Justin Timberlake shook up the music world last week when he surprisingly announced his return to music with his new Jay-Z assisted single “Suit & Tie.”
This song, which is produced by Timbaland, shook up radio this week and is on pace to already be one of Timberlake’s highest selling singles of his career. More news dropped that the former *NSYNC star will be dropping a new album called The 20/20 Experience.
With anticipation building for the star’s first album since his classic FutureSex/LoveSounds, we spoke to one of the masterminds behind his last solo project, Danja Handz. Danja, real name Nate Hills, did a majority of the co-production on all but one of the songs on his past album.
“Before working with him, I’m genuinely a fan,” Danja said about Timberlake. “Same thing with working with Timbaland, I was genuinely a fan. Tim played me the record (from Timberlake) before it was released and I thought it was great music. I think he’s right on target with where they need to be musically. I’ve been singing it every day since he played it along with a few other ones that he played.”
Although the collaborations between the three have been money, don’t count on the three working together for Justin’s next solo project, The 20-20 Experience.
“As far as the Timberlake project, I’m not sure,” Danja said when asked if he would be a part of the project. “Myself and Timbaland talked over the holidays and we had a long conversation and it’s just in light of whatever he wants to do. We’ve been communicating and trying to see where we can fit in with each other. I think that it snowballed slowly over the years with me becoming my own man and doing my own thing and it is just about us coming together and saying ‘this is what I wanna do and this is how I wanna do it,’ Danja says.
“He has a lot going on and I have a lot going on and our situations are different. It’s just we have different goals. We had the conversation and I think it’s definitely going to happen, it’s just a matter of making it happen. I’m supposed to see him in a week or so, and we are going to get it cracking. Definitely myself and Timbaland working together again is highly possible. As far as us three as in me, him and Justin back in the studio? I don’t know because I know that project is almost done if not done already.”
Danja also dismissed rumors that he had any personal issues with Timbaland and having that prevent the two from working together again. “We always got along, I just think it was a matter of communication,” says the producer. “There is always a break in the link of communication and we didn’t communicate to each other. He was lost in his world and I was lost in mind world. It was like we weren’t talking for no reason. It’s not like he did something to me or I did something to him it wasn’t that at all. I’m over here doing my thing in the development stage trying to put out music and do my thing as a producer. I just put myself in the chamber and worked and shut myself out with no distractions.”
Danja Handz is the creator of the N.A.R.S. record label, which stands for New Age Rock Stars.
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Photo: Danja
