"Do y'all understand what this is?" Timbaland asked last night, standing alongside Missy Elliott onstage and Hennessy's Wild Rabbit Party in New York. "We are the baddest tag team that every stepped foot on earth."
Missy joined Timbaland for a couple songs: "Triple Threat," (above) a new collaboration that flips Pimp C's "Big Pimpin" verse, first debuted at SXSW, and her own "Get Your Freak On." Before she appeared, in a pink Adidas tracksuit emblazoned with a rhinestone-dotted Graceland guitar, Timbaland goofily nodded along to his own productions ("hits on hits on hits on hiiittts," an audience member marveled), mostly thrusting the mic at the front row instead of singing along. When he got antsy halfway through his set, he asked the DJ to play "Pony."
Erykah Badu is a fine spokesperson and host, both charming and honest. Onstage to introduce Timbaland, she asked fans to raise their cocktail glasses and chase their Wild Rabbit. Immediately following the toast, she let the crowd know that she supports, "corporate reparations." Later, standing in front of a massive projection of live, hashtagged #wildrabbit tweets, she performed "The Healer" with her Dallas-based "digital band" the Cannabinoids, singing We been livin through your internet/ You don't have to believe everything you think. The crowd, several drinks in, was loose, thinned out and happy. A girl in red velvet rave pants, round glasses and a beanie had plenty of space to dance. "What y'all doin?" Badu asked, one hand on her MPC, another around the mic, cracking a smile. "Y'all drinking?"
