Grammy-award-winning super producer Timbaland is a one-of-a-kind artist, and since his emergence on the scene in the mid-1990s, the musician has gone on to achieve incredible things within the genres of R’n’B and hip-hop. However, he is a big admirer of his Virginia counterpart, Pharrell Williams, who, like himself, has had an enormous impact on hip-hop concerning production.
Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, Timbaland grew up only 18 miles from Virginia Beach, the home of the Neptunes. He also went to the same school as his prodigy lyricist Missy Elliott. That said, during a special live episode of Pharrell’s Beats 1 Radio OTHERtone, the two reflected on each other’s work.
On stage, the pair were joined by other musical revolutionaries from the area, including Pusha T, Teddy Riley, and Pharrell’s Neptunes partner in crime, Chad Hugo. During the conversation, the pair looked back to the late 1990s when they first crossed paths.
Timbaland (real name Timothy Mosley) revealed that he first heard Pharrell’s work when he was working with Missy Elliott at Master Sound studios, a well-known establishment in Virginia Beach.
Recalling the 1999 moment, Mosley detailed, “Missy was working in I guess let’s call it ‘Studio A,’ and I guess they had a ‘Studio B.’…And I walked to the back door and I heard, ‘I hate you so much right now…’ And I said, ‘What is that…I was like ‘Aww man, I wish I had made that beat.'”
The song Timbaland heard was Kelis’ song ‘Caught Out There,’ which The Neptunes produced. Pharrell and Chad Hugo worked out of Master Sound studios for most of the 2000s, and the dynamic duo made the entirety of Justin Timberlake’s debut album, Justified, there.
While speaking at the Beats 1 Radio OTHERtone event, the two began to exchange stories; Pharrell performed a beatbox rendition of Missy Elliot’s ‘The Rain,’ a beat he revealed he loved.
Timbaland concluded by telling the story of when he heard the instrumental of Kelis ‘Milkshake’ in the back of a taxi in New York and revealed he even had to ask his driver to pull over so he could fully take in it. You can watch the exchange in the video below.