“Give it to Me” pulls together Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Timothy Z. Under the circumstances you could hardly blame Timbaland for pulling out all the stops on the first single for “Shock Value,” his first new solo album in over four years. Despite a litany of chart-topping hits many struggling producers would kill for an a reputation for breaking in experimental new musical styles and taking them mainstream, it’s always a “what have you done for me lately” world where your reputation rests on your next big hit, the blade swinging perilously closer to career death the longer you go between one and the next. If you think the music business is all glamour, fortune and fame put yourself in Timbaland’s shoes and try to imagine the amount of pressure placed on his shoulders. Your records are dismissed as meaningless fluff and fickle musicians looking for their next big hit flock to the new man at the pinnacle all along looking over their shoulder and hoping they didn’t jump ship too early or make a huge career mistake. “YA BEST PROTECT YA NECK!” Suddenly it was all a mistake, you were just a fad, the flavor of the minute. The top is a rather precarious perch though – slip off and the pendulum is released. When you’re on top the blade is held at bay and not allowed to sway and everybody will say that your records are a careful balance of pop sensibility and underground swagger. Crossover hits are a pit and a pendulum representing peril for hip-hop producers.
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