Hip-hop kingpin, Timbaland, is suing his record company Blackground Records for allegedly trying to sabotage his career when he moved into producing records.

He moved from being solely a performer to being hugely successful producing records for other artists. However, he claims this isn’t thanks to Blackground. According to TMZ:

In his lawsuit, filed today in Federal District court, Timbaland claims he just got too damn successful as a producer — and the record label couldn’t contain its jealously and hostility for him.

Timbaland alleges Blackground went on a McCarthy-esque search-and-destroy campaign, contacting various record labels and giving them a million reasons why they shouldn’t hire Timbaland to produce songs.

I’m assuming that because Timbaland is selling records by the truckload all over the world that this isn’t about money. It possibly has more to do with reputation and a little payback for the alleged campaign that could have killed off his lucrative career.

Chris Cornell partnering with Timbaland was the most unlikely musical collaboration ever. If your experience of Cornell is through Soundgarden or Audioslave, you are about to hear the boldest move of his career.

Now, if you’ve been wondering where Cornell’s been since Audioslave broke up, the video reveals all: he’s been brooding in clubs in Puerto Rico, Texas and New York. Observing women flirting on the dancefloor while their menfolk look on in frustration. Oh yes, and hanging out with hordes of line-dancing women.

On first listen, I was skeptical. Cornell’s voice is exceptionally well suited to rock. History tells us this. But initially, the combination of Cornell’s voice and Timbaland’s beats is reminiscent of Sexbomb-era Tom Jones. You know, when he tried to appeal to the young folks?

The thing with Timbaland though is that sometimes his influence isn’t immediately likeable. Or appreciated. I find the best thing is to just accept it. I’m talking to you crusty ol’ Soundgarden fans!

To listen to Part Of Me, you have to approach this as a new era for Cornell. It’s a brave move, but the song is brilliant. My only issue is that the edited version removes the crucial ‘bitch’ word from the chorus, which ruins it slightly.

And the collaboration works brilliantly in my opinion. There’s a grinding beat to it, and rather than go all-out R&B, we get some distorted guitars in the mix as a hat-tip to Cornell’s roots. It’s totally different, but it really works.

As an added bonus, Classic Rock have an interview with Chris, which should interest those of you with questions about his musical direction.

It’s not often that a celebrity bothers to respond directly to rumors in the media, but that’s what uber-producer Timbaland did when he heard a ‘leak’ about the follow-up to his hugely successful Shock Value album.

He got in touch with MTV and cleared up the situation – which claimed he had secured Justin Timberlake, Usher and Gwen Stefani to appear on the album.

"It’s funny," Timbo said about the surprisingly detailed report, which claimed it was based on an advance preview of five tracks from the album. "I’m surprised people are watching me like that. I am recording the album, but I don’t know none of them joints, none of them songs. That’s just bogus."

As for an official track listing, the production wizard was mum — and he didn’t confirm or deny whether any of the artists listed in the report will appear on the album. He did speak generally about the album’s direction, however.

Now, what I am shocked about is that there’s been no denial that he’s naming the album Shock Value 2. That really is a shockingly bad album title…

But in other interesting news, Timbaland reminds us that he’s going to be producing the next solo album from Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell. Considering Cornell’s metal pedigree, I’ll be lining up to hear what a hip-hop producer can do for him!

Just when you think Timbaland’s run out of tunes, along he comes with a new single, Scream. And he’s brought protege Keri Hilson and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger along for the ride.

While it’s not the most immediately accessible single from the Shock Value album, Scream will grow on you like every Timbaland single before it. The intro has a funky vibe to it, with Timbo getting out the guitars and some authentic sounding drums for a change.

The whole song’s a seductive number, with Hilson and Scherzinger apparently in a battle to be the most breathy and sultry singer on the track. This is where Hilson really shows her abilities – she not only holds her own against the more established Pussycat Doll with a great voice, and a fantastically slinky figure. I get the impression 2008 is going to be the year Keri’s career will skyrocket.

Miss Scherzinger does an admirable job too, although at times watching the video, it’s easy to get confused between the two girls.

Let’s talk about the Scream video for a moment, shall we? Who decided that putting balaclavas on hot women was a good idea? I can’t imagine too many guys out there have that particular fetish. Well, they might after they watch the video.

Here’s a quick tip on telling Keri and Nicole apart: Nicole has an open top balaclava and her hair comes out the top. Keri wears a closed balaclava.

Anyway, final verdict is – though it’s not the strongest single from Timbaland, it’ll grow on you, and it’s got a grinding rhythm that’ll probably come in handy for…well…grinding…;)

Should Timbaland stay strictly backstage? Read on and find out.

The Good

• “If you’re looking for introspective, intelligent rhymes, political statements, or social commentary, you won’t find any of that here. Let’s get it straight: the beats are the real stars of this album. You won’t find any memorable lyrics or in-depth storytelling here but if all you want to do is shake your ass, then Timbaland is one of the best in the biz.” [Ed Lau, EdEdition]
• “Actually, the only thing shocking here is the bending & mending of musical genres, & the outcome seems it will be very valuable in the future, giving him constant spins on all types of radio stations.” [Ges Miyashiro]
• “The self-confident “Shock Value” is hardly the big shocker it pretends to be but the record does hold plenty of exciting surprises that make this a very accomplished and entertaining effort.” [Arjan Writes]

The Bad

• “While solo Timbaland’s always been a mixed bag, Timbaland Presents Shock Value is more mediocre than it has any right to be, filled with overreaching pretense and phoned-in vacancy– either trying too hard, or not hard enough.” [Nate Patrin, Pitchfork Media]
• “this lumpen, bloated, boring album is as much of a let-down as any of Timbaland’s other “solo” works… how turgid, tuneless and unmemorable an album they’ve all had a hand in making” [Angus Baatey, Yahoo!]
• ““We on another level,” is the repeated refrain of ‘Hello’, one of the two bonus tracks; sadly, judging by the quality of Shock Value, it seems Timbaland’s content to let loose of a few rungs and wallow amongst the mediocre for a while. Another level, yes; the next level, fuck no.” [Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound]
• “As good as it is, the album’s full of annoyances: every track is introduced with omnipresent hip-hop phrases like “yeah baby” and “go ahead child”, and too many verses have that clicky noise in them, that sounds like you’re pulling your tongue against the top of your mouth.” [Kirsty Krampf, Fake DIY]
• “These craven bids for record company business are compounded by guff, over-filling 19 tracks. Mosley’s head-to-head with Elton John’s piano is more of a skit than a song. His run-in with MIA is a letdown.” [The Observer]
• “He’s really grasping at straws here, trying to be provocative with The Hives, One Republic, singing “don’t it sound good to you?” off key while the singer Elton John plays the piano on “2 Man Show,” and he even tries to make a Fallout Boy track that sounds like anything other than their usual whiny fare (and fails).” [Angelica LeMinh, Shotgun Reviews]

…And The Rest

• “Shock Value isn’t a perfect album, but it does possess various charms. Timbaland is still one of the most prolific producers ever, and more than a decade after his debut, he continues not only to dominate but also to innovate popular music.” [Norman Mayers, Prefix]
• “Shock Value would be less of a hot-and-cold affair with a couple more songs in the vein of Give It to Me.” [Andy Kellman, All Music Guide]

If you’ve written a review of Shock Value, let us know in the comments and we’ll add your link.

I’ve been hearing Apologize all week on the radio, and it’s got to be the best track off Timbaland’s Shock Value album.

Apologize is the first slow song to be released from the album. It’s a remix of OneRepublic’s original version, retaining Ryan Tedder’s vocal. And in keeping with anything Timbaland does, it’s completely genre-busting, avoiding any hint of cliche at all.

With Timbaland behind it, Apologize is a surefire hit anyway, but completely deserves to be. Tedder’s vocals are just brilliant.

I haven’t listened to the Shock Value album yet, but I reckon that this is one of the best tracks yet.

It’s a well known fact that I got beef with 50 Cent, so I approach any single by the man with a healthy dose of skepticism.

And when the song in question starts with the man blathering about  being ’sumin’ special’ and ‘unforgettable’, the bullshit radar goes off the map.

Ayo Technology is one of those songs, like SexyBack that sports a droning, repetitive backing over which 50 Cent and his companions Justin Timberlake and Timbaland do their respective thangs.

End result? Boring.

In the course of writing this review, I’ve forced myself to listen to the song five times. Grudgingly, the oversexed theme is actually quite good, particularly JT’s line “I’m tired of using technology/why don’t you sit down on top of me?”

Fascinating fact, fact fans! The original title of the song was to be Ayo Pornography before the censors got their hands on it. Basically, it’s a song about preferring a real woman to the er…digital equivalent.

Anyway, enjoy the Ayo Technology video: considering Timbaland shot his recent video in London, it’s interesting to see another big US star do a UK-based vid.

The Way I Are just screams out Timbaland: you can hear that strong synth running through the track alongside throbbing beats and bass. The addition of Hilson on vocals is a departure from Ms Furtado, and you come away with the feeling that either singer could have delivered the goods on this track.

The pumping (or is that pumpin’) sounds suit the strobe-type effects in the video, and you’ve got Timbaland decked out in a fat cat suit and Hilson looking sexy in a little black dress. I didn’t quite understand the footballers in the video, until I discovered that the video was shot in Manchester in the UK.

Timbaland’s definitely playing to a formula here – you’ve heard that synth on Justin Timberlake’s recent material – but it’s successful for the most part. I’d even wager that this style is starting to gain mainstream traction. Check out the video:

The Proclaimers recorded (I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles in aid of Comic Relief and have held the number one for the last three weeks. But today they were knocked down to number four as Timbaland’s Give It To Me (featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake) took top position.

Poor Gareth Gates failed to even make the top ten with his comeback single Changes, looks like he might just get dropped from another record label!