Timbaland and Magoo
Welcome To Our World (Blackground/Atlantic Records)
By: Sylvia White
I now know what a true and innovative beat is, thanks to Timothy Mosley aka Timbaland of Timbaland and Magoo fame! This young man who hails from the VA (State of Virginia) is tha' bomb and very well may go down in history as one of the 90's best producers. Within a fleet of young, dynamically gifted, HipHop super producers such as the likes of Jermaine Dupree and Sean "Puffy" Combs we saw samples and mixes with beats that were moving yet may have lacked some of that Miami bass quite a few listeners enjoy, i.e. Luke Skywalker fans. There were two contenders, the latter mentioned, but in 1997 we saw a surge of new talent coming out of the Southern states who are now taking over urban radio with fierce beats, super mixing and very little samples, their names are Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and her cohort in crime Timbaland.Timbaland is far from "just another producer", he is taking HipHop and R&B to new levels with his remix skills that sometimes lead listeners to their radios trying to figure out what instrumentation he uses to get bass, volume, beat and plain ole UMPH into his tracks. In my mind he is taking the forefront and leaving all else behind.
In 1997 we also saw Timbaland try his hand at his own material with his friend and lyrical buddy Maganu. They came to the hip-hop genre with their first, in what we all hope to be a long line of basslined material on an album entitled, "Welcome To Our World". The entire album is laced with Timbaland's own unique brand of wording, phrases, beats, samples and harmonies.
Tracks like "Beep, Beep", "Up Jumps The Boogie", "Luv 2 Luv U" and "Clock Strikes" has Timbland's entire Blackground family adding their own tastes and sound quality. There is Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, Ginuwine, and new group Playa who take their time to grace the lyrical finessing's of Timbaland and the distinctive and sometimes truly nasal rapping of Magoo.
The entire album "makes it hot"! It is all that and I readily suggest that anyone with a radio turn it to the urban station and pause a minute or two, you are guaranteed to hear the sexy bass of Timbalands beats and vocals over a track which will surely make ya' move! This album gets a definite 5. I am telling you to pick it up because it is tha bomb! TRULY!
