2001: #1 - "We Need A Resolution"

Few artists could pull off a song with the vague, unresolved tension of the unsettling, anti-hit "We Need A Resolution" without sounding, themselves, unsure or unsettled, but Aaliyah, armed as always with that confident swagger and unshakable ice-queen delivery, gets it done.

We spoke earlier about the triumvirate of this decade's female pop masterpieces ("Poker Face", "Say It Right", and this), and how each pinned down its place among the most mysterious, sexy, and most of all, melodic hits of our time; "We Need A Resolution" is far more about mystery and unanswered, open-ended angst than Nelly Furtado's gem, and clearly it's more sexy and less obvious than anything Lady Gaga could ever dream of. Thus, what it lacks in bombast and visceral appeal, it makes up for in terms of our more long-lasting, universal fascinations with doubt and confusion.

That a song titled "We Need A Resolution" could close with the following string of questions, amidst backward synths that unpredictably fade in and out of the mix, leave them unanswered, yet still feel totally complete, says a lot about Aaliyah and Timbaland's accomplishment.

Am I supposed to change?
Are you supposed to change?
Who should be hurt,
Who should be ashamed?(yeah-yee)

Am I supposed to change?
Are you supposed to change?
Who should be heard?
Will we remain?

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2001: #5 - "Get Ur Freak On"

As inescapable as it was in late 2001, and as inescapable it was in late 2009 on Songs of the Decade lists, "Get Ur Freak On", with only 700,000 YouTube views to date, seems to have been slightly forgotten over the years. Perhaps modern music fans have all forgotten, after she became a Top 40 princess for the first half of the 00's, then experienced a half-decade of obscurity, how bad-ass Missy could be on the mic as a legitimate rapper.

Or maybe music fans grew tired of the once innovative but now mildly grating hook, especially after the bhangra style had been used and abused so heavily in the early part of the decade. That's hard to believe though, because even in hindsight, even after all the imitators, it still sounds far, far from passe.

Looking back, it's hard to believe it was a hit at all, being that its main percussion is the tabla, and the only Western instrumentation are keys that sound like cartoon laser guns - not exactly the type of stuff that'll typically get car stereos thumping. It was all very unique stuff to be sure, even for Timbaland, but it's Missy who really keeps us coming back, even after nearly 9 years, after the crazy oddness of the beat had wormed its way into our brains forever, for better or worse.

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2001: #7 - "Rollout"

Is this really the first Ludacris sighting on DOTY? Did he, after 2001, suddenly abandon everything that made him worth paying attention to as a pop-rap singles artist? Not exactly. Luda's wit - which on the beefy, quintessentially Timbaland "Rollout" veered precariously between clever, unfunny, and self-parody - became so tediously stereotypical and outright dumb over the years that we weren't sure that it wasn't all a parody, until he started doing those hilariously bad PSA-type, serious songs in addition. Sadly, we're not likely to hear another like this from him again - the beat is accessible and dancey but not totally cheesed out, and it's strong enough to outweigh any of the lyrical silliness.

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2001: #9 - "Is That Your Chick?"

Back when every rap hit sounded pretty much exactly like this, it was kind of easy to lose Memphis Bleek's masterwork "Is That Your Chick?" in the shuffle. Sadly, to our ears, this is one that should still be in rotation, as it's probably the most overstuffed, fast-paced version of a Timbaland/Missy collaboration you could ever imagine.

Maybe Timbaland was trying to outdo all the imitators and put this sound to rest. His beat stutters all over the place, with off-beat drums, cash registers, funky clav stabs, and a wide variety of bells, whistles and other synth squiggles.

Memphis Bleek brings his A-game, coming fast and furious with multi-layered rhymes like: "Damn Bleek, can't speak / Uh-huh, okay, what's up, SHUT UP / And close the door / Act like you been in the drop top / On the open road before / Fix your weave, then fix me / Ever gave head doing 160? / Ever seen a pair of kicks this crispy / How you love how the white wife beater fit me?"

Then it's Twista, who's not all that gifted lyrically but fine in small doses, who comes in and does his speedy thing.

Finally, on top of all that, Jay-Z and Missy show up to provide star power, with both icons doing their best to emulate Twista's style. Whew.

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2002: #2 - "Work It"

While we're on the subject of songs that heavily borrow from classic hip hop without being a tired retread... "Work It" was the song that prompted many (well, three or four) people to ask me, "Hey, what's that sample?" Usually they were referring to the "Peter Piper" loop (itself a sample of "Take Me To the Mardi Gras" by semi-obscure jazz-fusion artist Bob James), but there's also a nearly unrecognizable Blondie hook in there, too.

"Work It" also has the official distinction of being Billboard's longest running #2 song that never reached #1. Oddly, it's kept out of the DOTY top slot by the same song that stifled it on the charts. Unofficially, it's one of the top five oddest sounding #2 song in chart history, and the strangest of all Missy's hits, which is certainly saying something. It's basically a bunch of very subtle percussion elements, siren wails, deep keyboard rumbles, onomatopeia, lyrical non sequiturs - the most noteworthy of which often punctuated by stops and starts in the rhythm track - and backwards vocal hooks, all thrown together, and then wrapped up in the end by the aforementioned Run D.M.C. sample, but, thanks to Timbaland and Missy, it works.

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2002: #4 - "More Than A Woman"

Aaliyah, with the help of Timbaland, has been lauded in the pop music community and beyond for her willingness to experiment. Never gimmicky or fussy, sometimes, if you blink, you'll miss what all the fuss is about, like on the ultra-smooth soul throwback "More Than A Woman". The beat stops and starts, building to climaxes and comedowns every measure. The musical hook is an appropriated melody straight out of India, but it doesn't feel intrusive like a lot of more recent Bhangra-influenced songs are. There are layers and layers of different synths, from heavy, "dark" sounds to electro-funk bells and blurts - they almost bury the vocal non-hook, which is an afterthought sung by a chorus of backup Aaliyahs, as if it goes without saying that Aaliyah is what she says she is.

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2002: #5 - "Oops (Oh My)"

Why Timbaland decided to use one of his All-Time Top Five Beats on someone who calls herself Tweet we'll never know, but frankly, Tiny Tim could have sung this song and it would have been a huge hit. For the record, Tweet gets the job done here for the most part - her voice is just not as sexy Aaliyah's, or even as confident as Missy Elliott's (who co-wrote). Over acid-trip pitch-shifted vocal synths, a very subtle yet very effective rhythm section, keyboard blips, and slithery post-punk funk guitar riffery - all of which are perfectly panned in the mix, and brought in and out at well-timed moments, creating tension as the jittery beats and bleeps continue until the fade out - she's singing something about taking off her clothes and it kind of makes us want to do the same, but not because of anything she's saying. It's the beat that does us in.

P.S. - We thought this would be an appropriate post to start sharing our Twitter feed. Tweet away.

2003: #3 - "Deliverance"

Bubba Sparxxx's "Deliverance" - or more specifically, his 2003 album of the same name - was made for all those so-called music fans who boast, "I listen to everything... except rap and country". It's worth picking up, if you were ever interested in hearing Timbaland-style Southern rap fused with subtle honky-tonk and bluegrass elements. And not in a shitty Kid Rock kind of way either.

In any case, we loved the title track of the album despite it being neither pure rap nor true country; Bubba spits some mean verses about being a white trash redneck in a bling bling world (A highlight: "Nothing could atone for the pain you've endured/ The blood you shed is still stained in your valor/ You took your wealth and knowledge and gave it to the poor/ Only to discover that your savior's manure"), but Timbaland's sing-songy choruses get equal time here, turning the whole thing into some very accessible pop-rap.

And while there are some acoustic guitars, corny square dance clapping, and lyrics about fishing and moonshine, there's nothing overtly country about the track either. It's just a very unique sounding Southern hip-hop song, one of the best of the decade, or ever.

2003: #10 - "Cry Me A River"

With "Cry Me A River", Justin Timberlake established himself as the post-modern King of Pop, a more self-aware version of Thriller-era Jacko, where the protagonist of the song (and video) is not an a victimized innocent (see "Billie Jean"), but a conflicted anti-hero who clearly has his own faults and is not afraid to put them out there for the entire pop world to see.

Sonically, the closest to M.J. that J.T. and Timbaland get is through the use of some pretty upper-register vocals, and production arrangements that sound like an army of ghostly Justin falsettos (attacking the ghost of Britney?).

The rest of it is almost standard-issue Timbaland - creepy clavs, odd syncopated percussion sounds, slightly dissonant non-Western melodies - in other words, exactly what we've come to expect from Mr. Mosely, but still pretty good.

2004: #4 - "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"

With his hand on his knots, Jay-Z delivers an epic fuck-off to all the customer cronies who are on his jock for... what, retiring? Dating Beyonce? Not actually about to really retire but just using that as a marketing ploy? We're not sure what the issue was or what got Jay's baggy jeans all in a bunch here, but when we hear this song, think of Mr. Carter and Timbaland in Photon outfits, dancing around in some kind of surreal Tron video game landscape, taunting detractors with their titular gesture, and it'll all make sense, or at least make you smile.

2006: #1 - "Promiscuous"

When you can mine vintage Prince and Madonna as successfully as Timbaland and Nelly Furtado do here, throwing in some thoroughly modern bass beef and a perfectly pointless and weird guitar coda that you'll be humming forever, a cringe-worthy line like "Can you be M.V.P. like Steve Nash?" can be easily forgiven, and even explained away (they're both from Vancouver, duh!)

So despite some near awful lyrics, on par with Gwen Stefani at her best/worst (depending on how you look at it), "Promiscuous", with its stellar production and chill-inducing choruses, was the song of 2006, a return to chart dominance from the generation's greatest producer, and a confident proclamation of newfound sexiness from a budding superstar coming out of her shell.

2006: #2 - "My Love"

You wouldn't think that a song with what sounds like a sped-up version of the crying baby from "Are You That Somebody?" as basically the main percussive backbeat would be sexy, shimmering and beautiful, but throw some stuttering, pitch-shifted Timbaland snyths and some multi-tracked J.T. falsetto all over it, and you've got all of that and more. It's one of the most futuristic yet romantic ballads of the era, and one of our favorite love songs ever.

Much has been made of the cornball lyrics - and we admit, it took us a while to fully accept Justin's lame come-ons - but when the track sounds this good, who cares?

2006: #5 - "SexyBack"

What a year this was. Though songs 11 through 20 are kind of iffy, we just ran through a bunch from nos. 6 through 10 that would be legitimate Top 5 contenders in any other year this decade, and we still have five more to go.

This one may be a surprise to some, however. One of the more polarizing megahits of the decade, "SexyBack" actually turned some long-time fans totally off of J.T., while spawning a new legion of hipsters and hip-hoppers who finally, reluctantly, were forced to take notice.

Timberlake himself described this one as "David Byrne or David Bowie covering 'Sex Machine'", and while we'd be hard-pressed to find any of the grit or sex of the James Brown classic in here, there is a certain swagger to it, not to mention a fascinating mix of odd, mechanical electronic-dance-funk and Eno-esque sound effects we heard in late-70's music from the aforementioned hipster touchstones.

2006: #8 - "Maneater"

When Timbaland joined forces with pop stars Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, the results were as unexpected and memorable as any of the avant-R&B or experimental pop-rap he had done in his career (Think "Pony" and Aaliyah, or "Get Ur Freak On" and "Big Pimpin'").

In 2006, we heard some of the greatest Top 40 art-dance tracks ever on JT's FutureSex/LoveSounds and NF's Loose, whose lead single, "Maneater", was a classic example of Timbaland's ability to make something totally inaccessible-sounding into a mainstream hit.

The beats are all over the place, the melodies are slightly dissonant, and sometimes the music - a minimalist art-funk - even drops out entirely. For these reasons, we guess, you rarely hear this one on the radio anymore, so if you've forgotten it, go back and give it a quick listen.

2007: #5 - "The Way I Are"

On the hypnotic yet ultra-shiny pop-trance hit "The Way I Are", Timbaland extrapolates the synth part of mid-80s dance classic "Push It" (personally, I'm not a huge fan, but it's a cool hook), twists it around and creates one of the best Madonna-esque club-pop songs since Madonna stopped writing them in the mid-80s. It's a shame he couldn't have saved this one for her, since his actual collabs with her and J.T. were pretty putrid. In any case, we could hear (and have heard) this one a million times and it would still retain its long-lasting appeal. Breathy female vocals, ping-ponging synths and silly robo-funk that would make Prince blush may seem like elements of a major disaster, an embarrassing foray into glossed-up trance music from a hip-hop/pop maestro, but Timbaland pulls it all together here.

2007: #8 - "Give It To Me"

"Give It To Me", a cross between an early Madonna dance anthem and an easily digestible version of the stuff Timbaland used to do with Missy Elliott and Aaliyah, is the forgotten stepchild of Tim's most recent spate of #1 hits. While songs like "Apologize" and "The Way I Are" (and also any number of hits by guests Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake) continue to garner a fair amount of airplay on dance and Top 40 stations, this one seems to have been lost in the abyss of summer of '07 radio playlists.

That's a shame, as a massive yet snaky beat, and a stunning double tracked chorus laid down perfectly by the inimitable (for better or worse) Furtado, more than make up for some ludicrous rapping by the chart-topping trio. Though Timbaland has one good dis (the "I'm a producer and you just a piano man" line that almost started a producer feud between him and Scott Storch), the rhymes almost do it in; one can't help but think how much better this might have been with Missy Elliott, or even Jay-Z (think "Big Pimpin'" or "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"), singing over it.

2007: #9 - "Apologize"

The second time I heard this song, I got so excited that I did 70 in a 50 and got a $200 speeding ticket. Sure, it was a speed trap, but I won't deny being legitimately fired up. Not because it rocked hard or it was so interesting or anything like that. Obviously. The truth is, i'd spent the previous week or so listening to this "New Pop" new wave mix that had some "cool" post-punk stuff on it like Josef K, Orange Juice and Adam Ant, but also included songs by ABC, Scritti Politti, Human League, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham!, who, with their modernized glam-soul take on pop, helped define the movement known as New Romantic.

Now, it does have a more sober, precious post-90's faux-alternative Coldplay-style vibe to it, but with "Apologize", I think Timbaland and OneRepublic really captured that New Romantic ballad sound - and in their own way - better than anyone in recent memory. Whereas that someone like The Killers tends to shove the 80's influence down your throat, while simultaneously sounding nothing like an actual 80's synth-pop band, Timbaland totally gets it right.