Timbaland tapped into artificial intelligence and debuted his newest single featuring the late Biggie Smalls, which received varied reactions on social media.
The legendary producer has worked with prominent artists like Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, the late Aaliyah, Justin Timberlake and JAY-Z throughout his career.
However, The Jasmine Brand reported he took to Instagram on Wednesday and shared the “dream collab” with his followers since he never had the chance to work with the iconic rapper.
In the video, the Virginia native talked about his collaboration with Creatr God and how AI can be used positively.
“Alright, so, I’m sitting here with my brother, Creatr God, and we know that it’s a lot of talk about AI, and we know how the feelings of violating certain things. “But let me tell you something: I got a solution, I’m working on it. It’s gon’ be beneficial to everybody,” Timbaland said in the clip.
He continued, “But, in the meantime, I gotta share something I’ve been working on because I always wanted to do this, and I never got a chance to. I always wanted to work with Big, and I never got a chance to — until today. It came out right! Play!”
As Complex‘s Mark Elibert reported, “While the lyrics aren’t especially clear, late rappers Pop Smoke, Nipsey Hussle, and Young Dolph’s names are dropped at the end of the clip.”
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After Timbaland played a sample of the song, fans shared their thoughts on the 51-year-old producing a track featuring the Brooklyn native.
“Everybody who’s saying this is fire is lying to you because they’re only interested in being yes men and working with you because of your status. This is bad Tim,” one user said.
“You have the ability to use your influence for good & to encourage actual creatives to do what you did – be different & find your lane. Instead we’re wave riding here. Disappointing,” another user remarked.
“I really don’t know how to feel about this (as a huge BIG fan). This is hard asf but, all I keep asking myself is…if I was Big would I want people making their own version of me?” a third user wrote.
While some users thought the project was disrespectful to Biggie’s legacy, others said the song was good.
“This is better than half of his duets album,” one user wrote.
“Y’all tripping this ain’t no different than listening to that born again cd🤷🏾♂️ Idc that shot is hard!🔥🔥🔥,” another follower said.
In April, Blavity reported Timbaland revealed that Aaliyah’s “Try Again” happened accidentally.
In an interview with the I AM HIP-HOP podcast, the musician said he experimented with some beats and accidentally created the song.
“It was a mistake, and my engineer Jimmy Douglass caught it,” Timbaland said during the podcast. “I said, ‘Jimmy, did you catch that lil rhythm?, [and] he said, ‘I sure did. So [after] he caught it and played it back, I put the beat on it. I said, ‘Ooo, chop it right there,’ and he chopped it right there,” he said.
