Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Gaba's top 10 Timbaland beats

T-I-M-B-A-L-A-N-D fiki fiki ah One name that dominated popular music from late 90's and pretty much OWNED the 2000s. Timbaland beats were everywhere from lesser known rappers to Justin Timberlake albums. It seemed like Timbaland is here to dominate pop music forever , but alas sands of time ultimately got to him and he gradually disappeared. 

However , as a kid born in the late 80's , early 2000's was our 90's , so we basically grew up basking in the glory of Timbaland. So i thought of listing my favorite Top 10 Timbaland beats ! Now please note that i'm not a music critique or any sort of expert , these are just my personal favorites of the great man. And i have made my picks based solely on how much i like his beats + some memories i have with them , not the overall song. So , here goes..

#10 : 10 bands ft Joyner Lucas



Starting with something which came out this year , Timbaland shows that he still has game to keep up with the new "trap-ish" beats. Also features one of my favorite new gen rappers Joyner Lucas , can't say No to that combination now can we :).

#9 : Ugly ft Bubba Sparxxx



I can still remember the first time i heard this beat , it was used as the background music for some game show on Sirasa TV ! Mr "whoever picked the background music for Sirasa TV in the early 2000s" if you are reading this , you the real MVP bro *salute*.

#8 : The Rain ft Missy Elliot



I heard this first on a Dj Jazzy Jeff set and loved it immediately. And while you go down further on my playlist you will notice that i have a thing for Missy Elliot :).

#7 : Pony ft Ginuwine



Ok before you even play this song , i have to say this is one of the cheesiest and gay-est songs i have ever heard probably , kind of like a male stripper anthem if you may. But like my #8 pick i heard this one also on a Dj Jazzy Jeff set for the first time and i fell in love with the beat instantly! ( It was on Dj Jazzy Jeff's tomorrowland set , which seems to be removed from Youtube now sadly).

Also , i make this an opportunity to mention how much of a Dj Jazzy Jeff fan i am , dude is a genius with his sets !

#6 : Indian flute ft Magoo



All righty so i don't even like this beat that much NOW , but i'm putting this on my list because this is probably the first Timbaland beat i ever heard in my life! So it's like a milestone. Also , when i was a kid i used to look forward to the part where Timbaland says "aja soniye mein ne pyar kyaa" in absolutely horrible Hindi :).

#5 : My love ft Justin Timberlake



Before i say anything about this pick ,let me tell you before hand that i used to be a massive metal head in my teens ( even though i am here picking my Timbaland beats , metal was my first love as a kid ). So you can understand that those days , I ABSOLUTELY - FUCKING - HATED - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE !! I did , no kidding. But after listening to this song and a few more songs from his album FutureSex/LoveSounds which was produced by Timbaland and had that "Timbaland vibe" , i became a fan of him and even today i am a fan of JT thanks to Timbaland.

#4 : Work it ft Missy Elliot



You can be a metal head , hiphop head , reggae head or even a plain knuckle head but if you are from the 2000s , there is a massive chance that you rocked to this big hit at least once ! Again Timbaland came up with an unusual beat and Missy Elliot.. boy , kids these days must be all head over heels for Cardi B etc but Missy Elliot was the shit back in the day. No fancy looks but pure skills. I love you Missy <3.

#3 : Big Pimpin ft Jay-Z & UGK


So i told you guys already i used to be a metal fan first before anything , so i hope you can guess where i heard this first ??? Yes , i heard this first on the Linkin Park - Jay Z collaboration album Collision Course. Link below.



But later when i got on to more hip hop , i learned that this one was also a master stroke , by our man , Timbo.

Also ,  i think Bun B had the best verse on the original track huh :D

We are nearing the end now..


#2 : Dirt off your shoulder ft Jay-Z




During the time this song came out , i think everyone agreed that this is one unique beat. Add Jay-z's rapping to that and you get a banger. Also , this used to be the favorite song of me and my little sister when we were kids :) , family moments blasting this full volume on our creative 2.0 sub causing sound pollution and being a menace to society , aah good times..

p.s - Also checkout the footage of Timbaland showing the beat to Jay in the studio.




#1 : The potion ft Ludacris



So we arrive to the Grand Number ONE on my list!

The Potion featuring Ludacris! This is my absolute favorite Timbaland beat of all time , reason ? Because i listen to this almost everyday ever since i heard it on Step up 2 and i never get sick of it ! This beat has stood the test of time. 

If you watched the video where Timbaland shows Jay Z his beats ( which i posted right before this one ) you will notice that "The Potion" beat is also offered to Jay Z but he does not pick it , FORTUNATELY in my opinion ! Because i think Ludacris really killed it on this beat and no one could have done it better.  Even though he is hardly talked about these days , Ludacris is one of my favorite rappers of all time and always will be ! I hope he gets out of those stupid fast and the furious movies and starts rapping again :).

So that's it folks , that is my favorite Timbaland beats list , done and dusted. So what did i miss ? What did i get wrong ? Please feel free to voice your picks in the comments section. Until next time , gabs out ! 

Honorable mentions

I had a hard time picking 10 beats from the great man , so i'm putting some honorable mentions here. Also , please find all these songs in my Spotify playlist if you are interested.


  • Headsprung ft LL Cool J



  • Put you on the game ft The game
The game is another one of my favorite rappers , hopefully i will do a separate article about him later. This track samples a hindi song too , as most of Timbaland's tracks.

  • Rollout ft Ludacris
Another Timbaland + Ludacris collaboration. and who can forget the funny video ? :)


  • Get ur Freak on ft Missy Elliot
I had a hard time picking between this and the other Missy songs i had on my top 10. This one indeed is another one of my golden teenage year memories , i can remember me and my home boi Shalitha trying to pronounce whatever the fuck they are saying at the start of the song :)


  • Give it a go
The song from the movie Real Steel , which is one of my favorite movies.


  • Deliverance

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