While Aaliyah’s hit single “Try Again” is perhaps one of the most recognized songs in her catalog, the story of how the track came together indicated that there was some doubt about whether it should even be released.
In a recent interview, Timbaland sat down for an in-depth chat about his career on the “I Am Hip-Hop” podcast, where he revealed that the song was actually created after he made a “mistake” while playing around on the keyboard.
“I was playing with this keyboard and it was a mistake, and my engineer Jimmy Douglass caught it. I said, ‘Jimmy did you catch that lil rhythm?, [and] he said, ‘I sure did,” he shared.
Timbaland said he went on to play it back and put a beat to it, which was when the song really started coming together. “Try Again” was written by the late Static Major, but when Timbaland heard the song with the lyrics, he felt the track was sounding a little “too preachy” for his liking, prompting the Major to rework the verses.
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But even then, Timbaland, who is regarded as one of the best producers of all time, still seemed somewhat apprehensive about the song. Well, that all changed when his longtime collaborator and friend, JAY-Z, stopped by to hear it, and based on his reaction, Timbaland knew in that moment “Try Again” was something special. “When JAY-Z came in the studio, he was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and that’s when I was like, ‘Yeah, we got one.’”
During the hour-long conversation, Timbaland also touched on some of the other artists he has had the pleasure of working with over the years, including rapper Ludacris, who was actually discovered by the Virginia native at a radio station.
“I was the one who found Ludacris,” he said. “Because Ludacris was working in the radio station and I was like, ‘Hey, ain’t nobody sign you? What’s going on here?’ [He was like], ‘Nah man.’”
“Then he came down to Virginia and we did ‘Phat Rabbit,’ and from there, labels started calling. He asked me one time, ‘Would you sign to Def Jam or Elektra?’ I said, ‘Man, you better go to Def Jam.’”
He continued: “And I didn’t know how the business go, I just backed them ’cause I knew he was incredible.”
Ludacris previously credited Timbaland for helping him land his big break in the music industry, sharing how he was one of the first people who truly believed in him as an artist and was determined to see him flourish.
“Tim was the first person that really believed in me, along with Jermaine Dupri and Organized Noize,” he said. “But in terms of really the very first person, [he] came to the radio station in Atlanta when I was working there. Timbaland was the first person who was like, ‘Who is that?’”