production for well over a decade. Because Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley has produced for damn near everyone who’s somebody in urban music. From Jodeci to Jay-Z, he’s been there. But outside of his extra-curricular material, Timbaland has never created any solo work that measured up to his massive musical stature. Most recently, Timbo’s seen huge success with more electronically induced production that contributed to platinum plaques from Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. Continuing with this movement, he delivers Shock Value to keep his new found following alive. Sadly the trend of underachieving releases is also alive for its an oddball mixture of Hip-Pop jingles and white-collar dance anthems that will leave long time fans scratching they’re heads in puzzlement.

Not to say that change is totally unwarranted. In the same vein as “Promiscuous” and “SexyBack”, Timbaland rides alongside the stars of the two aforementioned hits on “Give It To Me” to bless the clubs with their fix. With the right mix of subtle instrumentation and light Scott Storch jabs, the track satisfies in more ways than one. Likewise on “Way I Are”, the pulsating baseline and hypnotic vocals exemplifies the ambiance of the trendy night life. Things turn sour when Timbaland attempts to mix genres with rhythms that don’t match their element. Let’s not front: Just because you collaborate with established alternative acts such as Fall Out Boy and The Hives doesn’t mean the end result will be magic. The album has its share of questionable moments. The Middle Eastern tinged “Bombay” falls short of other experimentation Timb’s done with the sound such as Tweet’s “Call Me”. And the dark and sinister production of “Kill Yourself” is unevenly coupled with the stilted rhyming of Timbaland, Sebastian, and Attitude. Even Elton John’s masterful piano exhibition on “2 Man Show” is sidetracked by Timbo’s generic ab-libs.

The frequency of certain artists’ appearances also contribute to Shock’s downfall. Longtime sidekicks Missy Elliott and Magoo show up only once while Justin Timberlake and Keri Hilson appear 3 times each. Sometimes it’s better to keep your friends close as they say you should you’re enemies.

Even though it’ll take more than a few average releases to taint Timbaland’s legacy, Kanye West and Dr. Dre (who ironically shows up on Shock Value as a non-factor) remain the only super producers to release solo work that reflect their true talent. While the majority of the music isn’t exactly top notch Timbaland in any form, credit should be given for him having the gall to try to usher in a new sound to the masses. Unfortunately it isn’t the best sounding one.

Timbaland – Shock Value