Timbaland has never been one with a filter, and he kept it real during a recent appearance on The Pivot podcast, revealing how drugs played a part in his creative process. The man behind hits for JAY-Z, Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake also disclosed that while he was working on some of his highest-profile projects, he was still struggling with addiction, thinking that being high made his music “amazing.”
Timbaland was candid about his experience. He confessed, “Doing drugs and doing music was great.” “Because I’d be like, my music was amazing.” Around this time, he co-wrote Justin Timberlake’s 2013 album The 20/20 Experience, along with JAY-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail and the global smash “Drunk in Love” by Beyoncé and JAY-Z. At the time, he believed the high sparked his creativity, but he now looks at it differently.
Even though those albums were undoubtedly successful, Timbaland now admits they are not on the same level as earlier work he did sober. “They were classic,” he continued, “but they don’t hold up in the same way my big records hold up, like ‘Big Pimpin,’ ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder,’ ‘One in a Million.’ ”
Timbaland began battling addiction in 2011, when he was prescribed painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet after a root canal. Pain management quickly spiraled into dependency. He became addicted, and his crises, a nasty divorce and tax problems with the IRS, only fed the addiction.
At his low, he struggled with serious health problems, packing on pounds, being prediabetic, and constantly exhausted. But the wake-up call came in a vivid dream. In the vision, he had a ghostly white face; it horrified him. He was determined to change; he had to quit.
The withdrawal process was “one of the hardest battles of my life,” Timbaland said, but he relied on his children, his girlfriend, and his faith in God to help him through. By 2017, he had transformed his life and gotten sober.
Now, years into sobriety, Timbaland finds himself in a different headspace. Though he has not neglected to remember the days of his youth, wild and drug-fueled and free, he is unyielding on the position that he does his best work from a place of clarity and order. His outspokenness illuminates a discussion many in the music world shy away from: how substance use and abuse can intersect with creativity but cannot outlast authentic talent.
Timbaland is living proof that no matter what heights you reach, addiction can drag you down, but with determination and support, it’s possible to rise again. And, with his revitalized energy and passion for music, he’s hardly finished making hits.
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