29) TIMBALAND
PRODUCER; AGE: 35
A track mastered by Tim “Timbaland” Mosley is now akin to a Steven Spielberg film. Which is to say, the Virginia Beach–based producer has become the rare mass-market creative force whose contributions to a project can overshadow his performers’. That’s something, considering Timbaland’s résumé includes many of music’s biggest names: This fall alone he’s overseeing new efforts from Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent and the return of Jay-Z. His trademark mechanical, skittish beats are so in demand that aspiring hip-hop artists besiege his studio carrying suitcases of cash, and his services are reputed to command up to $500,000 per track. It was money well-earned on JT’s infuriatingly catchy single “SexyBack.” All told, Timbaland has nailed more than 40 top-10 songs, though the one that reverberated all summer, Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous,” proved his ability to resurrect careers with a simple laying-of-hands on the control boards. “He’s like a shaman—his chemistry changes the artist,” says Furtado, who under Timbaland’s spell went from hippie-folkie chick to hip-hop sex bomb. “He taps into your primal side, and when he’s on, the shit goes to the next level.”
