generation timbo: TIMBALAND TRACKS POLL RESULTS

rest in peace Aaliyah

rest in peace Static Major

rest in peace Pimp C

FRICKY FRICKY

http://i52.tinypic.com/eqxgrr.gif

HOT BEATZ

http://i53.tinypic.com/1199w21.gif

WHAT I WANT

a total of 36 ballots came in for this poll with votes for a total of 270 different tracks. and now, we count down the top 50.

ILM PLEASE COME OUT HERE AND TELL THESE FOLKS WHAT YOUR JAM IS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoYymnKUhZQ

50. Bubba Sparxxx - "Jimmy Mathis" (240 points, 7 voters)
from Deliverance, 2003
#98 R&B/Hip-Hop
One of the best things about early-to-mid 2000's rap videos was the tendency toward 'split videos' featuring more than one song, usually with a non-single tacked as a little minute-long snippet before or after the main track being featured. With Timbaland's artists, that usually meant you got to hear two great beats instead of one when the video came on, and I always found myself watching the "Deliverance" video just to hear that funky little tag of "Jimmy Mathis" at the end and started to wish the video was for that song. (some dude)

that harmonica is badass

Sparxxx was basically unknown to me before this poll. I like him a lot now, didn't quite vote for him but this'd be one of my favourite 2 or 3 of his.

that's great, underscores my continuing ??? at yelawolf adoration on this board

^^^^ reignites my ??? at people acting like Yelawolf and Bubba do the same thing

voted for two other cuts off of Deliverance, but I don't think either of them will place

yeah Yelawolf and Bubba are such fundamentally different types of rappers with the most superficially similar subject matter discussed in a completely different way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAcRug1saTY

xxpost haha otm. theyre pretty different dude

some good jokes guys you almost got me to listen to that mixtape again

anyway don't mean to derail this so quickly, please carry on

Love Deliverance - such an unexpected palette of sounds for Tim to be working with.

i feel sad that i just didn't have anywhere near the time to contribute to this

deliverance is an all-time classic album imo, i wonder if "nowhere" will show up? the full length version that segues into the CMAR sample. kiley dean is magnificent on it

yeah lex it bummed me out to do the final count and realize you never got a ballot in! oh well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMSF2YUiO0

49. Aaliyah - "4 Page Letter" (245 points, 8 voters)
from One In A Million, 1996
#59 Hot 100 Airplay, #12 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (charted 1997)
The title track of One In A Million was kind of the beginning of all those crazy drum fills and hi-hat triplets, but in a way other songs on the album like "4 Page Letter" feel like a mellower early Timbaland where the beat doesn't quite take priority over the song as much as it sometimes would later, and he'd just assert himself with a slightly busier kick drum than other producers of the time would have put on the track. (some dude)

by the time i noticed the noms thread it was like 200 answers long and i just couldn't (been stressed out of my mind this fortnight with just STUFF) (also literally my computer just couldn't, with that amount of youtubes)

Man, Nowhere is amazing. Forgot about that - voted for She Tried.

After the Beatles I realised there was no point in missing polls by deliberating endlessly and pulled a Timbaland list together in 10 minutes after some dude extended the deadline. I find it too frustrating not to be involved.

^ this, unless I can't handle the artist at all

4 Page Letter is really great, was delighted to find that lurking down the bottom of the playlist

I find it too frustrating not to be involved.

i am so getting this bcause only now am i thinking "ooh i hope kiley dean shows up in her own right" and "ooh that unreleased track that was the only time timbaland worked with kelis" and GGNNNNNGHHHH i didn't nominate or vote and i genuinely hate what my life has been over the past few weeks

4 page letter is so weird. like the loop doesn't even quite join up, & she sings in that kinda low range towards the end - there's something slightly off kilter about it (like the volume bumps at the start drawing your attention to what the backing track even is) & yet it sounds so lovely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qfMuYOYJyU

48. Total featuring MIssy Elliott - "Trippin'" (247 points, 6 voters)
from Kima, Keisha, and Pam, 1998
#7 Hot 100, #3 R&B/Hip-Hop
Although Timbaland increasingly utilized co-producers like Danja later in his career, "Trippin'" is a rare example of him co-producing with someone from outside his inner circle of collaborators, Total in-house producer Darryl Pearson. As a result, "Trippin'" kind of sounds less like a 'pure' Timbo track and more of a fusion with slightly more traditional '90s R&B production, which is fascinating to hear. (some dude)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9DAtktg4gc

47. Nicole featuring Missy Elliott and Mocha - "Make It Hot" (258 points, 9 voters)
from Make It Hot, 1998
#5 Hot 100, #2 R&B/Hip-Hop
I kind of feel there was a lost generation of Missy/Timbo hits, that wave after the initial Bachelor/One In A Million/Supa Dupa Fly run, and before the big classics of '99 and 2000, songs that were great but a little less remembered and by less prominent artists, so it's been really nice to see the poll end up including some of those '98 hits like Nicole and Total. (some dude)

"outside the inner circle" is a bit iffy man, pearson was a big part of devante's formative da bassment crew with tim and collabo'd with him throughout his career

oh ok, i'm totally full of shit there then

btw you didn't vote, did you?

btw i'm heading out for a while soon, anyone gonna be around and posting for the next few hours that wants me to e-mail them some results to post?

xp nah

i know it's been acknowledged over the years but it's still a fun nerdy subplot squaring tim's longevity with his role as director/delegator at the head of a familial production house. most obv with (what's listed as) missy-produced stuff the lines become impossibly blurred - something like 'trippin' really is toss-of-a-coin whether it comes under the poll's remit

looking fwd to seeing where kanye 'stronger' places though

lol "Good Life" was on one ballot and i was like really?

i predict the next track will be the first that incites cries of TOO LOW

by the looks of things if you hear a guitar crop up with tim it'll have been played by pearson fwiw

do you know who did all the live bass on "Get On The Bus" and the other Why Do Fools Fall In Love sdtk stuff? i LOVE that stuff, kinda wish Tim had more session player instrumentation back then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT9TVuoLN9k

46. Tweet - "Call Me" (264 points, 9 voters, one #1 vote)
from Southern Hummingbird, 2002
#31 Hot 100, #9 R&B/Hip-Hop
Timbaland has such a penchant for huge, attention-grabbing lead singles that a lot of times his artists are left trying to chase that success for the rest of their careers, always risking being defined by that one song. It happened to Bubba, Petey, even Ginuwine to some extent. So "Call Me" is in some ways forever in the shadow of "Oops," but I'm really happy people remembered how great and popular it was in its own right. (some dude)

TOO LOW!

love "call me" so much

ok, i gotta go out. Tim has some of the results he may be posting over the next hour, and if a hoy hoy shows up later i sent him some more. whatever hasn't been posted when i get back later in the day i will post. bye!

"Call Me" was in my top ten.

damn that is too low, at least my no1 placed though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkRF3UZSJw&ob=av2n

45. Missy Elliott - "She's A Bitch" (266 points, 9 voters)
from Da Real World, 1999
#90 Hot 100, #30 R&B/Hip-Hop
Missy never had to worry about being looked at like a one hit
wonder, but she was still always defined by her lead singles, the
first big single off pretty much every album was a big game-changing
smash, and "She's A Bitch" was the one exception, the only one that
never really got into heavy rotation and was quickly eclipsed by its
follow-up. So it's kind of true to that legacy that it was one of the
sleepers of the poll. It only got one mention from the first 15 voters
and looked like it'd have no chance of placing, until the last few
ballots started bumping it up the list. And when I realized that that
I'd actually forgotten that first vote in its total, I did a last
minute recount and it moved up a couple more spots. (some dude)

Great song. It mainly missed my ballot because I love Da Real World so much and had included too many other cuts already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCVnjBJZ3To
44. Jay-Z - "Come And Get Me" (283 points, 11 voters)
from Vol. 3... Life And Times Of S. Carter, 1999
"Come And Get Me" is probably the least outwardly dazzling of Tim's
consistently incredible contributions to Jay-Z's fourth album, but it
was the one that grabbed me most immediately after the album dropped,
just because the whole tempo of the song changed a minute or so in,
and then went off in a completely different direction for the rest of
the 6-minute track, which was an unexpected structure even by Tim's
standards. (some dude)

a surprising number of these are represented only by karaoke versions on spotify >:|

The best thing about these polls is being able to spend a week or more listening to and gassing about the artist incessantly. Especially when it's someone you don't know, but doing this gives you an in and it's really rewarding.

That's where I'm at with pretty much everyone on this poll. I never cared for Missy before - only knew the singles - but she's so great I ended up putting half-a-dozen of hers pretty high. Not this one though I don't think, but it's still excellent.

pah, massive xp

^^OTM. I now kinda regret I didn't dig into Tim's catalogue earlier and more thoroughly

I get what al is saying above about "Come & Get Me" being "least outwardly dazzling" (tho obv this is a relative statement) but "Come & Get Me" is just so striking and memorable to me, so perfectly really. It's not just the way the song pivots on that weird spaced out ambient section early on (though that's great) but also the fact that the beat that comes in at that point actually feels like a place you have to journey to arrive at, a "shit just got real" moment that'd sound really weird just going straight into it from the top. And what a beat - paranoid as fuck, the interplay between the bullet-kick bass riffs and the eerie synth chords such a perfect encapsulation of raw aggression and deceptive poise, the simultaneous depiction of the grace of being at the top and what it took to get there and stay there. Not to mention the minor modulations between each element, the way Tim adjusts the levels constantly to evoke the sense of constantly traveling further into Jay's paranoia.

a surprising number of these are represented only by karaoke versions on spotify >:|

i have always said spotify is shit and this is one of the major reasons why

/a surprising number of these are represented only by karaoke versions on spotify >:|/

i have always said spotify is shit and this is one of the major reasons why
--i asked for "HALF" a glass of wine, because i am TEMPERENT (lex pretend)

Wah this thing that didn't even exist a year ago won't let me stream every single song in recorded history. What a piece of shit!!!!

actually it exists like a 3 years now, and it's always been a problem

argh, i have blurbs for you; need to get them in.

weingarten i would like to distance myself from the attitude yr imputing to me there thx

it's like whiney takes pride in being unaware that the world exists outside the US

it's like whiney takes pride in being unaware that the world exists outside the US
--i asked for "HALF" a glass of wine, because i am TEMPERENT (lex pretend)

It's like whiney takes pride in not wikipediaing how long Spotify has been in the uk, which i know is like a year or three. Pedantry is def not gonna help u win this argument, just saying.

weingarten i would like to distance myself from the attitude yr imputing to me there thx
--thomp

Nah just lex. U were just having a :( which is cool IMO

dry your eyes, mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9X_2ky4-Y
43. Aaliyah featuring Missy Elliott and Timbaland - "Hot Like Fire
(Timbaland's Groove Remix)" (284 points, 10 voters)
combined votes for the remix and the original version
from One In A Million, 1996
#31 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 1997)
Maybe it's just the giant red hummers in the video, but I think of
the remix version of this song that was released as a single as
Timbaland's quintessential "jeep beat," just a massive summer jam that
should be more of a seasonal radio staple than it is. Fun fact: a
total of five songs with the word "hot" in the title received votes in
this poll. (some dude)

yo tim/al i'm about now, had a busier morning than expected, so if you need a 3rd hand, just give me a shout.

I don't have any more to post so feel free to take over.

SO happy 4 Page Letter and Make It Hot made it. I thought they'd end up totally undervalued.

ok cool, i have up to #35.

would it be ok to request links rather than embeds to youtubes? it's fine now but this thread is gonna be unloadable soon for my home laptop...

this is gonna be a really consensus list huh

How do you view other big trax polls? xp

i don't, except for the EOY one, which had embeds rather than links

i couldn't view the nominations thread for this, still haven't

so far nothing ive voted for has placed, the only thing that i might have put on an extended list is a 'she's a bitch'

lex, turn off images!

(then you'll just be able to click on the youtube links you want to see)

i'll change them to embeds today lex but you'll have to speak to al when he is back about the rest. i've just played it on repeat, DAMN I LOVE MAKE IT HOT. What ever happened to her?

btw you can turn them off iirc, i presume under "preferences"?

either that or install flashblock on ur browser to show/hide vids individually on the page

that's not gonna work on camino is it, i can just tell

Or do like I did before I installed a lot more RAM in my computer and make good use of the bookmarking feature.

AYO I'M TIRED OF USING TECHNOLOGY would be such an apt song to crop up right now

42. Jay-Z - "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" (312 points, 9 voters)
from The Black Album, 2003
#5 Hot 100, #3 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 2004)
All I'll say here is this is the first song on the list I really
feel doesn't belong here. (some dude)

Embedded into the song name.

i thought 50 loved the ayo technology to ayo stalk you from afar

dirt off yr shoulder is totally boring and if it beats snoopy track and nwnw i will start a murdering

some dude and a hoy hoy otm.

i only really had space for one tweet jam, and it had to be oops

although listening to call me again, i think i cocked up by not including it

eh I liked it then and like it now. It remains a B+ track. Plus there's:

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/04/19/mn_Obama_2008_NCJH113.jpg

that's not gonna work on camino is it, i can just tell

i mean in ilx preferences

kinda proves what i suspected that ppl would vote purely on the basis of songs rather than with an eye to what timbo did on it. (not saying you shouldnt ever do this but in terms of the question...)

didnt realise 'call me' was so beloved, never been a big deal to me

dirt off your shoulder is one simple riff and timbo probably could have put it together in five minutes, but it sounds so (for lack of a better word) dirty.

xpost Me neither, it's nice though.

eh I liked it then and like it now. It remains a B+ track.

bitch if you voted for b+ shit i don't know what to say.

all those "hot like fire" remixes are dope

"she's a bitch" is such a banger. i love vibing to the outro.

I didn't vote for it at all. It's a decent single.

xpost to Tim

we've had to talk about "dirt off your shoulder" too much lately

45 she's a bitch seems... like a bit of a novelty on DRW? Same with Hot Boyz, imo. Like I love them both but they might have fit in better on other records (or a greatest hits! does missy have one? would seem essential.) instead of hanging with whole jams of hot boys, redman, em with missy basically on the chorus. i love missy on her own, but that record was all about how well tim and missy bounced off others and she's a bitch seems like a novelty in the middle of that.

ah, i was late getting my blurbs in. Edited in my thoughts for "dirt off my shoulder"; hope you don't mind al.

eh I liked it then and like it now. It remains a B+ track.

bitch if you voted for b+ shit i don't know what to say.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 15:52 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

tb.

ok, lets line up the next one.

forks dunno about al but if you wanna send them to me, i'll see if i can sort something out with todays list.

must take the opportunity to post the forever hilarious studio video of the making of 'dirt'

youtube.com/watch?v=7agMqhNv9MQ

haha i wonder how many blurbs will say "is this the last great Timbaland production?"

The reaction to Da Real World was so muted; is it still her most overlooked record? "She's a Bitch" got no airplay down here; the album didn't take off until the "Hot Boyz" remix at the end of the year.

Da Real World is my favourit Missy album, quite easily too

41. Timbaland & Magoo f/ Shaunta Montgomery and Playa - "Luv 2 Luv
U (Remix)" (313 points, 8 voters, one #1 vote)
combined votes for the original version and the remix
from Welcome To Our World, 1997
#37 Hot 100 Airplay, #3 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (charted 1998)
Simply a monumental jam, in both versions (which both appear in a
row on Welcome To Our World, bizarrely with the remix first),
at the last minute I decided to make it the #1 song on my ballot. Huge
beat, so many little hooks in every verse, the closest thing Tim and
Magoo sounded to actual plausible rap stars. (some dude)

At the moment it's my third.

always thought DRW was the best but is it reasonable to say that it seemed a bigger deal outside America compared to SDF and Miss E? The three singles all seemed p big on mtv and radio which is not the impression i get (see alfred's post) in america.

Luv 2 Luv U was so huge

lol so transfixed was i over the years by the various faces in that studio vid that i didnt even realise jay appears to says "untuck the hot then man" at the start

UNTUCK THE HOT

I saw "All N My Grill" and "Hot Boys" on tv a lot.

I'm resigned to the likely fact of none of my missy deep cuts mo missy beats making the results.

i've never even heard of this last one :o

my first vote to show up!! such a coiled spring of a song but lol @ 'the bird is the word' stuff making them sound like 'plausible rap stars'

i miss fat timbaland

"run back the tape on your vcr"

"help i see a beatle / cool out that's only ringo"

Lex seriously are you saying you've never checked Welcome To Our World?

Love Love 2 Love You Remix but I bumped it in favour of "Peepin' My Style". I couldn't even include my beloved "Drop" :'(

its been so long since i heard that record that i dont feel in the position to really comment. loved it when i first heard it and then... just forgot it i guess.

the only thing i care about with dirt off yr shoulder is "i'm a grown up for real" like lol he made a retirement record to prove he'd stop shitting in pampers.

i didn't know anything about anything in 1997 and have never found the prospect of a timbaland & magoo album enticing enough to check in retrospect

never heard Welcome To Our World either.

btw, i should go back and check this but if i didn't include "up jumps the boogie" on my ballot i will never forgive myself.
lex, go get the early timbo albums like NOW

the next is another straight BANGER

cheers forks, i'll pass them on to al.

40. The LOX featuring Eve and Timbaland - "Ryde Or Die, Bitch" (328
points, 10 voters)
from We Are The Streets, 2000
#73 Hot 100, #27 R&B/Hip-Hop
Skipping around the Spotify playlist last week, I got to used to
just fast forwarding to the next track as soon as I'd kind of gotten a
good taste of a song that I'd started to forget how essential the
outros are on so many Timbaland songs. And it'd been ages since I'd
listened to all of "Ryde Or Die, Bitch," so it totally took me off
guard when that little bonus synth hook popped up and reminded me
about those easter eggs Tim used to hide toward the end of almost
every song. (some dude)

YESSSSSS

fucking LOVE ryde or die
i did vote for boogie, but i forgot Night Rider!

Eve in that video!!

the unedited version is very necessary for this one btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMYl-DZRvo

one thing though- jada's idea of a ryde or die bitch is someone who pisses the bed??

soooo here is the karaoke-enriched playlist thus far:

http://open.spotify.com/user/thomp1985/playlist/6jXOFo8vdb4wKIt0x2Tj4B

i have heard only half of these. huh.

eve's "like to fuck till i cum" chorus is still about the best thing i've ever heard from her

cos she misses her man
xp

thats some ruff ryding i guess.

"Love Love 2 Love You Remix but I bumped it in favour of "Peepin' My Style". I couldn't even include my beloved "Drop" :'("

Luv 2 Luv You (remix) was top 5 for me, DROP WAS MY #2. Cant believe you left it off, now it doesnt stand a chance.

cmon the obv best bit is jada's adlib at the start:

i push a cadillac truck with my friends in the back - SO WHAT, I WALK

39. Cee-Lo featuring Timbaland - "I'll Be Around" (330 points, 11 voters)
from Cee-Lo Green Is... The Soul Machine, 2004
#52 R&B/Hip-Hop
There is just something so irrepressibly joyous about watching
these two big pear-shaped geniuses find an almost perfect halfway
point between what each of them does best. Timbaland may not ever be
remembered much for his verses, but this rivals "Luv 2 Luv U" for the
happiest I am ever to hear him rap a few bars. (some dude)

i'll be around is cool. just missed my ballot.

when you want me to come
when you want me to come
CALL ME

easily my favorite timbaland vocal ever

Made my ballot, love the that flailing trumpet.

38. Missy Elliott featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip - "Hot Boyz (Remix)"
(336 points, 11 voters)
(combined votes for the remix and the original version)
from Da Real World, 1999
#5 Hot 100, #1 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 2000)
I'll never understand what possessed Tim to get up on a pedestal at
this video shoot and, as in the gifs at the top of this thread,
animatedly lip sync the words "HOT BOYZ, WHAT I WANT." (some dude)

the remix makes it sooooooooooooooooooo much better; the og is just kind of tame and goes on too long.

i am popping to the store but should be back to post #37 in 15 minutes or so.

walkscore 90+

i've never heard that remix, only the original, which i thought was amazing already

SUCH A FUKKEN BANGER

the remix makes it sooooooooooooooooooo much better; the og is just kind of tame and goes on too long.

otm

omg, the drumsound in this one

walkscore 90+

― pandemic, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 16:49 (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol my town got a 100.

Hot Boyz was my first 12" single, my sis bought it for me (along w/ Wookie's Battle) when she found out I got some decks the day before. For that alone, it's most prob. the timbo beat i've heard the most by a long shot. Also it had the instrumental on so when in a class we all had to write and perform a song when we were like 11 or whatever, me and my two buddies 'rapped' over it with lyrics i wish i still had, involving some ridiculous storyline about pimping. so glad that was a couple years before youtube. and on to the next one.

Jon Chard?

37. Missy Elliott featuring Ludacris - "One Minute Man" (343
points, 12 voters)
combined votes for the original version and the remix with Jay-Z and
the video remix with Trina
from Miss E... So Addictive, 2001
#15 Hot 100, #8 R&B/Hip-Hop
So many Timbaland tracks hit you with percussion pyrotechnics and
outlandish instrumentation that I almost feel like a song like "One
Minute Man" can seem deceptively simple with its easygoing midtempo
groove and goofy 3-note melody. That little riff flows into a bunch of
great little countermelodies and juicy synth textures, and that
percussive guitar strum that punctuates every fourth bar is my
favorite little wrinkle in the whole wealth of subtle touches
throughout "One Minute Man." (some dude)

lol no i hated that guy and wasn't in the same class with him at the same time. weird thing for you to remember though? can't even remember what thread that twat came up on.

had that low on my ballot and admittedly less for tim's contribution than simply because i think the song as a whole is fantastic

1mm is fun but it doesn't stick out at all as something i'd have voted for. there a bunch of things off that record i'd rate higher so... is it because jay and luda were lolzing it up?

Ha, I dunno why it's stuck except it's quite fun to say. I'm sure he'd appreciate being associated with Timbo though, and vice versa.

I totally forgot Nicole existed, fuck

Fuck

36. Petey Pablo - "Raise Up" (347 points, 11 voters)
from Diary Of A Sinner: 1st Entry, 2001
#25 Hot 100, #9 R&B/Hip-Hop
Should have been higher, way higher, if you ask me, just the
absolute apex of Tim doing southern rap. (some dude)

the "one minute man" megamix is just a stunning collection of rappers at their peak

but yeah, for such a simple song (especially comparatively) it's funk as fuck

funky

35. Ms. Jade featuring Nelly Furtado and Timbaland - "Ching Ching"
(368 points, 12 voters)
from Girl Interrupted, 2002
#41 R&B/Hip-Hop
Timbaland huffing "AND I'M DEEPLY COMMITTED" is for some reason one
of my favorite moments of his career as a rapper. (some dude)
An overlooked gem in the discography, "Ching Ching" makes a good argument for Furtado as a should've-ran go-to hook singer. It doesn't take much to sound good next to Timbo's furniture-moving grunts and leaden rhymes ("Tonight it's bed burgers/No cheese on the bread," ugh) but Jade is outstanding here, casual and sharp as Foxy Brown at her best but without any of Foxy's show of effort. Vocals aside, the real star is Timbaland at the mixer; the percolator staccato hook, the lackadaisical boom bap and the trademark glossy washes and rubbery stabs of synth add up to a final effect that Tim is past master of: the constant crescendo, spiraling ecstatically in place. (forks)

that i guess is the last for today, tune in tomorrow folks when al shippers presents more of your favourite virginia hits.

yeah raise up should be way higher

i went through this on the nominations thread but i just don't get petey pablo

"get on dis motorcycle" should not lose to "raise up"

petey's second album features only two tim productions but it is indeed amazing

quality blurb for 1mm there

quality comment under raise it up vid too:

ObamalsAFailure (2 weeks ago)

This video is a cliche for 2001 rap videos: rapper's crew, old hood, chained up pit bull, random SUV sitting on 22s, group of hired people fist pumping/singing along in the streets, random game in the street (in this case, dice). You name it, it's probably in there. That being said, I probably watch this video every day.

raise it up is probably the loveliest of the sort of lovely eastern loop songs i perpetually seem unmoved by

Raise up is whatever to me

Good hook concept tho

Never really found "I'll be around" to be that great either

"Ching Ching" is magnificent! wish I've known it before

Real Whiney Talk:

i played that first Timbaland And Magoo album like every single day in highschool when I was a longhair Ministry and NIN stan, fwiw.

I made it a point to blast it on my car stereo in my Red Nissan pickup truck as the first thing I heard on my last day of high school as I peeled outta that bitch

http://i.imgur.com/cxlmd.gif

made a gif to pass the time til tomoz

Wow, that gets more disturbing the more you look at it

Never really found "I'll be around" to be that great either

thought you'd at least dig the trumpet shake

xp if i could i would have posted every single frame by itself

I'd started to forget how essential the outros are on so many Timbaland songs

This is so true btw. The end of Big Pimpin' probably has my favourite "bonus synth hook". It's only there for a few seconds but it's such a cool little extra.

jimmy mathis - i remember how stoked i was the first time i heard this, on the radio - killer track

dirt off your shoulder - boring

i'll be around - tim's best vocal performance by a country mile, best part of the song - also the last time i liked cee-lo

ching ching - i bumped this non-stop in late 2002, early 2003. i thought i would place it high on my ballot, but when i was revisiting it for the poll i found myself super annoyed by the furtado vocal section like 2/3 of the way in. still good, but no longer a fav. in retrospect i should've ranked Dead Strong higher

the furtado vocal section like 2/3 of the way in
what the hell possessed her to sing this way? she sounds like she has a clamp on her nose.

that is basically how she sang up until Loose

i like her singing \Oo/

yeah, she's great on the hook and weirdly nasal elsewhere

"put the g in ya GLOW" is a great line

i can't believe i'd never heard the groove mix of "hot like fire" until now

yall have known me for so many years now and no one bothered telling me about it? i am never forgiving you

furtado has one timbo track that i unapologetically love and there's no way it's going to place, so here's Afraid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRybZ0AdYg
Feel like this could've been a big single.

This so is so misterious... amazing
RadioactiveValium 2 weeks ago

This song reminds me of September 11, 2001
TheDisneylandWorld 2 weeks ago

FUCK YEAH , i hered this in Aeropostle and i just spent three hours trying to find it !!!
SethBadco 1 month ago

I feel like being a Russian spy, and its raining and thundering, and its a wild chase against some law enforcements, while I do some badass stunts.
whiteipod2000 3 months ago 6

@whiteipod2000 then you jump off a building at the end and land perfectly and then your surrounded by cops. then it ends. perfect ending
EpicFail1321 2 months ago

lex, the Groove Mix was the single mix! it was in the video! only version i'd heard until i bought "one in a million". figured everyone knew it.

i didn't really get to watch music videos regularly until like 2002

i bought OIAM in 2000 and never ever knew there was a different mix

I gave Afraid some points, in theory it could still place. Good track.

This song reminds me of September 11, 2001
TheDisneylandWorld 2 weeks ago

FUCK YEAH

did anyone else vote for 'do it' ?

it was top 10 i think for me, would swap its position for 'say it right' though in retrospect

I did, placed it somewhere around #10. also voted for "Maneater" and "Promiscuous", tho I should have placed the latter a bit lower than I did.

http://i.imgur.com/cxlmd.gif

horrifying

Gif is gold.

I remember the first thing I did when I got napster at the end of 1999 was track down all those obscure timbaland remixes and soundtrack one-offs. One of the nicest parts of this poll has been rediscovering all of these, though I don't think I ended up voting for any.

The remix of "Hit 'Em Wit Da Hee" is fabulous.

yeah the bjork bit at the end is awesome

I remember the first thing I did when I got napster at the end of 1999 was track down all those obscure timbaland remixes and soundtrack one-offs.

haha i did this too. i think one of the first cd-r's i ever burned was a "timbaland best-of."

aight i'm back

thanks for the help dudes

right there with you guys ^^ xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuOEt5oRHpc

34. Aaliyah - "I Care 4 U" (370 points, 10 voters, one #1 vote)
from Aaliyah, 2001
#16 Hot 100, #3 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 2002)
There's such a moody, almost noir approach to a classic R&B ballad melancholy here that it's always kind of felt to me like the closest thing to Timbaland doing trip hop. The fact that this was the first really slow or sad Aaliyah song released as a single after her death just intensifies the ghostly poignance of the foreboding production's contrast with the sweetness of the lyric. (some dude)

also sorry for not gettin those blurbs to you in time, man. i guilted myself into doing some paying work.

everything about "i care 4 u" is stunning

the most sensual beatboxing ever

YES. On the surface "I Care 4 U" may seem more notable for the song and the vocals than the production - and, well, that's true I guess - but the arrangement is so fragile and tremulous, it's really one of the most purely beautiful tracks he did.

you really have to be diabolical to write such a sweet and delicate song where the production is almost completely beatboxing

how many tim tracks besides this one have actual piano on them?

im p sure i had 'i care 4 u' p high on my ballot, 'fragile and tremulous' is a good description but i think theres a real power to the track

That little piano flutter is the icing, gives it that noir edge sd was talking about.

it's all good, strongo, the whole idea to do blurbs was kind of last minute so i don't begrudge anyone for not getting them to me in time

i'm jealous of al's ability to locate and then summarize the essence of a song/production in less than 100 words

same excuse, ship

too kind, j0rdan!

this next track was actually just praised upthread

to be honest I only started appreciating "I Care 4 U" in the last four years; it's one of the few songs which evokes a bunch of emotions I have no wish to confront.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ein59FLQ4

33. Missy Elliott featuring Mocha, Nicole Wray and Timbaland - "Hit Em Wit Da Hee (Remix)" (371 points, 1 voters)
combined votes for the remix and the original version
from Supa Dupa Fly, 1997
#61 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 1998
I know I mentioned in the original nominations thread that I was going to count the original and remix separately for songs like this where Tim did 2 completely different beats for different versions. But a lot of the votes for this didn't specify which version with which guests, and I didn't want to go to the trouble of asking, and really I'm happy to just combine votes and give songs like this a better chance of placing, because both versions of "Hit Em Wit Da Hee" are awesome and deserve to be on this list. (some dude)

that should read ELEVEN voters, not one btw

the remix is great -- prefer it.

ah

i think the remix is the better song, but the outro of the original is one of my favorite missy/tim things -- that vocal sample is so catchy, it's sorta like what he did on "pony" but less central and more playful

hit em wit da enh

how dare u

I definitely voted for the remix. Pity his actual collaboration with Bjork was so disappointing

sometime i feel like doing a beat
sometime i don't
uh huh, uh huh

lol some people actually voted for that nonsense (xpost)

hit em remix is one of the few songs i can think of where if i'm not watching the video at the same time i just don't care tbh. all that arthurian witches brew shit at the end with the beatswitch is so corny and so thrilling

y'all still aren't finished yet? lol I was looking at the results in my school library around noon....

this extra-long rollout is kind of annoying imo

fwiw tomorrow will be on a much tighter schedule

(you ungrateful fucks)

lol sorry, definitely appreciate your effort some dude!

haha it's cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xm9Tl4QZMU

32. Missy Elliott featuring B.G. and Juvenile - "U Can't Resist" (373 points, 10 voters)
from Da Real World, 1999
Timbaland was too prolific and too high in demand at his peak to have an especially exclusive clientele, but there definitely tended to be certain kinds of rappers with certain kinds of careers who worked with him often; there was always a whole world of hip-hop just beyond his estimable reach. So one of the reasons Da Real World is in retrospect one of the most fascinating albums he and Missy made together is that it cast a wider net of collaborators, making that album and its remixes the only time you'd ever hear Eminem, Big Boi or Q-Tip on a Timbaland beat. And there's also this Cash Money collab, which, aside from Juvenile's hook on "Snoopy Track" later that year, feels like a totally unique intersection of two totally different but equally exciting camps that made 1999 such a memorable time for hip-hop. Tracks like this make it easier to fantasize about peak era TImbaland producing for Ghostface or E-40 or DMX or Biggie and it actually being good and not awkward. (some dude)

fwiw pace of the results is just right imo

yes i like this leisurely unveiling

yeah i'm super happy some dude is so lazy

awesome, top 10 for me

yeah i hate when the unveiling is too rushed, doesnt give people time to talk about shit

Top 10 for me too. Drive-by track.

btw i was going to do 20 today and 20 tomorrow and then the top 10 on Thursday, but it's possible Thurs will be kind of busy like today was, maybe i should just go for 25 today and 25 tomorrow?

either is fine with me, or top 10 friday?

a day off seems cruel, i'd sooner do like half the top 10 thurs morning and then the top 5 in the late afternoon.

i could do a thursday rundown probably

i mean id change all the results but i could do it

i say wait it out, if it looks like we're on the verge of an 1000-post mammoth might be better to let that play out and do the top 10 friday

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

U Can't Resist is poss the best Missy album track.

ok i'll do one more today, 20 tomorrow, and will play it by ear about when to do the top 10

last track today kind of takes up back to where we started

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuuB2lQPOw

31. Bubba Sparxxx - "Comin' Round" (288 points, 11 voters)
from Deliverance, 2003
This is my least favorite song on Deliverance, as it popped up on one ballot after another my mind just totally boggled at this apparently being a standout favorite. (some dude)

if people besides just lex want a cutback on the embeds i can start linking them tomorrow like a hoy hoy was doing btw

xp maybe it's the samples? they really make the track standout on first listen through the album

one bubba track is enough imo >_<

haha yeah that song is an ilm classic

good tho

the voice on the hook is so whining and annoying imo

otm

one bubba track is enough imo >_<

have an sb

hmm. i remember being lukewarm on deliverance before it started getting huge amounts of hype, listening to it and still being lukewarm. is it really good enough to deserve (at least) 2 places here? should i go back to it? what does it do that the first bubba or say yelawolf doesn't do better?

xp okay... thanks?

don't get the point of telling someone you sb'd them

REAL Gs MOVE IN SILENCE

though the 'is it baby balls or a miniature erection' line always freaks me up, as any track that randomly mentions erections does (see tribe caled quest - 1nce again, big daddy kane - taste of chocolate)

― trife (simon_tr), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 02:51 (8 years ago) Bookmark

comin round was my highest ranked bubba (#6) - the voice on the hook makes it!

tbf i was a huge deliverance stan at the time as evidenced by the ilm archives but only one track made it on my ballot whereas i was surprised to see two from the first bubba album there

hmm. i remember being lukewarm on deliverance before it started getting huge amounts of hype, listening to it and still being lukewarm. is it really good enough to deserve (at least) 2 places here? should i go back to it? what does it do that the first bubba or say yelawolf doesn't do better?

― Ravaging Rick Rude (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, September 13, 2011 7:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

tbh i regret not including more songs off it

idk what a yelawolf is

like lasagna? xpost

yelawolf is the new white hick dude loved by rap circles since bubba disappeared

say yelawolf doesn't do better?

::shakes fist::

like others have said bubba and yela don't really cover the same ground, but bubba is just a much more natural, smooth, and empathetic rapper, and uh fucking timbaland produced a lot of deliverance

Southern white rappers in getting compared to one another shocker.

Comin Around was so good the first couple times I heard it but it became annoying on repeat listens.

"Jimmy Mathis" aside, the production on Deliverance has not aged super well for me, especially listening to it alongside Tim's other stuff on the Spotify playlist the last couple weeks. the old timey music samples are kind of on the nose and only work beyond novelty value part of the time, what really holds the album together for me is that Bubba is a pretty compelling songwriter.

iirc tim's main man at that odd time was brian kidd who did a lot of nappy roots stuff, 'get to poppin', stuff for the clutch, and then may or may not have been on board for polow da don's chunky golden period.

kidd also supposedly solely produced 'ryde or die chick' but let's gloss over that eh

i agree w/the latter part, bubba's heart-on-his-sleeve personality was always a big part of the draw for me

xp

he really is a great songwriter, or at least was. (lol i think i once posted a big chunk of a deliverance song on a thread to try and shame underrated aerosmith who was making some kinda "rap lyrics are interesting but not good poetry" argument.)

which song?

i can't find it! there are a lot of posts with "bubba sparxxx" on ilx apparently.

iirc tim's main man at that odd time was brian kidd who did a lot of nappy roots stuff, 'get to poppin', stuff for the clutch, and then may or may not have been on board for polow da don's chunky golden period.

kidd also supposedly solely produced 'ryde or die chick' but let's gloss over that eh

― r|t|c, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 01:10 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/2/11/1234366200538/Brian-Kidd-001.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/2/11/1234366200538/Brian-Kidd-001.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/2/11/1234366200538/Brian-Kidd-001.jpg

was that really necessary

;D

iirc tim's main man at that odd time was brian kidd who did a lot of nappy roots stuff, 'get to poppin', stuff for the clutch, and then may or may not have been on board for polow da don's chunky golden period.

kidd also supposedly solely produced 'ryde or die chick' but let's gloss over that eh

― r|t|c, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 8:10 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh yeah forgot about that -- when "Get To Poppin'" originally leaked all hyped up as PRODUCED BY TIMBO and then a year or two later the album dropped with Kidd as the only production credit on the song that seemed pretty sketchy

but eh as much as Tim collaborated and even let co-producers steer the car from time to time i'm ok with anything that officially had his 'brand' on it being on the list. "Ryde Or Die Bitch" is very much of a piece with his catalog regardless of his level of involvement.

oh yeah sure i'm not really trying to expose timbo as a fraud or anything, just saying is all

lol @ some dude using his blurb to take a pithy little shit on a song

lol

don't get the point of telling someone you sb'd them

REAL Gs MOVE IN SILENCE

― the special technique of liveblogging (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

irl lol

lol @ some dude using his blurb to take a pithy little shit on a song

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, September 13, 2011 9:14 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is my passive aggressive revenge on anyone who volunteered to write blurbs about songs i don't like and didn't come through in time

other jordan still has time to save #27 from my condescension btw

oh wait he already did, i forgot

anyone want to entertain me with more predictions about the top 30?

i would but i feel like i 'know too much' to do so fairly

hope "promiscuous" is top 20

o_O

Anyone else find the Hot Boyz video awkward? The beat is sort of lush and minimal and the video is all bombastic, party on rave. It's a weird contrast. Always feels out of place to me.

yeah good point

i have the sinking feeling that one of my top 5 isnt gonna make it. i should've stumped harder for it in the poll thread

kev what the shit

tamtam 4 of your top 5 didn't make it :(

*folds arms*

i voted for "promiscuous" but like... in the 40s. i hoped it would place, tho this high would be kinda crazy.

that's a great song but all the tim productions with horse gallop drums that followed in its wake kinda sully its legacy for me

can't wait to see some of you guys' ballots

http://i54.tinypic.com/xoqxhd.jpg

i will say i thought my #1 would be lock for a top 50 but im starting to think its less loved/cannonical than i had thought

xp

my ballot tallied by year

1996: 4
1997: 5
1998: 4
1999: 8
2000: 4
2001: 7
2002: 3
2003: 1
2004: 1
2006: 2
2007: 1

― J0rdan S., Saturday, September 10, 2011 3:34 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

"Promiscuous" is the most unpleasant vocal performance on any Timbaland track ever. the failed sass of those 2 mumbling at each other is just a mess.

1996: 4
1997: 5
1998: 4
1999: 8
2000: 4
2001: 7
2002: 3
2003: 1
2004: 1
2006: 2
2007: 1

― J0rdan S., Saturday, September 10, 2011 3:34 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

this post is like falling down a well

pretty sure my #1 will place in the top 10 since it is totally obvi, but once I saw Nicole place so low (that was my #3) I kind of figured that a lot of my ballot wouldn't make it :'(

tamtam 4 of your top 5 didn't make it :(

― some dude, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:02 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha damn! i thought at least 2 or 3 of them were locks.

i'm tempted to post the top 50 breakdown by year now but could be pretty spoilery

Promiscuous" is the most unpleasant vocal performance on any Timbaland track ever. the failed sass of those 2 mumbling at each other is just a mess.

Her dancing in the video is worse.

you people are the biggest curmudgeons on Earth

up until now i expected at least seven of my top ten to place but i don't know

'midwestern mom goes clubbing' era furtado blows, djp, deal with it

haha i actually think i threw a furtardo track in way low but unfortunately i deleted my ballot

oh wait it was in sd's most recent email to me. and yeah, i did.

for the record, i was sober while compiling.

4 of my top 10 have already placed and tbh the only one i know was a vanity vote was Funky Freshed Dressed. maybe Get On The Bus won't make it either. but i'm sure at least 8 should show up.

"say it right" is the only acceptable furtado song to vote for imo

i love loose but i didn't vote.

"promiscuous" is cool but the other singles are all better than it, i think?

"Turn Off The Light" remix imo

My main conclusions from the results so far:

1) most everyone has heard everything Aaliyah did with Tim because there wasn't actually a huge amount of it when all is said and done.

2) Missy album tracks will be punished due to vote splitting but nearly every pre-2002 single will probably make it.

"Turn Off The Light" remix imo

also yeah definitely

the "maneater" remix with lil wayne is pretty amazing too but I wouldn't vote for it

3) top 25 is heavily loaded with jay songs or FRAUD AT POLLS

honestly i totally would have voted for "maneater"

will dance to that song in any circumstance

i'm predicting a surprise appearance by "you owe me"

http://i54.tinypic.com/xoqxhd.jpg

I think I voted for like half of Loose

the "maneater" remix with lil wayne is pretty amazing too but I wouldn't vote for it

― the special technique of liveblogging (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:26 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

YES. but did tim do the beat?

the original "maneater" sux

I did not vote for "In God's Hands" though, even I have limits

i'm just gonna put it out there that anyone who put a post-2003 track in their top ten may have suffered some sort of head trauma at some point.

or is under 25.

total bullshit that "dirt off your shoulder" made this list though

also "in god's hands" definitely ain't tim

bradnelson otm

i was repping for the original "maneater" just a few seconds ago, you may want to strip me of that "otm"

I think I voted for like half of Loose

― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP)

http://www.lauraagustin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/disapprov.jpg

i'm just gonna put it out there that anyone who put a post-2003 track in their top ten may have suffered some sort of head trauma at some point.

or is under 25.

― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:29 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

guilty on the last charge BUT i hon think that "anonymous" stands up w/ his top tier shit

haha nah "anonymous" made my ballot too

YES. but did tim do the beat?

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, September 14, 2011 2:28 AM (4 minutes ago)

yeah I'm pretty sure he did

3) top 25 is heavily loaded with jay songs or FRAUD AT POLLS

― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:26 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

came really close to stuffing all my jay-z picks in the top 10 but it was hard to justify pushing a bunch of other stuff out

xpost it is my favorite of rave-y era tim tracks by a wiiiiiiide margin

i am also guilty of being under 25 but "come and get me" would have been my no. 1 if i had voted, forgive meeee

i have 2010 song in my top ten lol

i also voted for "ice box", "roll out" & "promiscuous"

I voted for this 2008 Timbo beat but it's a total personal fave that has no shot of placing, and it was #40 on my ballot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZXMU-pUgQ

nobody really blames tim for the ibiza bloodfart thing and he's hardly the guy who took it over the top but still...

also I voted for "Say It Right" and "3 AM"

i enjoy "ice box" as well but i always forget it even exists until someone mentions it

and "say it right" was my furtado pick

don't tase me, but I briefly (like - for 3 seconds) considered voting for that song w/ Drake, "Say Something." I love that beat lol.

yeah i feel bad about leaving "3 AM" off -- def one of the most unusual and surprising jeezy songs

don't tase me, but I briefly (like - for 3 seconds) considered voting for that song w/ Drake, "Say Something." I love that beat lol.

― the special technique of liveblogging (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:37 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark

i didn't consider voting for it but that riff is pretty killer -- think that's a pretty underrated track actually

3am is so zzzzz, feel like people are totally just reacting to the jeezy/timbo combination and/or it standing out in a mediocre album

idk i love how dense that beat is

nobody really blames tim for the ibiza bloodfart thing and he's hardly the guy who took it over the top but still...

kudos to you strongo, kudos to you

I think i've said this before, but the inspiration is my fave jeezy album *shrugs*

okay that might get you tased

i command you posters to sb

'midwestern mom goes clubbing' era furtado blows, djp, deal with it

― some dude, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:21 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

"After my last album, I know where my bread and butter is at," Tim explained. "I know 75 percent [of the people who buy my album] are women who love Timbaland and most are the women who watch 'Desperate Housewives' and all those others. I did this research. It's the women who watch 'Sex and the City,' 'Desperate Housewives' — all the real go-to-the-bar women like Timbaland, and mostly European women. It lets me know that my fanbase is mostly women and they are from all cultures. So it's not a person who loves mostly hip-hop. It's a person who loves everything besides hip-hop."

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1628135/timbaland-hes-done-with-hiphop.jhtml

i'm just gonna put it out there that anyone who put a post-2003 track in their top ten may have suffered some sort of head trauma at some point.

or is under 25.

― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:29 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

"Get On Dis Motorcycle" (2004) was #9 for me. But it's one of only 8 post-2001 tracks that made my list.

wow that is a really depressing quote! xp

i like a good number of later Timbo tracks but other than "My Love" not the hits -- stuff like Keri's "Breaking Point" and "Beautiful Mistake," J-Hud's "Pocketbook," Busta's "Get Down"

that said, obviously timbaland couldn't have known that adding some dance music synths and a more streamlined beat to his music would eventually lead to david fucking guetta having chart hits in america. it's not like i wish he'd had a heart attack in 2005 for the sake of humanity or something.

xpost: haha tim! i knew there'd be something that would poke a hole in my indefensible theory.

some other post-2003 tracks I voted for: The Game "Put You On The Game" (2005), Brandy "I Tried" (2004)

i think afrodisiac is p underrated at least on ilm

by year my ballot (iirc the years):

96 - 5
97 - 2
98 - 4
99 - 7
00 - 2
01 - 5
02 - 4
03 - 2
04 - 1
05 - 2
06 - 5 (lol)
07 - 1

yeah, brandy is underrated in general

Afrodisiac had a pretty decent showing in the ballots overall but not quite enough consensus about which tracks to heave any of them into the top 50

"I Tried" was in the running for at least half of the voting period though

i thought about voting 'i tried' cuz i really wanted s.thing from that record to place but i went w/ a personal fave instead :/

I was going to vote for "Focus" cuz I thought that maybe had a better shot of making it in, but "I Tried" is my fave Timbo track on that album so I ended up going w/ that instead ("Say You Will" is my overall fave track on there)

some other post-2003 tracks I voted for: The Game "Put You On The Game" (2005), Brandy "I Tried" (2004)

― the special technique of liveblogging (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:45 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

i almost voted for the clipse version of this

ugh son

it's a great beat & the clipse are much better rappers than the game

honestly guys I would totally be in favor of doing a spin-off series of producer polls

could be pretty fun. a lot more interesting than artist-specific polls imo.

yeah not many would be quite as fun as Timbo imo but this is definitely proving to be a fun change of pace

The Game track was my token "I've heard other MCs kill this beat" vote.

1996 – 2
1997 – 5
1998 – 3
1999 – 12
2000 – 3
2001 – 6
2002 – 3
2003 – 2
2004 – 1
2005 – 1
2006 – 2
2007 – 2011 – you crazy

You can probably guess which albums dominated my ballot.

Game isn't a bad rapper guys

stop hatin'.

don't give a shit about the game but considering voting for a freestyle in a poll of a producer's tracks is just rmde

like yes, we get it, you got it 4 cheap, move on already

can't wait for you guys to see some of the garbage in 51-100, we dodged some bullets y'all

my breakdown by year:

96 - 3
97 - 5
98 - 6
99 - 3
00 - 1
01 - 2
02 - 4
03 - 1
04 - 1
05 - 1
...
10 - 1

what did Timbaland produce last year? Honestly "Say Somethin" and "Carry Out" are the last Timbo beats I remember.

FFS, what's wrong with "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"? Sure it's simple, almost-but-not-quite-Timbo-on-autopilot, but a) in 2003 autopilot Tim was still pretty O_o and b) that drum sound - how does he do that?

i'm just gonna put it out there that anyone who put a post-2003 track in their top ten may have suffered some sort of head trauma at some point.

or is under 25.

― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 10:29 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

i have two 2004 songs in my top 10 - no regrets

i voted for keri hilson 'breaking point' which irrc (i may not?) is a 2010 track??

yeah it was! my 2010 fav too!

re "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", I know it's a relative statement to say that it's maybe the second worst track Jay and Tim ever did together, but in the context of a poll like this that's worth stressing.

How could you ever care about it in a world where "Hey Papi" and "It's Hot" exist?

forgot about Blueprint 3 already huh

do you all think Timbo has another hot streak in him? I remember in the '03-05 period a lot of people said he was done/fell off, then he re-emerged with Danja and a new sound... kind of wondering if he can do that again

I actually liked the "Venus vs. Mars" beat a lot!

the best part of "Dirt" is when the beat slows down to a plop and then revs back into gear. everything else about the track is zzz by comparison.

xxxpost Sorry I meant to put in some kind of pre-2006 caveat in there. Like I care enough even to track everything that either artist has done in the interim.

i think nobody as talented as Tim has been ever totally loses that, but clearly his attitude and his motivation has changed a lot and that can kill the output of some of the greatest artists. i'd like to see him either a) get really aggro and try to beat contemporary southern rap at its own game or b) think outside the box in some way that isn't at all like working with Chris Cornell or The Rapture

although as per repping for his stuff off Keri's last album, if he took it back to his roots with some really sensual textural R&B and just tried to be the best at that again, that's probably the best bet of him having another memorable run

whats first worst, tim

No Brandy in the top 50? Fuck. Tim's work on Afrodisiac might be the last album-length production of his I really love. FS/LS and Loose are fun, but Deliverance and Afrodisiac were the closing 1-2 punch.

I Tried was in my top 10, and Afrodisiac also made it into my list. But it was undercooked and not well-thought through, in retrospect. Could have kept massaging it for a few more days.

I actually liked the "Venus vs. Mars" beat a lot!

― the special technique of liveblogging (The Brainwasher), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 3:13 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

TIMBALAND TRACKS POLL (voting deadline Saturday, September 10th at FIFTEEN AFTER THE HOUR midnight EST)

xxp

And, yeah I don't think 03-04 was a fall off so much as 2005 onwards. By Furtado/Timberlake he was so clearly leaning on Danja for the assist, but before that he was still putting out some quality shit.

yeah it was! my 2010 fav too!

― some dude, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:09 PM (12 minutes ago)

give your boy some credit here btw

sup kev

'03-'04 was more of a commercial slump than a creative one imo

our man clowned me for like a month for obsessing over "breaking point" before seeing the light

i'm sad i didn't vote in this, i just had a big exam and haven't had the free time to put my heart into this. obviously really enjoying listening to all this

oh c'mon it was like one post and then i listened to it later and was like yeah this is good

tbf that song is imo a grower, it took me a long time to really get into that album

Ballot/Year Breakdown

1996 - 4
1997 - 6
1998 - 3
1999 - 3
2000 - 1
2001 - 7
2002 - 5
2003 - 6
2004 - 3
2005 - 0
2006 - 2

Which is kind of suspect

'who is she 2 u' >>>>> i tried imo

i was repping for afrodisiac when that first dropped on here, mostly bcuz of how much i love that single

in fact 'who is she 2 u' is my one post-03 timbo in the top ten

the furtado album h8 feels pretty overblown to me. 'promiscuous' 'maneater' and especially 'say it right' are all fairly solid traxx ('say it right' straight up great) & felt v. novel at the time. feel like they suffer in comparison to peak timbo but so does 'music in general'

also 'the way i are' is a classic

yeah that is great

in fact 'who is she 2 u' is my one post-03 timbo in the top ten

haha i knew this thread wld force me into some awkward alliances

i have awesome taste, pat urself on the back :D

"who is she 2 u" is classic obv., didn't think to vote for tho cuz it's just a loop and doesn't feel like an AMAZING timbo production.

"Miscommunication" is the best track from the first Shock Value

like, maybe if I didn't know it was just the first few bars of that leon ware joint looped I'd think more of it production-wise.

idk at some level theres an amount of subtlety to his production sometimes that really hits me -- its why i like "Kiss Me Like That" & "Say It Right" & "Keep It Moving" & "Who Is She 2 U" -- when he kind of pulls his punches & goes for pure songfulness

I didn't vote for it but I think Missy's "Bring The Pain" is also a great case of subtle wizardry from Tim (albeit in a different way), a lovely and effective tweaking and updating of the original beat.

yeah, I totally get the appreciation for Tim's more subtle moments - I think "Call Me" is a great example of that "subtle songfulness"

^^^yes exactly -- i voted for that one fairly high too (above 'oops')

afrodisiac def underrated, i think it's a really ~important~ album in the context of tim's career too in that it seems to really capture this somewhat depressive post-aaliyah lull but also foreshadows a lot of the sounds and tricks he'd go on to make his "comeback" with.

deliverance = first known appearance of ryan tedder on a major label record? funny that the one keeper off that hasn't appeared. (yet, though i think 3 songs off that album in this poll would be a bit much.) wonder if any kiley dean will show up?

obv haven't thought about this but if i was gonna vote for anything post-2004 (which makes more sense to me as a cut-off b/c of afrodisiac) it's be THE WAY I ARE duh.

http://hulkshare.com/kkyeq82yhnbm

new petey btw (not timbo)

The "Dirt Off My Shoulder" riff is so dirty and awesome.

like yes, we get it, you got it 4 cheap, move on already

― some dude, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 04:04 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol i had forgotten we got it 4 cheap and was just remembering p much every other mc in 2005 using it as their freestyle beat, like the equiv of Quiet Storm was in 99 or etc. Bun B and Chamillionaire verses stick out in my mindgrapes.

gonna throw out at least one for the early birds right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuuB2lQPOw

30. Missy Elliott - "Lick Shots" (390 points, 11 voters, one #1 vote)
from Miss E... So Addictive, 2001
#63 R&B/Hip-Hop
I'm always surprised by how (relatively) slow and stealthy "Lick Shots" is, its jittery bass, sticky hi-hat swishes and and repeating guitar skronk suffocating its near lethargic (we'd now call it) halfstep beat with nervous energy. Most of all it's Missy, who maybe never sounded as tuned into the beat as she did here - or is it Timabaland tuned into her? Either way there's few moments in their collective works as satisfying as when Missy announces "Fool touch me that's a no--no", over a ponderous, out of place double-kick that sounds like a sex machine faltering. What struck me immediately the first time I heard this was not just the strange interior logic of Missy and Timbaland's songcraft, but their unshakeable confidence that whatever they threw at the wall would stick, hard. (Tim F)

how many tracks were you allowed on ballots btw? might put together what i'd have voted for

lick shots! missy's growls and grunts on that are the best things ever

ballots were top 40

er that youtube is for bubba 'comin round'

"unshakeable confidence that whatever they threw at the wall would stick, hard."

The key to why so many people (critics especially) lionise Tim & Missy's purple patch - that rare and wonderful conviction that a pop audience will accept all kinds of weirdness if it's done right. Her voice and attitude, more than anyone else's, gave him license to do that. Perfect creative telepathy.

yeah thats a great write-up

ha oops here is Lick Shots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LyHiXquFBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8cFOm6VdpY

29. Timbaland & Magoo featuring Aaliyah and Missy Elliott - "Up Jumps Da Boogie" (393 points, 13 voters, one #1 vote)
from Welcome To Our World, 1997
#12 Hot 100, #4 R&B/Hip-Hop
such a slyly funky calling card w/ one of the early killer missy performances (Lamp)

A+

Obv both of these amazing.

i prefer "Luv 2 Luv U" but i'm glad at least one Welcome To Our World jam got that high

I guess i should listen to some Timbaland & Magoo stuff

Magoo isn't even on a lot of WTOW, it's basically a really fun Timbaland & Friends album

TOOOOO LOOOOOOOOW (for both of the last entries)

Managed to find Tom's old top-singles-of-the-90s entry for this on Freaky Trigger:

Hip-hop might not be my territory, but I knew enough to realise I was hearing something special here, a music that couldn’t be more different from the bleary Wu-Tang swagger or icy gangsta slickness that seemed to be dominating rap. For a start “Up Jump The Boogie” was anally precise, every sound clipped and positioned just so. At the same time, though, it was the poppiest hip-hop had sounded since Dre’s heyday, with its tingly flecks of disco strings constantly flirting with all-out rapture. But then again, Timbaland’s aesthetic was distinctly less-is-more, giving you just enough beauty to set you craving and then holding back: tension in paradise. The result: Timbaland’s productions were among the sexiest on wax as well as the oddest, a sultry miasma of lazily twining rhythms. Even Tim and Missy’s syllable-by-syllable raps can’t spoil the atmosphere.

For me, “Up Jump The Boogie” is Timbaland’s classic. There’s a simplicity to it that sounds crude now (when every mainstream producer has stolen Tim’s sound, and when his own productions have taken a rococo turn) but also dangerous and vital. It’s the most stoned and metaphysical of his jams, too – mostly Tim and Missy deal with boasting, partying or physical need, but here they take you on a weed-fuelled late-night ramble, even getting political for one brief, shivery couplet. And the boogie indeed springs up from the grave it had lain in, summoned by the intoxicating sound of a brilliant young technician testing out his rules-changing skills.

"Up Jumps Da Boogie" really shows how bad an MC Timbo is. sticking him between Magoo and Missy does give a sharp contrast. I'm kinda afraid to dig into those T&M stuff purely because of his raps

i always liked magoo's voice and wish they were more like early gangstarr (an mc who knows his voice and flow is different and a producer who can work towards strengthening his best qualities) and instead we got like timb's awkward english accents etc.

sticking him between Magoo and Missy

Yeah it's a shame Tim doesn't come up with a line as arresting as "up in the cut like gay n****s in butt."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehFDZU4hXbw

28. Aaliyah - "If Your Girl Only Knew" (425 points, 13 voters)
from One In A Milion, 1996
#11 Hot 100, #1 R&B/Hip-Hop
Bass is such an important element of TIm's music but actual identifiable bass lines played on a bass guitar are a relative rarity, which makes songs like this and Why Do Fools Fall In Love? soundtrack stuff stand out more. (some dude)

ok I was talking more about the flow, missed this line xp

oh, my #2 came in, sweet! but TOO LOW

perhaps you also missed "like jews and chinese, I own this rap lease."

there are people who didn't vote for If Your Girl Only Knew?

xp lol I've actually heard this one (the one about "virgin pussies" too) but honestly speaking I cared more about flow than lyrics

I was sure "If Your Girl Only Knew" is locked for at least top 15, that's strange to me

I didn't vote for "If Your Girl Only Knew". It's in my top 50 though.

i didnt vote iygok or hlf or resolution - it isn't to say they aren't great songs but shit i was only allowed 40 choices, so it had to be all GOLD.

"if your girl only knew" is my most-played aaliyah song according to last.fm. (since i joined of course.) i could actually listen to that bassline forever. i love the menace vs dismissal of her delivery, like is she gonna tell the girlfriend or not? can she be bothered or does she just want to be left alone?

i hear it as both shaming dismissal and sly come on intertwined and awaiting response. only aaliyah could ever pull that off.

just something about the way "and then she wouldn't have to worry..." lingers

Yeah, the general absence of Magoo from T&M's Welcome to Our World is a pretty great thing.

and here is probably the Surprisingly Low champion of the whole list

no wait no it's not, first is my personal Least Deserving Of The Whole List pick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HER1RxputAw

27. Lil Kim featuring Mr. Cheeks - "The Jump Off" (442 points, 13 voters, one #1 vote)
from La Bella Mafia, 2003
#16 Hot 100, #8 R&B/Hip-Hop
This is like a grab-bag of great moves from Tim's past & future productions. You've got a jumped-up version of the groove that would later show up in Cee-Lo's I'll Be Around, the Get Ur Freak On signature guitar/sitar, dirty Timbo synth a la Dirt Off Your Shoulder, and a whole lot of clicks and clacks per bar. If it had a better hook it would be a party standard (or maybe I go to the wrong parties). (Jordan)

and now the original (good) version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqxRvPCJcGg

xxxp could also argue that "but it's dumb to put up with you" later on is the final twist of the knife snapping out of the fleeting musing - there's a different contemptuous stridency to the song after that suggests a decision has been made

ugggh jump off gtfo

seriously

I GOT A MAN IN JAPAN AND A DUDE IN TAHITI
BELIEVE ME SWEETIE I GOT ENOUGH TO FEED THE NEEDY

i like the jump off a lot, though have never thought of it as either a top-tier kim single or a top-tier timbabeat and it's always surprised me that it seems to be so repped for by others

it was fun at the time but what manner of pleb holds it dear to this day, seriously

the guy who put "Jump Off" at #1 didn't have a familiar name but the rest of his ballot was really dope at least

there's also this vague frustration in "if your girl only knew", like aaliyah would quite like to do all those things to him herself but it's not her place to

i was at hip-hop karaoke the other day (the RD launch in fact) and some dude (not our some dude obv) did "the jump off" by himself o_0

to Tim's credit, he at least supposedly really didn't like the idea of redoing the Lost Boyz hook and wanted the song to have a different chorus

urge jump off #1 guy to show yourself and take your beating like a man

As I recall, "Jump Off", like "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" and This Is Not A Test, seemed to get picked up by a lot of people who were sorta belatedly getting into Timbaland b/c he was going through that ostentatiously "gritty" phase.

Fuck that really.

haha getting our snob on over here

Wow wow at If Your Girl Only Knew - if I'd heard it before like I heard it there, it'd've'd a good shot at my #1. What a track.

This Is Not A Test! has been my favorite Missy album for a few years.

xxpost - a bit, but it's not so much that peeps were getting into him late but that what they were liking was the very thing leaving me cold - pretty much that entire era sounds really half-hearted to me, with the exception of things that tried really hard to go in the other direction (like "Nowhere" or the Kiley Dean material).

Oh, Alfred.

jeeps lex coups bimaz is probably a better timbo beat than the jump off tbh

The reduction of Timbo-Missy to clank-and-beat still sounds fresh to my ears.

"let me fix my weave" off this is not a test would have had a shot at making my ballot

i don't recall that album being picked up by anyone at the time? it seems like tim is projecting a bit here, those are all pretty decent.

"Let Me Fix My Weave" made my ballot.

Test has some good beats but "Pass The Dutch" has kind of tarnished that whole album for me (and i wasn't really into Under Construction either)

i still love "wake up" a lot but i have a weakness for all that post-grindin reductionist shit

UC and The Cookbook are my least favorites, yeah.

lol, I love both Under Constructioni and This Is Not A Test

and yeah I'm the only person out there still into "Pass That Dutch", middle fingers y'all

"pass that dutch" sounded so lazy and awful as a single but hearing it in a club was like, whoa, heavy bass.

under construction is a TERRIFIC album, maybe her most consistent outside of da real world?

the cookbook has some jams too. missy's never done a bad album as such.

i don't recall that album being picked up by anyone at the time? it seems like tim is projecting a bit here, those are all pretty decent.

No seriously, this was the standard reaction among all my hip hop friends who'd avoided or ignored him and missy (and pretty much anything tainted with R&B or the south or etc.) for years. They started to come around to UC about six months after the fact and then really got into This Is Not A Test.

A lot of the same crowd belatedly jumped on Jay-Z at the same time, which is a big part of why The Black Album is so overrated I think.

I actually really love Under Construction too, it surprised me that I didn't include any in my ballot (even my beloved "Play That Beat") but then it's more about the whole album experience rather than individual tunes.

Almost everything about TINAT felt like a grim downsizing. "Let Me Fix My Weave" is probably the best track though.

shameful confession: I didn't actually start liking "Hot Boyz" until about 2-3 years ago. I DETESTED it when it came out, which was right in the middle of my extreme love/hate relationship with Missy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHcyJPTTn9w&ob=av2n

26. Missy Elliott - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (452 points, 12 voters, one #1 vote)
from Supa Dupa Fly, 1997
#51 Hot 100, #6 R&B/Hip-Hop
It feels like these artists polls always have one defining hit that people seem to assume is a lock for the top 10 and then ends up outside the top 25 ("Whole Lotta Love" for Led Zep, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" for U2). "The Rain" is I guess that song here, and I get it, it was never really one of my favorites. I didn't really like Missy until my brother got the album and I realized how much better her other songs are than this. (some dude)

haha OTM

I really thought she might be brain damaged when I first heard this song; always loved the video though.

hip hop friends who'd avoided or ignored him and missy (and pretty much anything tainted with R&B or the south or etc.)

i...what? i cannot comprehend that such people exist. hip-hop fans who avoided peak missy and timba? even after 2001 when like the entire world was on their dicks? what? who are these people and why were they your friends?

i concur on "the rain", though i do love it a lot and it makes sense that it's her calling card even if i do prefer eg "sock it 2 me"

(the video eventually won me over to the song but when it first came out we spent a lot of time laughing at this even while dancing to it at parties)

My sister owned SDF before I did, and "Beep Me 911" impressed me a helluva lot more than "The Rain."

This is Not a Test! is probably tied with DRW as he rlowest selling album in the US. "Pass That Dutch" bombed on the pop chart a year after "Work It."

yeah, "Beep Me 911" is the song that made me go "wait, maybe I shouldn't just dismiss this out of hand" and made me discover in retrospect how awesome "Sock It 2 Me" was (I think I also first saw the "Sock It 2 Me" video around the same time? Missy and Busta were probably the last truly great video artists)

not at all, The Cookbook is her only non-platinum album (xpost)

Why does one feel the need to cite a least fave Missy album imo?

We're critics and pedants.

i...what? i cannot comprehend that such people exist. hip-hop fans who avoided peak missy and timba? even after 2001 when like the entire world was on their dicks? what? who are these people and why were they your friends?

you know, the whole wu tang / de la soul / jurassic 5 / public enemy / spearhead milieu. BEP's "Weekend" was their jam. They didn't read rock crit so missed the 2001 "get ur freak on" critical crossover, et al.

My least fave Missy album is still something like a top 10 percent all-timer.

more and more over time i feel like the first 3 are about equally great and the next 3 are equally good on a lower tier

Didn't turn in a ballot, but pretty sure "The Rain" would've missed mine too.

you know, the whole wu tang / de la soul / jurassic 5 / public enemy / spearhead milieu

ewwwwww

it makes me feel kinda good about the choices i have made in life that i literally know no one like this

three of those are the first hip hop records i owned but eh i was fourteen

three of those are also seminal hip-hop acts without whom hip-hop as we know it today would not exist

What about De La Soul and Wu Tang?

okay lol

Tempted to put my name in on a Jurassic 5 tracks poll.

i was reacting to seeing "jurassic 5 / spearhead" really - all else recedes into the background when you see those names

gee i hate to interrupt this awful conversation but it's time to start a run of beloved DEEP CUTS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlZOxCi4as4

25. Jay-Z - "Hola Hovito" (453 points, 15 voters)
from The Blueprint, 2001
Vol. 3 is the only Jay-Z album Timbaland is on enough to really help define it's overall sound, and on most others he's just another flavor in a gumbo of different production styles. The Blueprint is the only time he feels like kind of a guest, showing up to spoil an otherwise cohesive album aesthetic, doing his weird thing for a few minutes and dancing around with his jug of pink juice and promptly leaving. But a really welcome guest. (some dude)

xp The Rain was my introduction to Timbaland so had the shock-of-the-new impact. A sign of Timbaland's brilliance that I kept being shocked up to about 2003.

Had no idea lots of people hated The Jump Off. Can't see what's meant to be so despicable about it.

yay i love "hola hovito" - it really confused me when i learned that it wasn't considered a great song. but obviously it is! i love the drunk lurching vibe.

^^ yep. It made my ballot.

it just makes me a bit sad when i see people cite "the jump off" as lil kim's calling card - i don't think it'd make my lil kim top 10

This is what I mean!

Hola Hovito is great.

i don't hate "The Jump Off" but it's just not top 30 material. also its similarities to "When The Last Time" were the first time i wondered if Tim was playing catchup to the Neptunes.

lol at 'dancing around with his jug of pink juice and promptly leaving'

did lex just fucking ewwwwwww p.e. and the wu?

yes but not really: i was reacting to seeing "jurassic 5 / spearhead" really - all else recedes into the background when you see those names

ewwwww jess is here

i did not vote for hola hovito only because my ballot was already getting lopsided with jay tracks but its good yeah.

tbf if i met someone today with nothing better to talk about than p.e then i would eww them too

xpost ^^^^ this is me.

I am resigned to at least one Vol. 3. production not making it and expect it to be my favourite that misses out. Also "Hey Papi" - ;_; forever

yes i voted hey papi too but if it places ill buy everyone itt an ice cream treat

*cue some dude with 'hey papi'*

too many concepts to argue with floating around here but i will say that Supa Dupa Fly is EASILY missy's best album and i will fight you in the streets with knives over that point if you want.

would maybe argue that its got her best songs but isnt her best album

Under Construction/Da Real World > Supa Dupa Fly/Miss E > Test > Cookbook

also i cherish "the rain" as one of my last majot WTF IS THAT mtv moments but id rather hear any of the supa dupa singles at this point

yeah it's definitely greater as a video/pop culture moment than as a song

and now a song that some people had already counted out of the running

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrtNOfx8Fl4

24. Petey Pablo featuring Bubba Sparxxx - "Get On Dis Motorcycle" (452 points, 12 voters)
from Still Writing In My Diary: 2nd Entry, 2004
"Get On Dis Motorcycle" is basically a one trick pony, but what a trick: the central loop of children singing doesn't so much leap out at you as expand to fill the entire room, dense and inscrutable and charming, and handily proving that Timbaland's production magic was never about minimalism per se but rather about making every sound count. And every sound here seems to count twice over, the "dun dun dun, a duh-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dun-dun..." mirroring and complicating the staggering beat, while somewhere beneath the flash and sparkle an eerie "Get Ur Freak On"-style bhangra melody and portentous strings underscore the deep emotional ambivalence at work; beautiful, sure, but severe and forbidding at the same time, an impregnable edifice of sound that the typically ragged Petey just about manages to make his own. Was Timbaland ever so surprising (in a good way) again? (Tim F)

i still don't really get this song and suspect that if it wasn't one of only a couple Timbaland songs on the album it never would've been pegged as a standout. also no way better than "Raise Up."

agree

there's an appealing and unusual grit in the juxtaposition of motorbike rev and bhangra glitter tho

yeah it's definitely a good track but i don't feel its greatness per se

the degree to which it suddenly seems pretty rote during bubba's verse kinda exposes the whole thing

nah that beat is just staggering

i have mixed feelings about "hola hovito" -- it's obv awesome but sometimes it grates on me

weirdly the "deep cuts" on this poll are making me appreciate The Neptunes even more

Agree about Hola Hovito being somewhat grating. There's just something kind of clunky about it

how so, DJP?

"Hola Hovito" SWINGS like a motherfucker, wish more Timbo beats had that kind of shuffle

well for example, "Get On Dis Motorcycle" reminded me of Kardinal Offishall's "Belly Dancer", which is a faster, harder hitting beat from a year earlier in a similar vein that I vastly prefer

"the rain" was high up on my ballot -- i just love how sparse & open it is -- the cricket sound is one of my favorite weird timbo things ever, like he's making a joke about how much empty space there is in the beat

& i always loved missy's rapping on that -- dan calls it "brain damaged" which is both hilarious & sorta on point -- i mean it's sort of just a profoundly stoned song, which i think in its own way is kinda unique in the missy/tim discog? the rapping is sorta meandering & lurching & for some reason the whole feeling is accentuated by them ripping off a hook. i always thought that on the sly it was one of their most bizarre songs.

jordan you're making me feel weird about using the word "sparse" in the next blurb now

ha "on the sly"? "The Rain" wears its weirdness like a badge of honor, I had to accept that before I could really get into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StJ94-TAnQk

23. Jay-Z - "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)" (455 points, 13 voters)
from Vol. 3... Life And Times Of S. Carter, 1999
One of the great jerry-rigged contraptions of seemingly incompatible but beautifully interlocking components that Timbaland was so good at: faintly echoing handclaps in between thick hard kick and snare drums, a couple of funky guitar notes plopping in between a slinky reverb lead, that big sweeping synth string hook. It's amazing so much can be going on in a song that still feels like it has a lot of empty space for the MC to move around in. (some dude)

oh shit this is great

yeah the "it's hot" beat is pretty great, i didn't vote for this tho

it is a pretty unique song in tim's discog i think too

i'm gonna be pissed if "nigga what, nigga who" doesn't make it but idk if it's gonna beat "it's hot"

i feel like at the end of the countdown i'm going to do some kind of retrospective of insanely accurate and insanely inaccurate j0rdan predictions

urge jump off #1 guy to show yourself and take your beating like a man

Eh, wasn't seriously suggesting it was Timbaland's Greatest Achievement, was just feeling it at the moment and wanting it on here (which, well, mission accomplished). "Keeping up with the Neptunes" is probably spot on in retrospect, but lifted out of the context of any of the careers in question--which it definitely was for me as clueless MTV/radio consumer in 2003--this thing was a fucking blast. Not all that mindblowing, just propulsive, noisy, goofy, nervous. Pushes my punk buttons, I guess.

Knowing the results so far, would've pulled the same shenanigans with "Raise Up" instead, if that helps.

like i said, the rest of your ballot is great, so don't sweat it!

sweat it. sweat it forever.

haha

'the rain' was my #1 partly because the first time i ever heard it was on mtv and it was a total 'this s.thing new and totally fucking awesome' moment for me as a kid and partly bcuz i think its the best job he and missy ever did of creating and sustaining such a heightened (and admittedly bizarre) mood on a track

"Gossip Folks" is up there re: creating and sustaining a mood, too

also "For My People"

Good job, guys. I spent a lot of time with Life and Times... last weekend and I forgot how terrific "It's Hot" is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag24DALm2eY

22. SWV - "Can We" (457 points, 12 voters)
from Release Some Tension, 1997
#75 Hot 100, #31 R&B/Hip-Hop
Most of the polyrythmical pleasurefests I tend to fall in love with feel like they're pulling me in all possible directions and requiring me to have 5x more limbs to respond to them properly, but this one does the trick in a more subtle, streamlined fashion, gliding along the same axis instead of poppin' all over the place: the guitar gently swells and dips, every third note floating off like three dots ending a saucy half-sentence, but with this insistent bubbly itch of a rhythm making those dots feel like commas, and with SWV riding the wave as if they're the same thing. (Mind Taker)

there was no SWV in the first 9 or so ballots at all, and then billstevejim championed it on the noms thread and voted for it and it began a really swift and impressive climb into the top 25, so good job billstevejim!

Yeah I was totally open to being swayed by an unusual plea like that, think I had it #2 in the end. Lovely tune.

yessss! i was just going through the timba discography putting together a belated ballot and i got to that and simultaneously thought "SHOE-IN" and "ugh bet it won't place though" - so pleased i was wrong! i love it, so aqueous and bubbling.

so tasty like pastraaaaayyyyyyy

I think "Can We" is just okay, tbh

I dig "I'm So Into You" and "Right Here" so much more

That's gotta be a given, no?

Two of the '90s best songs ever against the 22nd best Tim beat.

'can we' is a wonderful effortless song and i will be surprised if this poll ends up convincing me it shouldnt have been top 10

"i'm so into you" and "weak" are my fav SWVs, but what eric said really

just listen to that last 60 seconds

Never heard "Can We." Thanks, poll!

xxp
Exactly--so, so much love for SWV.

Making a dog sample like the most subtle element in the track is some kind of masterstroke.

alfred you have astonished me.

late '96 and early '97 were an R&B black hole for me.

The Tony Rich years.

and 3T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ny0uQQq3bw

21. Ginuwine - "What's So Different?" (458 points, 13 voters)
from 100% Ginuwine, 1999
#49 Hot 100, #21 R&B/Hip-Hop
Harpsichords! Godzilla! Incisive analysis of the paranoia that inevitably infects a relationship that began as a secretive affair! This song has it fucking all. I wish it was in the top ten. (some dude)

xxp btw it is a failure of the imagination to not accept that that 'can we' might be the best song ever whilst simultaneously not being the best ever swv song

get on my level hoes

awwww come on that is definitely top 10 no argument

okay I'd forgotten that I did actually like this song

makes me wonder if anyone voted for "Bangin' Lude"

okay massive lol @ me for thinking "What's So Different?" and "Differences" were the same song, sorry everyone

you say you want my trust and
told me you were polling
how am i to know that you wouldnt agree with me?

Agree about Hola Hovito being somewhat grating. There's just something kind of clunky about it

― Number None, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 10:13 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm guessing the divisive element in 'hola hovito' is that two-note guitar line that constantly morphs from swung to straight and back. it's almost phasing, but the top note is always right on the quarter note pulse. for me it's the most brilliant part of the track.

fwiw 'the jump-off' was #26 on my ballot, but 'hola hovito' was #4

to me the chorus of "Hola Hovita" is its weak link, nothing bad about the beat itself

if we were doing an albums poll then 100% ginuwine would've been my #1

it's so good that i couldn't even figure out which songs to put on my ballot, so i just defaulted to my immediate favorite from the first time i ever listened ("none of ur friends business") and the lead single ("so anxious")

i think one of my problems w/ "hola hovito" is that i've always thought it kinda pales in comparison to "u don't know" & "heart of the city"

100% Ginuwine is the most represented album in my ballot, thanks poll for making me dl it! hope the other tracks I voted for are still going to show up

Hola Hovito seems like it's trying too hard or something i think? Compared to say, Big Pimpin

"what's the difference" was the lead single and "so anxious" was the follow-up fyi

"hola hovito" is definitely nowhere near the best song on the blueprint but that's not really a crushing denouncement

I still own no Ginuwine albums but have moved quickly to change this.

i was thinking in my putative ballot of limiting myself to one song per album, in which case...idk i can't really look beyond "pony" and "final warning"

not that those ginuwine albums aren't both str8-up classics and i'm very happy to see "what's the difference" place

What's So Different? is great. Love the way the "come back around" bit quickens as it ushers the bassline back in. Wish I'd had time to work through the Spotify list instead of voting only for songs I remembered from the time.

Even better than discovering that song is discovering that Ginuwine's real name is Elgin Lumpkin.

i like that 'hola hovito' has so many live instrument elements too, the wah-wah clavinet, the guitars...might have been timbo's way of fitting into the blueprint sound

xp Yeah SWV!

I think some folks are way underrating "the rain" jere... Not being overrated at all imo, absolutely a standout on every level

nobody actually called it overrated

well, except you

Ha al like every post about it u downplayed it as minor. And strongo was almost as dismissive. Lamp ended up defending it on nostalgic grounds the last bastion of rhetorical defeat lol

i said i don't love it, not at all the same thing, especially since its placement here is just right imo

the same thing as calling it overrated i mean

I think "The Rain" and "Can We" placed correctly!

not to be *that guy* but if you never heard "If Your Girl Only Knew" how could you even vote in this poll?

y'all want me to crack open the top 20 with a banger?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYKI8tAELXY&ob=av2e

20. Missy Elliott featuring Ludacris - "Gossip Folks" (501 points, 15 voters)
from Under Construction, 2002
#8 Hot 100, #5 R&B/Hip-Hop (charted 2003)
I think it sometimes does a disservice to the songwriting subtlety and embrace of genre tropes in Timbaland's music to simply praise him as a guy who routinely shepherded some really weird shit onto the pop charts, but seriously, how wonderful is it that this song was a huge hit? (some dude)

i said i don't love it, not at all the same thing, especially since its placement here is just right imo

― some dude, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:59 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

this is a dumb argument but i think aside from your comments on how you feel about the song personally, the thesis of your blurb -- there's always one song in this poll that everyone thinks will be a lock for the top 10 but ends up falling short -- implicitly called it overrated

missy is so awesome on this song

"overrated" is a loaded and overused term that i ALWAYS hesitate to introduce into a conversation so i really resent the idea that i deliberately planted it in people's brains without using it

Lamp ended up defending it on nostalgic grounds the last bastion of rhetorical defeat lol

welll i wasnt really tryna defend it tbh i was only skimming the thread and thought someone was wondering who/why they had it as their #1 so i wanted to explain my reasoning which admittedly was in part nostalgia

also i had almost resigned myself to it not placing at all so i was happy just to see it show up, if some dude doesnt get what a rad, otherwordly song it is i dont particularly care i guess

i mean we're doing the actual 'rating' RIGHT NOW with this list so i think the only real strong way to imply overrated here without saying it is to say something is too high on the list

i totally get that "The Rain" is rad, i just think he has dozens of songs that are more rad, and the poll has vindicated that view.

I love "Gossip Folks" for the same reason I do "Lick Shots."

yeah they both have that great obnoxious lurch

beep beep who got the keys to the jeep

The poll also vindicated "the jump off" fwiw - I think "the rain" is one if the duos best tracks easy, even if an obvious one

deej "The Rain" was #23 on your ballot so i'm not even sure what you're fighting for

lol

the choreography in the "gossip folks" video is so awesome

the everything in that video is awesome

the "Funky Fresh Dressed" mid-video interlude is so great i wish that song had had a fighting chance in the poll

deej "The Rain" was #23 on your ballot so i'm not even sure what you're fighting for

― some dude, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:22 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it was more the general tone of the comments than the placement of the song

i still don't really get this song and suspect that if it wasn't one of only a couple Timbaland songs on the album it never would've been pegged as a standout. also no way better than "Raise Up."

― some dude, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 9:40 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

on a different subject, i think 'motorcycle' is much much better than 'raise up' but i always felt like 'raise up' was lazy timbo

i'll show you guys what it actually looks like when i call a song OOOOOVVVVVEEEEERRRRAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEEEDDD with our next entry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnGBs88sL0&ob=av2e

19. Nelly Furtado - "Say It Right" (546 points, 17 voters)
from Loose, 2006
#1 Hot 100
Olive Oyl as balladeer. (some dude)

haha. awesome song