*** Timbaland and Magoo

WELCOME TO OUR WORLD

(Blackground/Atlantic)

When you're one of the hottest hip-hop producers of the moment, what do you do for your own album? Whatever the hell you want, it turns out: Missy Elliott's sometime partner Timbaland crams his collaboration with the nasal-voiced Magoo full of remixes, guest shots, interludes, and about a million wild production tricks. The title of their hit "Up Jumps da' Boogie" is a good hint of what they're up to -- they're as playful as the Sugarhill Gang, as single-mindedly bouncy as "Da' Dip," as street as you like but more concerned with dancing vertical and horizontal than with proving their toughness. And Timbaland's backing tracks are awesomely inventive. Check out the way he recasts Miami bass beats to make things sound half time or double time, or the way the "Reelin' and Rockin'" rewrite "15 After da' Hour" keeps mutating its central loop of an old ska guitar riff.

-- Douglas Wolk