I can also put a check mark next to one more thing on my bucket list... last night I finally got to thank the great
Timbaland for all the years of influence and inspiration, in person! Now, I wasn't so sure it would be a good idea to be tweeting and blogging about waiting in line at
J&R Music World to meet one of my idols. I mean, another producer should be considered a peer, or even competition, so why would I take time out of my busy recording schedule to meet one at an in-store performance/album signing?
But after giving it some thought, I decided it might be nice for you guys to learn that
everyone looks up to someone. And just like my supporters are excited to meet me as I tour around and say hello, I also have a short list of creative people who remind
me what it feels like to be a genuine fan of this art. Allowing myself that freedom to still feel the excitement of running down to Park Row to cop the latest
Clipse album, for instance, keeps me level.
Uh-oh... is this mean muggin' a sign of things to come?So in walks
Timbo the King! He's an hour late, but that's ok... there he is walking right past me as he makes his way up to the stage! He looks as though he was just told a sink hole sucked his new Ferrari into the black abyss, but I'm fine with that... I'm only a few feet away from my generation's
Quincy Jones, the guy who taught me that thinking
outside the box can be even more rewarding than trying your damnedest to stay
in it.
An announcement is made... "
Timbaland will no longer be performing, but he will still be signing autographs. Please clear the front of the stage."
Timbaland takes his seat on stage without saying a word,
but I'm almost at the front of the line and I don't care!
No "hi guys thanks for coming out" or "I know you all had to buy a copy of my CD here tonight for a ticket to meet me, so thank you for spending your hard-earned money on my project" no nothing. But that's really ok, really, it's Timmy. Yeah, that's what I call him... we're cool like that (in my head) so he doesn't have to thank me. And I'm quickly moving towards the front of the line so who gives a shit? I'm about to shake hands with Tim Mosley! Wow, this line is moving wild quick all the sudden...Getting close now!
That's when another announcement is made, and this time the voice sounded pretty agitated: "Ladies and gentlemen have your CD booklets out and ready!" And now I'm noticing that the line is moving dumb fast because
Tim is just quickly scribbling something on each CD booklet as the fans are rushed by him. And if you brought a camera, there is now a bodyguard in place to grab it from you and take some haphazard pic of whatever he feels like.
But I'm still feeling good... I got my beautiful wife with me to document the meeting, and no one will want to snatch the camera away from her, right? Plus I played it real smart... I brought my vinyl LP of
Tim's Bio which is his
first
true solo album. That nobody bought but me. There's no
way he's not gonna take a quick second to give a sincere fan like
J.J. Brown some special attention, right?
Wrong.
The meeting of the minds.No eye contact here. Haha. Now, I don't wanna come off as
too salty. He
did take the time to scribble "TIM" on both my
Shock Value 2 CD and my
Tim's Bio LP. And the fact of the matter is, no I didn't get him to give me so much as a smirk (no one could that night) but I
did get a small reaction from him when he saw the vinyl... I told him his music has been a great inspiration to me, and he said "thanks bro." And God for bid if he would have accepted my offer to shake hands at least there was that brand new bottle of hand sanitizer nearby!
But it's all gravy baby...
Timbaland produced the soundtrack to my youth. I'm pretty sure he could have told me to pound sand and I would be able to come up with
some sort of justification. Haha.
You know how we do... louis logic, me and Danny
posing for a pic with each fan at the Fat Beats
album signing for Misery Loves Comedy back in '06.But in all seriousness, artists, let's not forget that we are afforded this incredible opportunity to make our passion our livelihood
because of that line of fans who wait to shake our hand. That's worth a smile on album release day. And fans, I gotta tell you all from the bottom of my hip-hop heart, there isn't a moment that goes by when I'm in the studio where I don't think about how exciting it is that I get to share my music with you. In fact, let's do this...
Click on the pic to "pay what you want"
for the1shanti's Rawkus album!
A few years back my partner Danny and I headed up a project for our good friend
the1shanti who got a deal with
Rawkus. I got four joints on there and Danny mixed the whole thing, and it's one of my favorite records I've ever been a part of. It was shelved when
Rawkus met its demise, and now it's here exclusively for you, for whatever you want to pay.
Show your support anyway you can, and don't feel bad if you can't afford to pay anything at all, but don't ever say that me and my team ain't do nothin' to thank the supporters! Enjoy it you guys. We had a lot of fun making it.
I be the same when it all goes up, I be the same when it all goes down,
J.J.
