Bark + Bite

Why don't Missy and Timbaland do a joint EP before their solo albums?

Timbaland and Missy Elliott were the Batman and Robin of hip hop/pop music in the '90s and a good chunk of the '00s. Missy was the songwriting phenom while Timbo was the beatmaster. The pairing was genius and together they helped launched the career of the late Aaliyah while building a deep catalogue of their own hits.

But then they seemed to drift apart. Tim left Missy to collaborate with bigger mainstream artists. He formed a bond with Justin Timberlake, in particular, and produced half of the former NSYNCer's debut and sophomore solo albums. Missy, too, moved on to greener pastures and teamed up with Janet Jackson and Madonna for their own projects, helping to bolster her starpower. She also stepped into the role of producer in her own right, helping relaunch Monica's career with the hit "So Gone."

But both suffered missteps in recent years. Missy's last album was 2005's The Cookbook, on which Timbaland only produced two tracks. There was the random single "Ching a Ling" in 2008, but it didn't really make an impact on the charts. Timbaland, on the other hand, was on a roll recently, scoring a successful album, Shock Value, in 2007. 2009's sequel,Shock Value II, however, faltered. And his much ballyhooed production on Chris Cornell's solo album Scream was widely panned and a commercial flop.

Putting the challenges of yesterday aside, Tim and Missy are ready for another round in the showbiz ring. Timbaland recently spoke about the pair releasing new solo albums in June, as "a movement," with MTV News.

Pharrell sings Frank Ocean's praises

Frank Ocean is knockin' 'em dead. He went from almost-shelved to musical genius overnight, thanks to the critical praise his "mixtape" nostalgia, ultra generated.

Because of that mixtape, Frank was given the opportunity to sing and write for Jay-Z and Kanye's Watch the Throne album. Because of that mixtape, Frank was granted the opportunity to write a song for Beyonce. And thanks to that mixtape, Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes is calling Frank Ocean the "black James Taylor." Holler!

Pharrell and Frank had the opportunity to get in the studio and work together — for Frank's upcoming album — and Frank wowed Skateboard P with his prowess with melodies and chords.

"I haven't seen anybody bob and weave through chords with such catchy melodies in a long time. That's why I like working with him," Pharrell said in an interview with VIBE.

Watch Pharrell sing Frank's praises below

Sak Pase weighs in on the "Man Down" video

Now that the dust has sort of cleared after the brouhaha that Rihanna's "Man Down" video kicked up last month, the song's producer, Sak Pase, is now speaking his piece on RiRi's music video.

He trots out the same arguments everyone else has, namely that there's much more violent imagery on network television and that it's great that the video is helping to bring awareness to the traumas of sexual assault.

But most interestingly is what Sak Pase had to say about what he viewed as the meaning of the song.

"I thought the song was about a woman who broke a dude's heart in public. I thought just the concept of that was crazy. But you ask Rock City [co-writers of the song] and they're just like, 'No. The song is about a woman who shoots a man in Central Station,'" Pase said in an interview.

And that's what makes "Man Down" a great song. You can take the song literally as a female version of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff," if you will, or you can read it as the confession of a succubus who feels just the slightest pang of guilt for leaving her lover as nothing but a lifeless shell.

Watch Sak Pase talk about his take on Rihanna's video below

Diplo and M.I.A. just can't be friends

It's true that Diplo and M.I.A. helped build each other's careers, but ever since her third album Maya dropped, the two have been at each other's throats in the press.

Diplo did end up helping out on a few tracks for M.I.A.'s last album Maya, which bombed spectacularly. And now he says that the two of them are dunzo, professionally and personally, in an interview with Women's Wear Daily.

There is no need to bring up M.I.A. to Wesley Pentz, aka Diplo, the DJ-producer-ex-boyfriend who was instrumental in her success. Pentz will do it on his own. At first it’s complimentary in a conversation about Coachella. “I saw M.I.A. play there two years ago and it was probably one of the most amazing shows I ever saw,” he says. But then: “Last year she played, too, and it was kind of lame.” Ask him if they’re friends and the answer is, “No, no, no. Not anymore. No one in my camp talks to her anymore. She’s kind of really gone crazy.”

SOURCE:ONTD

Diplo has a hit song with Chris Brown in the can and several tracks slated for Beyonce's new album, so he's hardly hurting for work. Then again, M.I.A. is in the studio with Swizz Beatz, so she's not so terribly off either.

It's not impossible that Diplo and M.I.A. may one day reunite in the studio and craft magic like they did for Arular and Kala. But this messiness is what happens when you mix business with pleasure.

Swizz Beatz gets to play professor at NYU

Swizz Beatz is a well-known rapper and a legendary producer, but now, he can add professor to his list of titles. Alicia Keys' husband has landed a high profile professorship as the first producer in residence with NYU, allowing him to dish out his experiences and expertise to eager students.

MTV's The Seven got to tag along with Swizz as he gave one of his lectures. And impressively, Swizz was professional and certainly dressed for the part. The bit that they showed of him teaching didn't seem to show anything that illuminating, but the students were probably happy to just have a relevant, contemporary musician in their midst, rather than having to take notes on lifeless music theory.

If Swizz really wants to get things really real and gully in the classroom, he'll bring along DMX for a little unhinged, unpredictable action. It would be a teaching moment unlike any they'd ever had before.

Watch Swizz Beatz's stint as a professor at NYU below

Ester Dean shares the secret behind her hit songwriting

Ester Dean is the woman behind the hits. She's the songwriter responsible for smash hits like Rihanna's "Rude Boy" and "What's My Name?," Usher's "Hot Tottie" and Katy Perry's "Firework." In the words of Soulja Boy, "she's getting' monayyy! Ohhhh!"

Ester has already previously stepped out a little in the limelight while promoting her collaboration with Chris Brown, "Drop It Low," from the More Than a Game soundtrack. But now she sat down with BET Centric's The Hot 10 for an interview about the magic behind the hits.

The raspy-voiced singer/songwriter, who's curiously sporting the same ruby red hair color as gal pal Rihanna, said that she "writes emotionally." Songwriting can happen in collaboration with the artist, but other times the songs are a release for her own personal ups and downs.

Watch Ester Dean reveal the magic behind her songwriting below

Bangladesh goes behind the beat of "6 Foot 7 Foot," rolls blunt on Beyonce's face

Even though it appears that Bangladesh and Cash Money have smoothed things out, this time he's determined to let the world know that he's the genius behind Lil' Wayne's uberhit this go 'round. The hip hop producer put together a small behind the scenes clip of him working the drum machine as he put together that head banging beat for "6 Foot 7 Foot."

The best part of the video? When he rolls a blunt on Beyonce's face. The producer worked with Beyonce on her last album I Am...Sasha Fierce, producing her urban princess anthem "Diva," so they're cool peoples, ya dig?

But it's hard to take his rolling a blunt on her face as a sign of respect or disrespect. After all, Beyonce and her fellow Destiny children did brag about wanting a "soldier" whose "eyes be so low from that chiefing." And lord knows her hubby Jay-Z has had a marijuana anthem or two in his career.

Watch Bangladesh make the Weezy beat and roll up on Sasha Fierce below

The confusing dynamics of M.I.A. and Diplo's love/hate relationship

Controversy, unrest and discord are all traits that M.I.A. courts in support of her anti-establishment brand of anti-pop music. Her music stokes political fires and she howls into her bullhorn in defense of the 3rd world poor who suffer under the abuses of the 1st world's ambivalence and greed. But the promotion of her third album, /\/\/\Y/\ (MAYA), has been fraught with mini-scandals, barbs and friendly fire at the hands of her one-time lover and longtime producer, Diplo. See what happens when producers and singers cross that line?

The most buzzed about scandal to date came from a profile in The New York Times, written by Lynn Hirschberg. Some described it as a hit piece, but moving beyond whether Hirschberg was just or fair in her write-up, she didn't have to look far for much of her ammunition. Diplo was interviewed for the piece and he aired M.I.A. out as a calculated provocateur who'd do pretty much anything for attention.

Once the firestorm erupted over the article and M.I.A. blasted Hirschberg on Twitter and her site, Diplo tweeted more barbs at M.I.A. (which he has since deleted) generally agreeing with the accuracy of the article. Things cooled off after that for a little while, but Diplo kicked up dust earlier this month when he joked that M.I.A.'s album was a turd. And most recently, Diplo said that M.I.A. didn't care about the quality of her new album and is surrounded by yes men who won't tell her the truth. SOURCE: Blackbook.com