Biggest Genius Working in Pop Music Today

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this idea came to me as I was watching some MTV2 show, called Diaries or something (i dont remember but essentially it followed a figure of relative importance to mtv viewers around for a few days), and the episode was specifically about Timbaland. anyways, after watching him for a bit, and just generally reflecting on his career and on his work in 2006, I thought that, this could be the most brilliant mind that's involved in pop music today. the music is 'progressive' in the sense that it's new, fresh, and revolutionary, but of course it's also just really damn good to listen to..so i think he has my vote, but it's an incredibly open-ended question with hundreds of possible answers.

the pop music part of it is important, though, because at least i personally find the concept of people working within a pop context but still incorporating really unique and fresh ideas within that context, essentially not sacrificing their talent or vision for success, interesting. but yeah, i'm really curious about what people here feel about this.

― toma ianskievich (saint orange), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 06:29 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.rap-wallpapers.com/data/media/43/mase.jpg

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 07:15 (seventeen years ago) link

That guy is a big freaking genius!

― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 07:38 (seventeen years ago) link

timbaland is the biggest genius in pop music today? um i don't agree with that.

pop is a very ambiguous category - it doesn't simply amount to the kind of stuff mtv/radio/pop culture plays over and over (timbaland, timberlake and beyonce). in the sense that it's accepted by the masses, i guess that is pop but a LOT of music is fun, hooky and reels you in for more.

also, success and genius are 2 very different things. timbaland seems to have made a name for himself by stripping beats down and putting them together with innovative elements. but thinking outside the box with regard to rhythm and keeping it simple doesn't constitute genius in my book. he's just doing what a lot of "pop" musicians should be doing.

to me, it's almost like praising justin timberlake for his support of lance bass' homosexuality (bear with me). sure, it was a good thing to do, but it shouldn't be any other way. it's not genius, it just makes sense. timbaland's beats sound great and *relatively*, they are pretty brilliant but in my mind, beats should always be deconstructed that way.

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Financial genius, yes. Artistic genius, not so much.

― editio princeps (pato.g27), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

The way this is phrased makes it really hard to pin down. Genius doesn't really come and go (I guess, unless someone loses their mind or gets old and senile), so someone might still be the biggest genius in pop even if they're past their creative peak and not still making the best music, like, say, Prince. I'd put Timbaland in that category too, I don't think what he's doing now is anywhere near his best work, his current run of hits seems more like good timing or having a good co-producer at his side, because the productions themselves are nothing new for him and his drums have never sounded worse.

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

well genius does fluctuate though

i mean it's like how the best albums are a lot of the time followed by really bad ones, from the same artist

excuse the grammar

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:09 (seventeen years ago) link

I dunno, I think of that as I guess brilliance or a creative spark, whereas a person either is a genius or isn't, and time doesn't really change that. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, though.

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

thats true

actually in my experience genius inherently involves contrast

like, really effin brilliant

AND

really effin disturbed at the same time. or something. u kno?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, I always thought that artists making good and bad music in the same time frame had nothing to do with them suddenly becoming dumber or smarter or more or less of a 'genius.' In creative endeavors, people throw a lot of shit at the wall and not all of it sticks. When artists have consistent discographies, it's not because they never wrote a bad song, it's because they were careful about not releasing a lot of half-assed music, which many 'geniuses' tend to do because labels and fans want to hear every little thing they make. (xpost)

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Louis Jagger.

― Dom Passantino (DomPassantino), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link

point taken i suppose

but at the same time i listen to some stuff by people who have released like the best stuff ever

and i just wonder how their taste could wander so far that they wouldn't edit some of it out

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:27 (seventeen years ago) link

A strong natural talent, aptitude, or inclination:

i think that, definitely, anyone who has mentioned that it's a vague question is correct. i think the above definition of 'genius' is the one i'm operating with. i'm not necessarily arguing for example that Timbaland is equally brilliant as, I don't know, Miles Davis or Mozart or something, but I'd be willing to call him a genius, I think he has a very strong natural talent for incredible and new production..

but of course not everyone should agree, after all, i'm sure different people have different takes (and i was really curious to see which names people come up with), but i dont think i can change my original assessment of it.

― toma ianskievich (saint orange), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link

equally brilliant as, I don't know, Miles Davis or Mozart or ~~something~~ Bach or Orbital

asked for it

― Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Let's be fair, Timbaland lost some weight but he's still a pretty big dude.

― JordanC (JordanC), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link

haha

okay so wait no one else has suggested an alternative right?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link

It's either James Murphy or Andy Scott Lee.

― Dom Passantino (DomPassantino), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean

are there geniuses in pop music?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link

What was the last (good) thing Timbaland even did? I honestly can't remember.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:51 (seventeen years ago) link

well to the question of are there geniuses in pop music, i definitely would say yes (obvious since i made the topic, actually). i dont think anything about the medium inherently keeps geniuses out from working within it.

― toma ianskievich (saint orange), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:54 (seventeen years ago) link

didn't he work on JT's new thing? not that that's good, but some people think so

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

*raises hand* one of them right here..well im sure plenty of them right here, come to think of it.

― toma ianskievich (saint orange), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean i guess clean beats with a pubescent voice saying sexy on top of them

make for good songs?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow he produced practically the whole thing. I thought it was just "Sexxxyback" or whatever (which is fine, but pretty unexceptional.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.danceage.com/gallery/data/media/1064/Kate_Bush_5.jpg

beating cutty to it.

― ian (orion), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:00 (seventeen years ago) link

well duh.

but for me it's too obvious so i didn't say anything.

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:08 (seventeen years ago) link

lol great pic tho

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Genius = neurotic, angst-ridden, "difficult" artist = zzzzzzzzz

― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:12 (seventeen years ago) link

lol why is that zzz?

it's a cliche but it's often true no?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:14 (seventeen years ago) link

No, not that often.

― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Besides, how do you know Timbaland isn't angst-ridden? There's some bizarre, creepy tension in some of his production.

― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:18 (seventeen years ago) link

he might be!

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:19 (seventeen years ago) link

I think the production on My Love is as good as anything he's done - too bad the song itself is kind of a throwaway.

― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah i do like mylove

song's not THAT bad but for justin - i mean i loved his singles off the last album (was it the last one?)

and these just seem too teenage-lust-trapped-in-the-body-of-someone who-should-know-more-by-now

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:29 (seventeen years ago) link

― colin0Hara (colin_o_hara), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:35 (seventeen years ago) link

[Img src="http://myclimatsmusic.free.fr/artstes/eno/Eno.jpg]

― colin0Hara (colin_o_hara), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean the whole idea that he wants to teach boys how to be sexy?

to me, sexy isn't just talking about sex and breathing in a sexy way

it's like, interesting elements and fun grooves that don't need to spell sexy out

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link

well anyway. i'm not sure Eno is my answer but it is a possible answer.

― colin0Hara (colin_o_hara), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link

bjork

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:39 (seventeen years ago) link

again, possible, not the.

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:40 (seventeen years ago) link

i think i agree with that.

― colin0Hara (colin_o_hara), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link

dumb thread

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link

You think?

― jim (jim), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:44 (seventeen years ago) link

be nice.

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:47 (seventeen years ago) link

The thread could alternately stop being so stupid.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, or we could.

calling people's ideas dumb = stupid.

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 17:50 (seventeen years ago) link

calling the stuff in this thread ideas is pretty generous

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link

and what = biggest genius working in this thread today

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 18:11 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ahoy/186/graphics/topleft.jpg

"is this the movie about babies that are geniuses?"

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Jill: Are you Andy?
Andy Stitzer: Uhh... yeah...
Jill: Is this yours? Did you write this stuff?
Jay: My girlfriend Jill found your speed dating card...
Andy Stitzer: Ohhh... yeah... right, God I've been looking for that speed dating card, thank you so much for bringing it to me.
Jill: So you actually wrote that one girl looked like she was "hurtin' for a squirtin'"?
Andy Stitzer: Ummm... yeah..."hurtin' for a squirtin'", yeah I wrote that...
Jill: Oh, so you wrote, "hoe fo sho'".
Andy Stitzer: Yeah, I remember that girl, she was a hoe... fo sho'.

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

ramzi pwn

― obi strip (sanskrit), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

PUT YOUR HANDS UP FOR RAMZI AWN, HE/SHE LOVES OPEN DISCUSSION OF INTERESTING ISSUES

― Dom Passantino (DomPassantino), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link

yum spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. well, if y'all think it's better to dub posters dumb than to entertain their thoughts, that's your prerogative. i just happen to disagree!

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

make love to me

― jerginsito (jergins), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:46 (seventeen years ago) link

gimme one reason to...

make love to you

ooh maybe i should start a thread about best 90's radio hits

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:53 (seventeen years ago) link

oh shit what have i done

― jerginsito (jergins), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:54 (seventeen years ago) link

gimme me one reason, secret, bitch

hehehe, bitch

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:55 (seventeen years ago) link

lol how funny would it be if you found out i really liked Creed

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:59 (seventeen years ago) link

the band

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:59 (seventeen years ago) link

did they sing that song "with arms wide open..." whatever?

where "open" sounds like "opan"

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 20:59 (seventeen years ago) link

hi marissa's sister

― jerginsito (jergins), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:09 (seventeen years ago) link

on the OC?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:12 (seventeen years ago) link

kudos to all

― violent j (sandboxhulkington), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:38 (seventeen years ago) link

wtf is going onz

― hoo got it for steen, vol. waht (hoosteen), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

kudos! so 90s.

ummm someone called this thread dumb, i said that's not nice, someone made fun of me, then someone told me to make love to them and i started talking about tracy chapman

;)

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:47 (seventeen years ago) link

or is it traci...

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:48 (seventeen years ago) link

the recap is appreciated.

― BIG HOOS aka the cabdriver (hoosteen), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:57 (seventeen years ago) link

u got it hoos

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:58 (seventeen years ago) link

ramzi please post a picture of the pig

― jerginsito (jergins), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link

what pig???

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link

omg are you non-sequitor poster? who just tries to throw people with randomness?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i love how every time i post it says

Success!

like i just aced a test

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link

you've sure aced this one

― Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:08 (seventeen years ago) link

huh?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:11 (seventeen years ago) link

He's calling you gay.

― Dom Passantino (DomPassantino), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:16 (seventeen years ago) link

really? well i am gay. and i'm like, so proud of it

maybe i'll come out on TV. then i can be lauded. for being myself. and proud.

why are you all so cryptic on here sometimes?

― Ramzi Awn (Awn, R), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link

The problem with genius...Does having a genius level IQ cause one to be a better/more interesting musician? Or can someone be a "musical genius" while being of average intelligence?

I think a lot of experiments have been tried out mainly in the hopes that people think the artist is a genius.

Then there are bands known to be book smart (ZZ Top, for instance) who never really attempt anything pretentious.

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 00:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Or can someone be a "musical genius" while being of average intelligence?

all of the Ramones. One trick ponies, maybe, but still genius.

― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 05:31 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.lightlink.com/xine/hlink.jpg
i do not love it

― forksclovetofu (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 06:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Argh my eyes make it stop.

― Tim F (Tim F), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:45 (seventeen years ago) link

that is a beautiful picture

― akm (akmonday), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:52 (seventeen years ago) link

jergins weren't you mail-fucking marissa, too?

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:57 (seventeen years ago) link

jergins weren't you mail-fucking, marissa too?

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:58 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=conway+game+of+life&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:58 (seventeen years ago) link

conway's game of life applet

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:59 (seventeen years ago) link

i think these digital life forms are totally awesome, check out "r-pentomino"

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 07:59 (seventeen years ago) link


......
...xx.
..xx..
...x..
......

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 08:01 (seventeen years ago) link

it was the first initial configuration discovered that couldn't be played out on a go board... they had to write a computer program for it

― friday on the porch (lfam), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 08:08 (seventeen years ago) link

STR8 FROM THE TIMBALAND SCHOOL:

I'm trying to squeeze into the workforce with relative ease
Outside your window with a sign that says "hire me, please"

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Thursday, 28 December 2006 01:36 (seventeen years ago) link

KUDOS.

― jim (jim), Thursday, 28 December 2006 01:47 (seventeen years ago) link

jergins weren't you mail-fucking, marissa too?
-- friday on the porch (l...), Today. (later)

that was Pablo

― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 28 December 2006 01:48 (seventeen years ago) link

I can think of about eight geniuses working today whose music I actually enjoy; six or seven of them are Brazilian.

― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Thursday, 28 December 2006 02:25 (seventeen years ago) link

and the other one is andy partridge?

― Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Thursday, 28 December 2006 02:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe you didn't see the "working today" part of my sentence there; I don't count 'puttering around in the shed' as actually having a music career. He was kind of geniusish from 1979 to 1989 though.

― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Thursday, 28 December 2006 05:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Ariel Pink

― henry s (henry s), Friday, 29 December 2006 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Matthew Bower or Steven Stapleton

― Cameron Octigan (cameron octigan), Friday, 29 December 2006 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link

"[THIS POP GENIUS's] ear is more attuned to an international sound. Any type of music with a crazy melody, he is automatically attracted to. He knows how to transform those melodies to something urban. He knows how to put the oomph behind something pretty, or melodic and big. When you get the right vocals on it, it turns into something crazy international."

Guess the pop genius! Googling is cheating, ya bastards.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver (hoosteen), Saturday, 30 December 2006 03:17 (seventeen years ago) link

It's Jeff Mangum!

― steve schneeberg (steve go1dberg), Sunday, 31 December 2006 02:18 (seventeen years ago) link

http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/4/6/5/7/657564_356x237.jpg

― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Sunday, 31 December 2006 04:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Palpatine's looked better.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 31 December 2006 04:35 (seventeen years ago) link

four years pass...

Timbaland helped to guide the career of late singer/actress Aaliyah by producing some of her biggest hit records. He was also in love with her, although she didn't know it.

"When I first met Aaliyah—it time for the world to hear this, I'm gonna give a little secret—I was in love with her," he revealed. "I said, But I'm not…She just a baby, I'm old," Timbaland told Eonline. "I said to myself, 'I'm just gonna be her brother.' Oh man, I was fightin', I was fightin' a lot—a big war. But I loved Aaliyah."

That was just one of several revelations the super producer made during an upcoming episode of E!'s True Hollywood Story.

He's happily married now, but admits he's probably difficult to deal with at times. "It's probably hard to be married to me," he says. "It's not easy. I'm a musical genius. I'm weird, I do crazy things, it's not like the average norm. But I'm a loving guy."

Timbo also said that he became suicidal in 2003 when his weight ballooned up to 400 pounds. "I was almost 400 pounds," he said. "Who wants to be a 400-pound black man? I'm looking in the mirror, my breast is bigger than a girl breast. And I was saying, ‘That ain't cool.' So I got very depressed, like suicidal depressed."

For the rest of this interview, catch E!'s True Hollywood Story, Tuesday December 20 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

― t. silaviver, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:51 (twelve years ago) link

"It's probably hard to be married to me. It's not easy. I'm a musical genius."

― that wiener from Emearlds (step hen faps), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:55 (twelve years ago) link

I like this Timbaland guy's chutzpah. he could make it big someday.

― that wiener from Emearlds (step hen faps), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:56 (twelve years ago) link

He's only just finished making it smaller.

― Y.O. Mini (MarkG oo la showaddywaddy), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 12:12 (twelve years ago) link

Who wants to be a 400-pound black man?

POLL

― Nemanja Vmić (Julie Lagger), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 13:26 (twelve years ago) link

He can always put that chest where his heart ought to be.

― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 13:30 (twelve years ago) link

Who wants to be a 400-pound black man?

they have finally run out of game shows

― OH NOES, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 14:30 (twelve years ago) link

lol

― that wiener from Emearlds (step hen faps), Thursday, 22 December 2011 03:37 (twelve years ago) link

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