July 17, 2008

Timbaland On Producing Jay-Z's Next LP: 'It'll Be A Monster'

By Shaheem Reid (MTV.com)

Jay-Z has at least one super-producer onboard for his next LP, and according to said super-producer, that's all Hova needs.

"He wants me to do the whole thing this time around," Timbaland said Monday during a visit to the MTV News office. "I'mma make it a classic too. You better believe it. It'll be a monster! I always say this: You get a first single from me, I'mma get you up to gold. And it's hard to get you up to gold in this day [and age]."

Tim insisted that an LP featuring him and Jay would sell more than the 500,000 copies needed for a gold record, as they're both international platinum artists.

"Jay should never chill," he said about the rapper's decision to return to music full time. "We had a long talk, and I really talked to him. Jay-Z does it for the love. That's different. When somebody does it for the love, you don't stop. He has everything, but he's still current. A million people are buying his album regardless.

"We wanna go to the world," he added. "The world is 'Big Pimpin'.' 'Big Pimpin' ' is an international hit, so we wanna do 10 of those. Meaning, some of the songs gonna sound like M.I.A. would rap on some of the beats. You gonna be like, 'Whoa!' But it's Jay on 'em. That means it reaches everywhere. I'mma have songs with bagpipes. The music is gonna be so worldwide, he'll be able to tour the rest of his life, maybe, off just this one album. The Jay-Z album is gonna be phenomenal. You know why? We don't care. We're doing great music just to do it. We doing it for our fans who love us to say we ain't quit. I'm doing it 'cause that's my homeboy."

Timbaland and Jay don't have a start date for the production of the LP, but Timbo would like to lock in several months with Hov to craft the project. The Virginia producer recently completed an album with another iconic performer, Chris Cornell. Those two spent six months making music, and Timbaland did all the beats for that one as well.

"It's the best work I've done so far," he said. "I could be like, 'Wow. I really took it there.' "

That's obviously speaking volumes for someone who's made so many classics throughout his career, including Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds.

"It beats Justin's album," Tim smiled. "Justin even said that. He listened to it and said, 'You did it again.' " As for when Timbo and Timberlake will hook up again to chef up more magic, that is still up in the air.

"Justin is more into movies right now," Tim said. "He ain't thinking about another album coming out right now until ... I don't know."