JT, Timbaland Help “World”
Timbaland has been enlisted by the YouthAIDS organization to update
the 1985 all-star charity classic “We Are the World.” The producer
(a.k.a. Tim Moseley) will work with his longtime partner Missy
Elliott and Justin Timberlake to write “The World Is Ours: AIDS
Anthem,” a song due next year that will raise money for worldwide
AIDS treatment and awareness programs.
“I see this as a passing of the torch,” Timbaland said. “I will
use the legendary model of ‘We Are the World,’ but update it in a
way that works for the trends of the music industry today. Just as
Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson did twenty years
ago, we will create an anthem with today’s most talented artists to
produce a song that will bring the world’s attention to the AIDS
pandemic.”
Organizers plan to put together the lineup for the song during
the remainder of 2003, and enter a studio to record it early next
year. The song will be released on Timbaland’s Beat Club Records
and distributed by Interscope. VH1 is also sponsoring the recording
and will air a television special on its creation. An accompanying
DVD will be produced by QD3, Quincy Jones’ son, and further tying
the current event to its predecessor of nearly two decades ago.
Despite tireless campaigning for AIDS relief in Africa, Jones
had avoided reprising his iconic song (“I hate to do the same thing
twice,” he told Rolling Stone), but he has given the
project his blessing. “Africa is in a crisis situation,” he said.
“It’s really scary. One out of every five five-year-olds has a
chance of living. It would tear your heart out.”
In addition to Africa, the single would provide money to
HIV/AIDS prevention programs in more than seventy other nations
worldwide. More information is available at youthaids.org.