Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Photo courtesy mctcampus.com "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value" was released Tuesday [Click to enlarge]

The year is 2007, and the last time a true musical virtuoso topped pop charts is difficult to remember. It seems only appropriate, then, that today's chart-topping artists are proficient only in the tools of today's electronic music world: MIDI, drum machines and auto-tune software.

Producer, solo artist and former DJ Timbaland is no stranger to these tools, and is taking another step out from behind the mixing console for his second solo offering, "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value," released Tuesday.

Timbaland is quickly becoming one of the most well-known producers in the hip-hop world, and he isn't going to let anyone forget it anytime soon.

"I get a half a mil' for my beats / you get a couple grand / I'm a real producer and you're just a piano man," he says on "Give it To Me," the song on the album most likely to spend its lifetime at the top of a chart. The song is currently No. 20 on Billboard's top 100 pop songs.

While he is brave to attempt what can be a difficult transition from producer to performer, Timbaland's place is behind the mixing console. In his scattered appearances as a vocalist on this album, his performances are dry and uninspired. His real strength is in recognizing talent in others and in creating a place for them to shine.

The real standout on this album is the all-star cast of featured artists, ranging from the familiar and expected Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado to hip-hop heavyweights Dr. Dre, Missy Elliot and 50 Cent. Rising stars She Wants Revenge and Fall Out Boy make appearances, as does living legend Elton John.

The sheer variety of performers on this album keeps it from becoming tiring or overly-repetitive like so many of today's hip-hop albums, and each song is written around the style and talents of its guest artist.

The tracks on this album aren't revolutionary by any means, and they don't cause goosebumps like a truly powerful song can. Their real strength is in something much simple and more universal: They are catchy. Damn catchy. Just try to listen to "Give it To Me" once without humming the infectious vocal melody for the rest of the day.

That isn't to say that none of the songs on the album have been done before. Sadly, Timbaland falls into nearly every rap cliché imaginable as he joins Tony Yayo and 50 Cent in a tired romp through the themes of murder and wealth in "Come and Get Me," a song with an appropriately-familiar beat that could have fit in on at least a dozen albums in recent memory.

The song is followed by "Kill Yourself," an egotistical celebration of pop success with the expected overflow of angst. Instead of heeding its advice, however tempting, simply skip this predictable offering.

It might be more appropriate to think of "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value" not as a solo-offering from Timbaland, but rather as a showcase of guest artists who occasionally lend Timbaland a verse or two behind the microphone. In this sense, it succeeds, even if only by the virtue of Timbaland's talented friends and catchy production.

Rating: Three stars (out of four).

Cody Kitaura can be reached at codykitaura@statehornet.com.

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