Timbaland Revealed That He Used to Get Paid $500K To Produce Beats [Video]

Timbaland just gave insight into how the industry used to be back in the day, and it seems as if producers were getting hefty payouts to produce beats. The Grammy-award winner used to get $500K to make songs.

During a conversation with ProducerGrind, Timbaland revealed when he was at the peak of his career, he was making an insane amount after producing hit songs for Jay Z, Missy Elliot, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Ludacris, and more.

“I usually get like $300, $500K back in the day,” the Verzuz co-founder said. “We ain’t come from a world where you send beats; we come from when that b*tch was tailor-made, you understand?”

He continued, “The producer was respected way more. You needed a dope producer as an artist. You needed that, and now you got YouTube. People putting beats, it’s just not the same. It’s just like Wild Wild West out there.”

Other topics he touched on in the interview included the threat AI poses in the hip-hop industry.

“I knew this guy, one of my homeboys, he was working on this whole program that while the computer’s asleep it’s generating sounds,” Timbaland said. “And when he opens up it take white noise and make kicks the dopest snares while he sleeps. He been working on this for years, and I’m sure he mastered it now. The computer makes his kits, he don’t get drum kits from people. Make samples while he sleeps.”

Rapper FN Meka received mixed reviews after his debut seemed awfully similar to black stereotypes. The rapper has since been canceled and fired from Capitol Records. However, there’s no say what other AI artists are on the rise.