Post by Lívia Chasez on Oct 7, 2004 17:07:53 GMT -5
Nelly Producer Gives Story Behind 'Tilt Ya Head Back'
Nelly could have chosen a track from an A-list producer - the Neptunes, Jazze Pha, Jermaine Dupri or Big Boi - to serve as the first single from his "Suit" CD. But in a gesture of faith and support for local talent, he went with a track from one of St. Louis' own - the untested Doe.
New producer Doe (Dorian Moore, 23) has seen his first-ever radio production, Nelly's "My Place," rise to the top. It's one of the year's fastest-rising singles.
"For it to be so high on the charts now is a little scary - the fact that it happened so fast," admits Doe, part of Mo' Beats, the production end of Nelly's Derrty Entertainment label. "It was totally unpredictable.
"But there's always going to be the time when the single falls. What goes up comes down. So you always have to have something ready so you can do the same thing over again." Accordingly, Doe's Nelly-Christina Aguilera duet "Tilt Ya Head Back" is already on the charts, ready to supplant "My Place."
Nelly's "Tilt Ya Head Back" with Aguilera sounds tailor-made for the two, but Doe says it was meant as a song for Nelly and Britney Spears. He says Spears' label pulled out because the song sounded too urban. Aguilera and Janet Jackson were considered next, and Aguilera landed the song, which coasts on a heavy "Superfly" sample.
"I was listening to the Curtis Mayfield classic and wondered why nobody really touched it. It's a clever little sample, a nice name-maker," Doe says. "I was like, 'OK, let me fondle with it.' I played with the bass line, laid some drums over it and made sure everything was on balance. I turned it into what it is now and gave it to Nelly, and he just ran with it lyrically."
The first time Doe heard the finished version was when it was performed on MTV's Video Music Awards. He has yet to meet Aguilera.
