In a video released at the end of last week by RevoltTV, Timbaland drops a stunning bombshell. “What’s next up on my plate… will be two kings working together. None other than Michael Jackson.” That’s right, the Norfolk producer with the sterling reputation, based on his work with everyone from Missy Elliott to Justin Timberlake, is working on producing an album of unreleased Michael Jackson tunes.
In a video released at the end of last week by RevoltTV, Timbaland drops a stunning bombshell. “What’s next up on my plate… will be two kings working together. None other than Michael Jackson.” That’s right, the Norfolk producer with the sterling reputation, based on his work with everyone from Missy Elliott to Justin Timberlake, is working on producing an album of unreleased Michael Jackson tunes. The story is that LA Reid, chairman and CEO of Epic Records, Michael’s longtime label, came to Timbaland last year with a secret project. On the video, Timbaland relates the way it went down. “L.A. Reid came to my house, like ‘I got something big I wanna do. Me and you we gotta do something big.’ And he said, ‘How would you like to do Michael Jackson?'” Timbaland jumped at the chance. “Of course I’ll do it,” is how he describes his response. “It would complete my legacy.”
Timbaland goes on to describe what we can expect from the album. “It’s hard to bring anything out,” he explains. “I have to take it and flip it a little bit, but don’t lose the essence of, you’re getting Michael Jackson unreleased stuff. But Timbaland is putting Timbo underneath of it.” He says the first single will be a song called “Chicago”–or at least, he hopes so. “I’m telling you what the first single should be. I think it should be that song, because ‘Chicago’ sounds like today.”
Jackson and Timbaland never met in person while Jackson was alive, though Timbaland mentions that they spoke on the phone at one point. He says Jackson told him, “I like your stuff.” At one point in the video, Timbaland also laments never having the opportunity to work with Notorious BIG. Apparently the two were scheduled to work together but, Timbaland says, “He got shot the day before my birthday.”
At one point, the interviewer asks if we should look for the album in 2014, and Timbaland responds by shaking his head and saying, “I’ll have it done by this year.” Clearly ecstatic about what the opportunity to produce Michael Jackson will say about him, he continues, “After I do Michael Jackson, I will be THE MAN. Now it’s my turn. Watch me go.” Of course, the proof will be in the actual music, and we don’t get any of that in this video, so it actually remains to be seen whether Timbaland can become the man by producing posthumous Michael Jackson tracks or not. But it sure will be interesting to find out what develops from all this.
Watch the full video below:
