"If this album does as semi-well as the last one, I'm done," Timbaland said. "I'm not going through the stress no more. I will do it for my fans and give it away for free."

The super-producer says he's tired of the politics and the way the music biz is going and he's losing his desire to try to sell albums. Of course, he's still in the midst of doing exactly that with Shock Value II, which overall is more slanted toward pop than hip-hop, with contributions from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus (although Brandy does make her rapping debut on the LP). That's for a reason, he said.

"After my last album, I know where my bread and butter is at," Tim explained. "I know 75 percent [of the people who buy my album] are women who love Timbaland and most are the women who watch 'Desperate TimHousewives' and all those others. I did this research. It's the women who watch 'Sex and the City,' 'Desperate Housewives' — all the real go-to-the-bar women like Timbaland, and mostly European women. It lets me know that my fanbase is mostly women and they are from all cultures. So it's not a person who loves mostly hip-hop. It's a person who loves everything besides hip-hop."

Don't get him wrong, Timbaland still loves hip-hop — he's still DJ Timmy Tim at heart. But he's not inspired by much from the genre these days and it's reflected on the LP.

"I was done with hip-hop a long time ago," he said. "Once my generation left, I left. I do it, but there's nobody from my generation besides Jay who's doing it. I look at Lil Wayne as being from my generation. Some people are still acceptable. Kanye is acceptable from my generation.

"It's just not the same. By it not being the same, I kind of fade to black. I did music [on this album] that fits where I was going to in my age bracket. 'What does Tim listen to in his car all the time?' I love '80s music. So how do I infuse '80s with modern-day music? You Timbo the King, you gotta figure it out. I figured it out a couple of years ago with Nelly [Furtado] and Justin and myself. We had a tremendous run. I think it was good for me to do it that, because some people would say 'Tim is cold.' The same people who smile in my face would be the same ones to talk behind my back. But I got this run, I'm not gonna stop until I wanna stop."

 

Michael Jackson will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy the day before the Grammy Awards take place on January 30, according to a statement released by the organization. Jackson is one of seven musicians set to receive the honor, a list that also includes singer Bobby Darin, singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, blues guitarist David "Honeyboy" Edwards, country legend and Jack White collaborator Loretta Lynn, composer Andre Previn and jazz trumpeter Clark Terry.

The awards will be handed out at the invite-only Special Merit Awards. Jackson was not eligible for any Grammy nods this year, although he won four American Music Awards posthumously.

And while no Grammy tribute to MJ had been announced at press time, at the junket for their A&E miniseries, "The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty", the brothers responded with enthusiastic "Yeah!"s when asked if they'd like to be involved in such a tribute, should it take place.

"We'd just like to see exactly what went down in a great sort of tribute or whatever the plan is," Jermaine Jackson added. "We want it to be real."

If it occurs, the Grammy tribute would join a list that includes BET Awards shortly after Michael's death, which saw sister Janet giving a brief speech and musical tributes; the 2009 Video Music Awards, where Janet and Madonna paid tribute to him via a performance and a speech, respectively; and on "Dancing With the Stars," with his family in attendance.