Timbaland

Timbaland (born Tim Mosley in Norfolk, Virginia on March 10, 1971) is a hip hop producer whose style was influential during and after the mid-1990s. Although as yet unclassified, his early work with Missy Elliott and Magoo spawned a new style of beat (a general term meaning the music which accompanies the rapping in rap music). The main feature of this style is the "short snare", a snare drum sound with as quick a release as possible, possibly even a snare sample, which is cut off before it is finished. This is in marked contrast to the "long snare" sound in New Wave music in the 1980s, which featured a heavily amplified, almost white noise snare drum put through reverb. This sound was combined with a producer-composed samba rhythm in a non 4/4 time signature, which was rare up until this point in rap music (which previously heavily used an entire sampled 4/4 drum loop as the main percussion rhythm).

Starting in the late-1990s, Timbaland began incorporating Bhangra elements into his compositions, specifically the thumri sound (a plucked string instrument playing a single note in a rhythmic way). This culminated in a real Bhangra music video (by Panjabi MC) being played sometimes on MTV.

Besides producing music for other rap artists, Timbaland also has his own project with a rapper named Magoo. His lyrical delivery was achieved usually through an echo effect, and spoken very softly. This lyrical style, similar to Timbaland's contemporary Puff Daddy's style of accompaniment (that of soft spoken phrases interjected between the verses of other rappers) also was often copied throughout the 1990s.