The 50 Best Timbaland Beats

A look at the vast catalog of one of the greatest producers in rap history.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Timbaland got his start in Jodeci mastermind DeVante Swing’s musical collective Swing Mob, which was essentially a boot camp for up-and-coming hip-hop and R&B singers, writers & producers. There he would meet future collaborators Ginuwine, Missy Elliott, Magoo, Tweet and more.

When the collective dissolved in 1995, reportedly due to money issues, Timbaland didn’t lose any sleep, getting to work on albums for Ginuwine, Missy, and Aaliyah that are now revered as classics. It wasn’t long before radio took notice, and his partnerships with songwriters like Missy and Playa member Static Major reaped an ineffable string of hits that would have hip-hop artists and pop stars alike clamoring for beats.

Tim’s methods were unorthodox, and his sound was inimitable. It always felt ahead of its time; he was rolling EDM sounds into rap and R&B production five years before it was cool, and his ear for international sounds went a long way in bridging the gap between hip-hop and Eastern music. Moreso than a producer, Tim was a cultivator of talent, building careers for proteges even as he crafted songs for industry heavyweights. His 1996 to 2007 stream of hits is especially legendary, and he's resurrected his profile with Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.

These are The 50 Best Timbaland Beats.

Written by Craig Jenkins (@CraigSJ)

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50. Fabolous f/ Ne-Yo "Make Me Better" (2007)

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Album: From Nothin' to Somethin'
Label: Def Jam

Fabolous and Ne-Yo collaborated on 2007's "Make Me Better", which is one of the most uncharacteristically sparse beats of Timbaland's career as a producer. "Make Me Better" is literally just some 808s and the same Egyptian pop sample RZA looped for "Rainy Dayz" on Raekwon's classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Supposedly Tim's beat was originally intended for an Eve project, but she passed for whatever reason, and Fab and Ne-Yo stepped in to make it a genuine nationwide smash.

49. Ludacris "Phat Rabbit" (2000)

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Album: Back for the First Time
Label: Disturbing tha Peace, Def Jam

The closing song on Ludacris' major label debut Back for the First Time was "Phat Rabbit," an ode to dat ass. "Phat Rabbit" plays with Far East melodies and West Coast g-funk as synthetic sitar sounds cohabitate with lush bass and keys straight out of the early '90s Dre playbook. Luda and Tim get creepy on the hook, which is essentially the two of them pleading to cop a feel.

48. Bubba Sparxxx "Comin Round" (2003)

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Album: Deliverance
Label: Beat Club/Intercope

Bubba Sparxxx got audacious for his second album Deliverance. Produced exclusively by Organized Noise and Timbaland, Deliverance fused Bubba's loves of country and hip-hop into a unique, engaging work that appealed to fans of both genres. Deliverance's most seamless blend was the deep cut "Comin' Round", which matched bluegrass fiddle courtesy of the Yonder Mountain String Band to classic Timbaland thump. Rap and country are oil and water in the wrong hands (ask LL), but it can be done right!

47. Missy Elliott "Pass That Dutch" (2003)

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Album: This is Not a Test!
Label: Goldmind, Atlantic

Tim and Missy kicked off Missy's fifth album This Is Not a Test! with "Pass That Dutch", a minimal production made out of hand claps, bongos, and subterranean bass. It sounded like kids jumping double dutch in a park, and the video showed Missy and her backup dancers showing off their moves in a corn field crop circle, flitting from krumping to Riverdance like it was nothing.

46. Jay-Z "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)" (1999)

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Album: Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Jay-Z's Vol. 3 album cut "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)" contained darts for adversaries ("I'm about the dollar, what the fuck is fifty cents?") and a beat by Timbaland that layered double time hand claps over boom bap drums and wah-wah drenched guitar. Jay's name got mentioned in 50's 1999 industrywide sneak attack "How to Rob", and he had to let the kid know he wasn't getting any shots in without responses. Relations between the two are frosty to this day.

45. Nas f/ Ginuwine "You Owe Me" (2000)

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Album: Nastradamus
Label: Ill Will, Columbia

Most hip-hop heads point to Nas's 1999 single "You Owe Me" as evidence of his commercial aspirations overtaking his natural songwriting capabilities, and while the concept of the song is pretty out there (We really out here renting out jewelry for sexual favors?), the beat is undeniable. Tim scatters shakers over the drum track while a squelching synth provides the primary melody as Asian string instruments flow in and out of the mix. If you can tune out the weirdly selfish lyrical concept for a moment the next time you listen, you'll hear why this thing made a significant dent at radio when it came out.

44. Nicole f/ Mocha & Missy Elliott "Make It Hot" (1998)

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Album: Make It Hot
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

"Make It Hot" kicked off Nicole Wray's ill-fated but underrated singing career with guest bars from Missy Elliott and Mocha, Nicole's memorable chorus, and production laced with Timbaland's beatboxing, Latin-sounding keys and the same Mandrill sample that Kanye would nick a few years later to open "Two Words" off his debut album The College Dropout.

43. Lloyd Banks "I'm So Fly" (2004)

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Album: The Hunger for More
Label: G-Unit, Interscope

Former G-Unit capo Lloyd Banks followed up his debut solo single "On Fire" with the more subdued "I'm So Fly," which matched somber keys and soothing flutes to snareless drums. "I'm So Fly" is notable for being the first credited production job for Timbaland's protege Danja, who recently spoke to Complex about the collaborative process that birthed the beat. Danja says he'd play the instruments, and then Tim would sample them and put drums underneath, which explains why pieces of "I'm So Fly" sound like expertly chosen, totally unidentifiable samples.

42. Jay-Z f/ Memphis Bleek & Amil "Hey Papi" (2000)

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Album: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps soundtrack
Label: Def Jam

2000's "Hey Papi" appeared on the soundtrack to Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps, which dropped right in the middle of the run of hit singles off Jay's Vol. 3: The Life & Times of S. Carter. It featured Jay and Bleek trading bars about the ideal girls and a call-and-response chorus between Jay and Amil. Timbaland's production was all over the place, opening on fuzzed-out synths and a veil of static that give away to a droning hiccup noise midway through each verse and closing on gently picked guitars and xylophones on the fadeout.

41. Omarion "Ice Box" (2006)

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Album: 21
Label: Epic, Sony Urban Music

"Ice Box" was the second and most successful single from 21, ex-B2K lead singer Omarion's 2006 sophomore solo album. It's a mournful tale of a relationship headed for a brick wall ("I got this ice box where my heart used to be") told over downtempo production with hyperactive drum programming, a rolling, melancholy piano melody and trance synths thrown in for intrigue. "Ice Box" remains Omarion's best showing on the charts to date, although his current alignment with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group machine hints at a comeback.

40. Timbaland & Magoo "Luv 2 Luv U (Remix)" (1997)

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39. Tweet "Oops (Oh My)" (2002)

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Album: Southern Hummingbird
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

Tweet was an alumni member of Jodeci member DeVante Swing's Swing Mob collective whose aspirations as a singer had hit a wall by the late '90s, when out of the blue she received a call from Missy Elliott about recording some vocals for a song. She quickly rekindled working relationships with Missy and also Timbaland, who provided production on a handful of cuts on her 2002 solo debut Southern Hummingbird, most memorably "Oops (Oh My)", a story song about losing control to desire and consummating the feeling with a little self-love. The track paired a tribal pattern of rim shots and flat kicks with a melody pieced together out of cooing women's voices.

38. Drake "Thank Me Now" (2010)

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Album: Thank Me Later
Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Universal Motown

The closing track on Canadian Young Money consigliere Drake's 2010 debut album Thank Me Later is the sorta title track "Thank Me Now", which finds Drake pondering his position as the formidable newcomer suddenly seeing heroes as rivals ("You make friends with Mike but gotta AI him for survival"). Timbaland supplied the production, fanning out interlocking synthetic strings over a plodding drum pattern like a maestro whose orchestra is a keyboard.

37. Missy Elliott "She's A Bitch" (1999)

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Album: Da Real World
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

"She's A Bitch" was the first single from Missy's sophomore LP and while it didn't fare as well commercially as later efforts from the album, it's a cult classic for a reason. The music video cost $2 million and had Missy in front of a Hype Williams lens with a bald head. The entire visual was surreal and jarring, and that's how the song comes across. Timbaland's production is ominous while retaining a pop edge, but perhaps it was still too dark for the public.

36. Timbaland & Magoo "Indian Flute" (2003)

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35. Cee-Lo "I'll Be Around" (2004)

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Album: Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine
Label: Arista

Before Cee-Lo stopped rapping and scored those hit singles and that TV show, the Dungeon Family vet had a time trying to figure out how to navigate a successful solo career outside the confines of Goodie Mob. When the critically acclaimed, self-produced Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections languished on the commercial front, Cee-Lo reached out to the Neptunes and Timbaland for work on the follow up Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine. Tim turned in "I'll Be Around", a laid back bongo shuffle punctuated by horn blasts, and while it was only a modest chart success, it was a ferocious beat and a capable performance from one of the most underrated singer-rappers of a generation.

34. Nas f/ Aaliyah "You Won't See Me Tonight" (1999)

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Album: I Am...
Label: Columbia

Nas and Aaliyah squared off on "You Won't See Me Tonight", the third single off Nasir's woefully underrated 1999 album I Am... album. Tim's track is a sparse affair, all plucked strings, bass and restless drums until the chorus hits, and he brings in a synth as airy as Aaliyah's coolly unimpressed vocal about leaving a selfish lover. It's a crime that this one didn't crack the Hot 100.

33. Missy Elliott "Lick Shots" (2001)

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Album: Miss E... So Addictive
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

The double-time brawler "Lick Shots" from Missy Elliott's Miss E... So Addictive outfits a totally bonkers loop in speedy bloops while the drum programming underneath leaves wide open spaces in each measure for Missy to fill with aggy bars about shooting her haters.

32. 50 Cent f/ Justin Timberlake "Ayo Technology" (2007)

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Album: Curtis
Label: Aftermath, Interscope, Shady

50 Cent's last solo Top 10 single was "Ayo Technology" off 2007's Curtis. "Ayo Technology" paired 50 with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake for comically deranged sex talk over fluttering Nintendocore synths that sparked a minor controversy when electronic music duo Crystal Castles released "Courtship Dating" a year later on their self-titled debut album with the same synth sound.

31. Jay-Z "Hola Hovito" (2001)

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Album: The Blueprint
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Jay-Z and Timbaland’s collaboration on 2001’s The Blueprint is called “Hola Hovito,” but it sounds as much like a New Orleans death march or a bit of reggae as the Latin dance party invokes in the lyrics. “Hola Hovito” is built around a vamp on guitars and keys that plays on the accents opposite the ones the drums do. It's murky and disorienting, and Jay cuts through it like a technician at the peak of his powers.

30. Nelly Furtado "Promiscuous" (2006)

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Album: Loose
Label: Geffen

Nelly Furtado came into the game in 2000 as a fairly wholesome pop singer who logged a few thoughtful, if dry hits over two solo albums. The third time around she felt like shaking up the formula, so she tapped Timbaland and Danja for the bulk of production on 2006’s Loose, whose international Top 10 smash “Promiscuous” rang in her sultry new hip-hop persona with production full of brashly artificial flutes and outsized marching band drums.

29. Ginuwine "So Anxious" (1999)

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Album: 100% Ginuwine
Label: 550/Epic

"So Anxious", the arch bedroom jam in the middle of Ginuwine's second album 100% Ginuwine, turned Ginuwine's active thirsting for sex into radio gold. The lyrics are literally a series of dirty texts and answering machine messages detailing what he intends to do when she gets home. Gin's pleading vocal is adorned with methodically slow drums, a guitar and bass playing gospel-inspired chord progressions, a lonesome piano and the gentle sound of rain to make things sound extra desperate. Two thirds of the way through, the bridge hits, and Tim swaps out live instruments for a beatboxed breakdown that closes out the song. "So Anxious" telegraphs the stop-on-a-dime beat switch moves Tim would pull to more dramatic effect on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience years later.

28. Petey Pablo "Raise Up" (2001)

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Album: Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry
Label: Jive

Petey Pablo's debut single "Raise Up" was a weird one because Timbaland's beat didn't really make you want to take your shirt off and spin it like a helicopter like Petey's chorus demanded. Tim's mournful strings might've sat more comfortably underneath contemplative bars from socially conscious spitters like Outkast, but Petey turned it into a brawler by sheer force of personality. When the song picked up traction on the charts, he realized he was speaking to more than just his home state of North Carolina and shouted out other parts of the country on the "All Cities Remix", which went down like the time Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz dropped so many versions of "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)" that whatever part of the country you heard it in got mentioned on the chorus.

27. Total "Trippin" (1998)

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Album: Kima, Keisha, and Pam
Label: Bad Boy

"Trippin,'" the lead single from Bad Boy girl group Total's second and final album Kima, Keisha & Pam, is an underrated gem in the group's brief singing career about trying to get a crush with a wandering eye to admit that the feelings are mutual. Cowritten by Missy Elliott and coproduced by Timbaland, "Trippin" drowns the ladies' vocals in a skittering synth and wall-to-wall jazz guitars. The song got a handful of remixes, one that scaled back the guitars and another that changed the beat entirely and added a guest verse from DMX, but the Timbaland version is the best.

26. Lil Kim "The Jump Off" (2003)

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Album: La Bella Mafia
Label: Atlantic/Queen Bee Entertainment

For a while in the early 2000s, Lil Kim appeared to be down for the count. Newly separated from a souring relationship with Bad Boy and embroiled in legal troubles (that ultimately led to a brief incarceration), Kim took her frustrations to the studio and came out swinging. The lead single off 2003's La Bella Mafia was "The Jump Off", which flipped the chorus from the classic Lost Boyz banger "Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz and Benz" and featured the group's Mr. Cheeks as a hype man. Tim's beat presaged the clacking metronome drum sounds of "Dirt On Your Shoulder" and overlaid them with a horn section blasting out a two-note melody. An invigorated Kim proceeded to talk her shit, dropping clever Biggie references and boasting about how she can make a Sprite can disappear in her throat.

25. Bubba Sparxxx "Ugly" (2001)

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Album: Dark Days, Bright Nights
Label: Beat Club/Interscope

Virginia Beach spitter Bubba Sparxxx was one of a surge of white rappers picked up in the aftermath of Eminem's mutliplatinum win streak. Bubba quickly fell in with Timbaland, who produced and guested on a handful of songs on the rerelease of Sparxxx's debut album Dark Days, Bright Nights. The album's lead single "Ugly" struck the same balance between hip-hop attitude and Indian bhangra melodies and instrumentation that Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" had just months earlier (actually incorporating bits of that song's beat into the end of the song). Tim's track and Bubba's punchlines landed "Ugly" in the upper reaches of the Top 40 and led to Tim producing the majority of the 2003 follow up, Deliverance.

24. Aaliyah "We Need a Resolution" (2001)

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23. Timbaland f/ Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake "Give It to Me" (2007)

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Album: Shock Value
Label: Mosley, Blackground, Interscope

"Give It to Me" was the lead pre-release single for Shock Value, Timbaland's follow up to his 1998 debut solo album Tim's Basement. "Give It to Me" had Nelly Furtado, Timbaland & Justin Timberlake trading brash chest-beating verses over layered bongos and foreboding horror soundtrack keys. Tim's verse is memorable for bringing ether for his one-time protege Scott Storch, who popped off on a diss track called "Built Like That" and got served with shots like "I'm a producer, you're just a piano man" and "I get half a mil for my beats, you get a couple grand."

22. Missy Elliott "All N My Grill" (1999)

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Album: Da Real World
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

One of the highlights of Missy Elliott's underrated second album Da Real World was "All N My Grill", a song about wanting to be pampered by your significant other that took the same materialistic tack as Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills". "All N My Grill" was built around a little known sample loop and featured backing vocals from singer Nicole Wray and a hilarious rebuttal from Outkast's Big Boi at the end threatening to "Bobby Boucher that ass" in reference to Adam Sandler's signature spear tackle in the movie The Waterboy.

21. Missy Elliott f/ Ludacris "Gossip Folks" (2003)

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Album: Under Construction
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

Aware of rumors swirling about her sexuality and sudden weight loss, Missy Elliott took time out of her fourth album Under Construction to tell spectators to fuck off. "Gossip Folks" doles out the ether for "soggy breasted, cow stomached" enemies over fast paced polyrhythmic percussion rife with bongos and shakers, flute accents and a curt, repetitive central melody that sounds like it's being played on accordion.

20. Aaliyah "If Your Girl Only Knew" (1996)

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19. The Game "Put You on the Game" (2005)

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Album: The Documentary
Label: Aftermath, G-Unit, Interscope

Production for the Game's major label debut The Documentary paired the West Coast spitter with production luminaries from all over the country. Game and Timbaland met for "Put You on the Game" (with Tim's protege Danja in tow), which was released as a single after the short-lived partnership between Game and 50 Cent's G-Unit dissolved. It was weird hearing Game shout out G-Unit knowing the union had busted up, but Tim and Danja's banging array of shakers, rim shots, sinister synths and mellotron melodies didn't really leave very much room for thinking. "Put You on the Game" wasn't the hit previous Documentary singles were (blame the machinations of a vindictive 50 Cent), but it's still a monster.

18. Missy Elliott f/ Lil Mo, Nas, Eve & Q-Tip "Hot Boyz (Remix)" (1999)

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17. Ludacris "Rollout (My Buiness)" (2001)

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Album: Word of Mouf
Label: Disturbing tha Peace, Def Jam

Ludacris' early career hit parade paired him with a who's who of hip-hop production luminaries, and it didn't take long for him to snag a beat from Timbaland. "Rollout (My Business)" from 2001's Word of Mouf infuses its salsa-flavored beat with trance synths every time the verse becomes the chorus, and Luda takes the opportunity to spit snarky punchline raps whose flows skip between single- and double-time with the ease of a veteran.

16. Justin Timberlake "My Love" (2006)

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Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Label: Jive

The second single from Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds was another shot at outfitting Timbaland production in dance music's trappings, but where lead single "SexyBack" went for total immersion, "My Love" aims at subtlety. "My Love" is a classic Timbaland slow jam: squelching keys and beatboxed percussion form a mutant funk underpinning which Tim then slathers in pillowy trance synths. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make something already sorta strange totally off-the-wall, Tim brings in synthetic ahs and giggles to pad the mix. It gave Justin's otherwise straightlaced love song a distinct otherworldly quality, and to this day the shit still floats through whatever room you play it in.

15. Missy Elliott f/ Da Brat "Sock It 2 Me" (1997)

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Album: Supa Dupa Fly
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

When the Fugees repurposed the Delfonics' "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)" into The Score's "Ready or Not" in 1996, they logged an international smash and a hip-hop classic. A year later Timbaland swiped just a tiny swatch of the same song for the second single off Missy's debut solo album Supa Dupa Fly and came away with "Sock It 2 Me", whose menacing horns and strings ratcheted up the drama underneath Missy's tale of hormone overdrive.

14. The LOX f/ Drag-On & Eve "Ryde or Die" (1999)

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Album: We Are the Streets
Label: Ruff Ryders

The biggest hit on the last LOX album We Are the Streets was "Ryde or Die Bitch", a "thug needs a lady" anthem with Jadakiss, Sheek, and Styles trading verses about their ideal gangster's moll and Timbaland and Eve guesting on the call-and-response chorus. The beat pairs jazzy guitars with hand percussion for a vaguely Latin feel that the group plays off when they all pair off with Latin ladies in the video.

13. Aaliyah "Try Again" (2000)

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12. Memphis Bleek f/ Jay-Z, Missy Elliott & Twista "Is That Your Bitch" (2000)

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Album: The Understanding
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Before Lil B the Based God turned stealing adversaries' girlfriends into an internet meme, Jay-Z was out giving real advice on how prevent it from happening. "Is That Your Bitch" is fight music, and the stream of fast rap taunts from Jay, Twista, and Missy Elliott is matched by foreboding horns and strings low enough to function as a bass line. Tim rolls in extra synths and percussion as the song unfolds until the beat is crowded out with interlocking melodic and rhythmic parts. "Is That Your Bitch" sounded like war, and Jay rose to the occasion with barely veiled jabs about sleeping with Nas' baby mama. We all know how that went.

11. Missy Elliott "Work It" (2002)

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Album: Under Construction
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

Missy Elliott's 2002 album Under Construction was a love letter to hip-hop's early days, from the fond reminiscences of "Back in the Day" to the lyric sheet, which made references to scores of old school hip-hop classics. "Work It" features hilarious sex raps and sparse production tipping its hat both to the synth-drenched sounds of electro and to Run D.M.C., whose "Peter Piper" drums come in to close the song out after the last verse. Missy and Tim's homage to classic rap was a resounding success: when "Work It" was released as Under Construction's second single, it quickly became (and remains) the biggest single of Missy's career.

10. Justin Timberlake "SexyBack" (2006)

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Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Label: Jive

EDM sounds are so prevalent in modern pop and R&B that it's easy to underestimate how much of a suckerpunch Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" was when it dropped in 2006. The lead single from Timberlake's second album FutureSex/LoveSounds was a hard left into electronic music, ringing in on distorted synth blurts and a propulsive dance beat as Timbaland goofily brought in the bridge and chorus like a bandleader shouting directions to his support players. Looking back, "SexyBack" kicked off modern R&B's flirtation with electronic dance music values, and it's hard to say whether the Rihannas and Ushers would've dabbled with any of it if Justin didn't dive in headlong and come out with the biggest single of his career as a solo artist.

9. Aaliyah "One in a Million" (1996)

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8. Missy Elliott "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (1997)

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Album: Supa Dupa Fly
Label: Goldmine/Elektra

The video for Missy Elliott's debut single "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" quickly dispensed with the notion that she was going to be another sexpot rapper and defanged all reservations about her weight by making it a point of mild self-deprecating humor. "The Rain" video had jokes, but the music didn't. Missy introduced herself as a true oddball with the rap skills to match, and Timbaland's production outfitted rubbery funk and a clutch sample from "I Can't Stand the Rain" with fake storm noises and cricket sounds because '90s Tim loved to make the beat ape the subject matter.

7. Jay-Z "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" (2004)

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Album: The Black Album
Label: Roc-A-Fella

The most memorable moment in Jay-Z's "farewell" documentary Fade to Black happens when a then-retiring Jay enters the studio with Timbaland to skim over prospective beats for the project we now know as The Black Album. The moment Jay begins to doubt the quality of what's in the vaults Tim quickly unleashes the payload: a beat packed with blown out zooming synths and massive drums. Jay vibes out like a man possessed when he hears it, and Tim immediately cuts the music and asks Jay to pick a beat. In the next shot he's laying down the chorus for "Dirt Off Your Shoulder."

6. Ginuwine "Pony" (1996)

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Album: Ginuwine... The Bachelor
Label: 550/Epic

The first song on Ginuwine's debut album The Bachelor remains one of his best. "Pony" is a classic of the R&B '90s, where sex jams did not mince words about what they were after. Ginuwine works a horseback-riding-as-sex metaphor that's so adept it's almost funny ("My saddle's waiting/ Come and jump on it"), and Timbaland supplies a track with squelching talkbox hiccups serving as the main melody while cartoon sound effects give the impression someone might actually be jumping on a horse somewhere in the background. It's perfectly over the top, even by today's standards, but Tim fleshes out the track with enough instrumentation to bury the weirdness in pure melody.

5. Jay-Z "Big Pimpin" (2000)

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Album: Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

2000's player anthem "Big Pimpin'" was a triumph not only for Jay-Z, who'd been treading water on the charts for the two years following Vol. 2's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)", but for Texas rap legends UGK, who got a bit of long-overdue national exposure out of it. Tim hit em with the heat, his trademark bounce augmented by hints of Indian music. It was a watershed moment for everyone involved: Tim would continue to roll elements of Eastern music into his production for the remainder of his career, Jay's stock with women who listen to rap increased after he scaled back on the song's acute misogyny, and while UGK dissolved after Pimp C passed away in 2007, his verse here is still quoted and sampled year after year.

4. Justin Timberlake "Cry Me a River" (2002)

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Album: Justified
Label: Jive

Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" is a tale of relationship strife with a beat as dramatic as the hurt feelings that birthed it. JT's epic kiss off is ushered in on forlorn keys, Gregorian chant, and the sound of the rain. Then the beat drops, and save for a hammy string section, it's fraught with human voices where live instruments would normally be. Just when it looks to be building to a climax, there's a breakdown, and Tim pops in over a beat now completely comprised of his own voice to break the news that it's over. "Cry Me a River" was heavy on the heart and on the charts, and stranger still was the fact that everyone knew it was about Justin's fellow Mouseketeer turned pop star Britney Spears.

3. Aaliyah "Are You That Somebody?" (1998)

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2. Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On" (2001)

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Album: Miss E... So Addictive
Label: Goldmind/Elektra

With 2001's "Get Ur Freak On", Missy Elliott and Timbaland looked past hip-hop, shooting instead for straight up bhangra music. Timbaland underscores Missy's lyrical flights of fancy with Indian melodies played on actual Indian instruments and polyrhythmic hand percussion played on tablas, "talking drums" whose pitch can be adjusted on the fly. It was an international smash and one of Missy's biggest solo successes to date.

1. Jay-Z "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)" (1998)

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Album: Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

The first collaboration between Jay-Z and Timbaland was an update of Jaz-O's 1990 single "The Originators", which was one of a young Jay's first appearances on wax. "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator '99)" is every bit the fast rap clinic its predecessor was, with Jaz and Jay meeting up again to run speed trials over Tim's skittering hi hats and snaky synth lines. Kendrick Lamar affiliate Ab-Soul paid tribute to the song on last year's "Terrorist Threats", which opens with an interpolation of Rocafella first lady Amil's "Spit yo flow, get yo dough" chant.

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