His birth certificate reads Timothy Z Mosley. But you can call him cool. Or hot. Or wow. Timbaland’s also fine. He’s probably the hottest property in music today. Everyone wants to work with him. Who can blame them?

Timbaland has helped to create some of the most successful songs in modern pop and urban music. Look what he’s done with Nelly Furtado’s last album “Loose.” And Justin Timberlake? The man’s an icon, but would he have managed to be as big in 2007 as he was in 2006 and 2005 if it wasn’t for a little help from his friend, Timbaland? And the Pussycat Dolls. They’ve asked Timothy Z Mosley to help them make sure when you think girl band, you think PCD! The man’s even worked with Björk on her new album and the soon to be released new album by Duran Duran. Yes, that Duran Duran. And apparently, Timbaland and Madonna are working together on her new album due in late 2007.

So the man clearly decided to prove that he can do a full album of his own and call in a few favours. That led to the release of Shock Value, an album featuring more celebrities than the festive edition of Heat Magazine. Dr. Dre, Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, Nicole Scherzinger, Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, Nelly Furtado and Missy Elliott all make an appearance. The first single, "Give It to Me" of course featured both Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake and topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. It’s gotta be one of the catchiest not-going-anywhere songs of recent times and serves as a nice little thank you from both singers to Timbaland for the production work on their last albums. The album’s second single, titled "The Way I Are," features Mosley’s labelmates Keri Hilson and D.O.E. and a beat resembling the recent Justin Timberlake single "Sexyback". Both of these songs of course went to the top of the UK charts and will no doubt appear on many a Top 10 list by the end of 2007. It seems the next single to be released will be “Apologize” featuring One Republic. Let’s hold thumbs that this is the case because it’s truly a heart-achingly beautiful love song and will prove that Timbaland’s a truly versatile artist.

For an album that comes with a Parental Advisory Explicit Content warning, you only have to turn to the thank you’s in the back of the CD booklet to realise that Timbaland’s firmly in touch with his naughty side, but knows where he gets his talent from and how important family values are. First thank you goes to God for showing him to never lose faith. “For those struggling with life, turn your problems over to God. He is always on time, just maybe not on your time.” So that’s Timbaland the singer, producer, composer, rapper, and, er, evangelist. Whether Momma Timbaland and Grandma Timbaland will play his album at poker evenings is debatable, but they are thanked anyways. Clearly family formed an incredible support base for Timbaland to achieve the success he has and it’s nice to see an artist of his caliber acknowledge this.

So does the album live up to its name? Yes… It certainly has Shock Value. Simply because you kinda assume an album from someone who’s mainly known as a producer, will have the 2 major hits that have charted all over the world and the rest to be mediocre. It’s not the case though. Every track has something going for it. Shocked? Then Timbaland succeeded.