Aaliyah thought the baby coo was cute and, with that, it was slotted snugly inside one of the empty spaces in Tim’s beat, becoming instantly iconic.īy 8 AM, the track was mastered according to Timbaland, later that morning “Are You That Somebody?” and this baby coo were already being played on the radio. Its melodic curve mirrored a glissando on a violin, from a note high on the staff to a harmonic far above the fingerboard. It was a baby cooing happily, lilting up like the softest arc extending from the gentlest slingshot, lasting no more than half a second in the air before falling back down to earth. Then, Tim had an idea: He flipped through his CDs, found the one he wanted and played it for everyone. They had four hours.Īs he tells it in a brief clip posted on YouTube, Tim made short work of the beat and, soon after, Static found the hook. It wouldn’t be enough to put just any song together – they expected a chart-topping radio hit. Tim, his songwriting partner Static Major, and Aaliyah came together and took shelter in The Village Studio in West LA. There was just one catch: He had to have the master of the track to the label at 8 AM. The deal was already “etched in stone,” and Tim would get $400,000 to do it. On the other end was Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s manager and uncle, asking Tim to produce the lead single for the Dr. Late one night after a show in 1998, Timbaland received a phone call.
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