“He wants me to do the whole thing this time around,” Timbaland said Monday during a visit to the MTV News office. “I’mma make it a classic too. You better believe it. It’ll be a monster! I always say this: You get a first single from me, I’mma get you up to gold. And it’s hard to get you up to gold in this day [and age].”

Tim insisted that an LP featuring him and Jay would sell more than the 500,000 copies needed for a gold record, as they’re both international platinum artists.

“Jay should never chill,” he said about the rapper’s decision to return to music full time. “We had a long talk, and I really talked to him. Jay-Z does it for the love. That’s different. When somebody does it for the love, you don’t stop. He has everything, but he’s still current. A million people are buying his album regardless.

“We wanna go to the world,” he added. “The world is ‘Big Pimpin’.’ ‘Big Pimpin’ ‘ is an international hit, so we wanna do 10 of those. Meaning, some of the songs gonna sound like M.I.A. would rap on some of the beats. You gonna be like, ‘Whoa!’ But it’s Jay on ’em. That means it reaches everywhere. I’mma have songs with bagpipes. The music is gonna be so worldwide, he’ll be able to tour the rest of his life, maybe, off just this one album. The Jay-Z album is gonna be phenomenal. You know why? We don’t care. We’re doing great music just to do it. We doing it for our fans who love us to say we ain’t quit. I’m doing it ’cause that’s my homeboy.”

Though I’m feeling the whole ‘everyone jumping on the Timbaland bandwagon’ thing is becoming a lil’ tiresome, I’m pretty interested to see what he’ll deliver for Jay. After that faux retirement and the so-so ‘Kingdom Come’ LP, Jay has staged a great return to form with the release of last year’s ‘American Gangster’ and successful tours. Here’s hoping this new album continues the trend.

Ciara – So Hard

As I’ve detailed in the past, Ciara’s 2006 sophomore effort ‘The Evolution’ was indeed pretty solid, yet offered little in the way of what its title declared – evolution (from her first LP). That said, one of the album’s definite standout cuts was the Bryan Michael-Cox produced ‘So Hard’. Reminiscent of Cox’s now trademark ‘Crunk Ballad’ sound, the track IMO is right up there with the brilliance that is ‘Promise’. What Ciara lacks in vocal prowess, is compensated by the sheer emotion the song evokes. In simpler terms (lol), you both feel and believe what she’s singing. A must listen.

Listen: So Hard

Listen: Fantasy (ft. Money)

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Your thoughts: Hit(s) or Miss(es)?