Although Timbaland and Magoo’s long delayed sophomore set, “Indecent Proposal,” (Blackground/Virgin) is now set for a Nov. 20 release, it may turn out to be the duo’s last. “It’s a good album, but I’m not happy with it,” says a frustrated Timbaland, who declares the set will be his final one as an artist. “I turned it in a year and a half ago, and it’s just coming out. And now we’re in a recession… it doesn’t make sense.”
Timbaland, who has drawn wide acclaim for his production work with Missy Elliott, the late Aaliyah, and Ginuwine, admits, “my first love is producing. I just didn’t have the control that I wanted [with this album]. I wasn’t able to oversee things the way I would have liked to in terms of release dates, etc.”
The 15-track “Indecent Proposal,” named after the 1993 film starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore, features guest appearances from Aaliyah, Ludacris, Jay-Z, and Tweet, among others. Earlier this summer, a video was released for the single “Drop,” which topped out at No. 5 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. Second single “All Ya’ll” is No. 6 on the same tally this week.
According to Magoo, the delay was due in part to Blackground changing parent labels from Atlantic to Virgin. “It wasn’t a matter of us not wanting to go back into the studio,” he says. “Our label was leaving Atlantic at the time and it took a while for them to do that. Once they finally did, we started work on the new album.”
Prior to interviewing Timbaland, Billboard asked Magoo whether a solo project was in his future. “I’ve never seriously thought about doing a solo album,” he answered. “I’ve thought about it in passing, like if Tim decided he wanted to stop rapping. It would be really difficult for me to think about doing a record without him. We’ve been together since 1990, so [going solo] would be weird. Tim and Magoo is more a friendship than it is a group. Tim and Magoo is just two friends who started rapping together and became a group.”
When told of Timbaland’s dismay over the protracted release of the new album, Blackground president Jomo Hankerson said, “we’ve gone through our ups and downs but we’re plodding ahead full steam with this project. I’m confident that he’s given me an album that I feel I can go five or six singles deep with, and this is what we do in the music business.”
“Indecent Proposal” is the follow-up to 1997’s “Welcome to Our World,” which featured the single “Up Jumps Da Boogie,” a No. 8 hit on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and a No. 12 entry on The Billboard Hot 100.
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