Timbaland

Timbaland counts as one of the two or three most visionary and influential artists of any kind in the past 20 years. It's easy to forget that now, with his abstract, skeletal sound so suffused into our pop language, but it's a fact that bears repeating. That's not to say that Timbaland's most recent work hasn't hit a lull (at least a little one). That album with Chris Cornell? Ill-advised. His solo album Shock Value and its 2009 follow-up, Shock Value II? Less than essential. Still, he's Timbaland, and his sound works best when really big and loud, as it will be live. 

Updated 01/07/2010