Timbaland Talks New Justin Timberlake and Missy Elliott Albums, Beatclub, Verzuz and More
Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor It is no understatement to say that Timbaland is one of the most influential and successful songwriter-producers of the last three decades: Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Madonna, Drake, Bjork and even Chris Cornell are just the best-known of the literally hundreds of artists the man born Timothy Zachery Mosely has worked with since the Virginia-born, Miami-based hitmaker first popped onto the scene with records by Aaliyah and Ginuwine in the mid-1990s. His monumentally prolific musical output slowed down to normal speed for a few years while he focused on a multitude of other projects — most prominently “Verzuz,” the pandemic-spawned rap/R&B battle series he launched with fellow hitmaker Swizz Beatz, which he says has a top-secret announcement coming that will “take us to a whole other level”; and Beatclub, a curated platform for producers and songwriters to sell beats, demos and other song elements to artists, brands and music supervisors.