Timbaland Calls Collaborations With Brad Paisley ‘Magic’
Brad Paisley is blending genres again with his new album, and Timbaland says their collaboration is not as far-fetched as it might seem.
Timbaland is a producer, singer-songwriter and rapper who's worked with a Who's Who that includes Madonna and Justin Timberlake, and he collaborated with Paisley on his new album, Love and War. He co-wrote and is featured on two tracks from Paisley's project titled "Grey Goose Chase" and "Solar Power Girls."
In an interview with Taste of Country, Timbaland reveals that he's always seen a connection between hip-hop and bluegrass music.
"The rhythms in bluegrass are almost kind of like the rhythms how I hear," he explains. "It's almost a similarity because how I hear rhythm in the colors that I see in bluegrass almost the same colors I see in hip-hop." Interestingly enough, the producer envisions the genres in actual hues, seeing them both as the color purple. But it's the messages behind the songs that he believes unite the two seemingly disparate forms of music.
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"It's a meaningful story in both messages. One grooves to a different beat, one grooves to another, but the message behind both of them is pain, and you get to hear the pain in each artist's voice on each genre from bluegrass to hip-hop," Timbaland says.
While he says he's open to working with "everybody" in the country genre, he calls working with Paisley a special experience. "With Brad it was magic," he describes. "And it's hard to find magic."
Paisley previously collaborated with LL Cool J on a track titled "Accidental Racist."
Love and War also includes collaborations with John Fogerty and Mick Jagger, as well as Bill Anderson. Paisley has also released a visual album of Love and War along with the audio version.
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