Timbaland – Shock Value II

Though Timbaland’s follow-up to his first producer showcase album, Shock Value, starts out with a pretty unnecessary intro from Los Angeles DJ Felli Fel, the disc doesn’t bomb. After two decades and countless tracks produced for artists all across the spectrum – from Missy to Bjork – Timbaland has certainly proved that he knows not only how to stay relevant but stay fresh. He’s said more than once that, for him, what keeps music interesting is seeing what different bands and singers bring out of him during a session. More than an attempt to snag some superstar spotlight of his own (in a post-Timbaland and Magoo world), the Shock Value albums are a concentrated effort in experimenting with symbiosis between producer and varied artists.

A few of Timbaland’s favorite partners in crime lend another hand. Justin Timberlake leads off a duet called “Carry Out,” which mixes food metaphors and women in a half-ridiculous but grudgingly catchy track. Timberlake almost sounds like he’s rapping more than singing, the vocals chopped up and rhythmic, but before listeners can get too comfortable, the bulk of the record showcases new voices. Nelly Furtado shows up during “Morning After Dark,” right in the middle of the album, and then OneRepublic and Keri Hilson appear on songs toward the end, all of the new players bookended past heavy-hitters.

There’s a noticeable shift in attention on this album. For the first record, Timbaland worked with more bands and came up with some almost surprisingly brilliant efforts from acts like She Wants Revenge and The Hives. This round, there are less rock representatives and those that make an appearance don’t provide any of the standout tracks in the lineup. “Undertow” might be the one exception to this: The Fray and Esthero helping Timbaland produce a somewhat ethereal and heartfelt melodic track. Jet injects a little bit of retro edge on “Timothy, Where Have You Been,” but they don’t really command the attention over bigger beats found in other, more arresting tracks. The song is introspective and intriguing for it, but after the clever use of a Nina Simone sample on “Oh Timbaland” for the first Shock Value record, this attempt doesn’t manage to be quite as memorable.

Hip-hop and pop musicians steal the show this time. Timbaland recruits the effort of many pop females, including Miley Cyrus, JoJo, and Katy Perry for equally infectious tracks about dancing, complicated relationships, and fleeting infatuations respectively. R&B sings officially unveils her new emcee alter ego, Bran Nu, giving a solid warm-up performance on “Meet In Tha Middle” but really hitting a stride on “Symphony.”

It was rumored that Timbaland also wanted to work with Jay-Z, the Jonas Brothers, and he’d had a Madonna track that he intended to use after it didn’t make the list for her album Hard Candy. Since those artists didn’t actually make it on board this round, there may be room left wide open for a third installment to the Shock Value series, and the sheer variety in the combination of featured artists will continue to make the albums worth trying out, at least. As long as Timbaland continues to focus more on the uniqueness of each of collaboration, the music will come down more on the side of experimental rather than self-indulgent, bringing listeners back for more.

Tagged as: Hip-hop

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