Danja
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| Danja | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Floyd Nathaniel Hills |
| Also known as | Nate Hills, Danja, Danjahandz |
| Born | c. 1982 |
| Origin | Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | R&B, hip-hop, dance-pop, pop, electropop, hip pop |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Percussion, synthesizer, keyboards, drums, sampler |
| Years active | 2003 – present |
| Label(s) | Danjahandz Muzik/CrownLife Ent., Mosley Music Group |
| Associated acts | Timbaland, Keri Hilson, Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Ciara, Simple Plan, Duran Duran, T.I. |
Floyd Nathaniel Hills (born c. 1982) is a Grammy winning American record producer, composer and songwriter more commonly known as "Danja" IPA: /ˈdeɪndʒə/, and the protégé of producer Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley and former member of production team, "Tag Team Music." He was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and took up drums and piano in his early teens. He got his start playing in his church when growing up.[1]
In 2001, a chance encounter with Timbaland turned into an opportunity to play some music for him. Two years later, Timbaland brought Danja to Miami to work in his studio there.[2][1][3]
He has produced a wide catalog of songs with Timbaland that helped return the famous producer to prominence in 2006 with an ongoing string of hits throughout the year until present, including "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado, "SexyBack", "What Goes Around...Comes Around" and "My Love" by Justin Timberlake among others, such as "Love Story" by Katharine McPhee, "Innocence" and "Earth Intruders" by Björk, and "Give It to Me" and "The Way I Are" off Timbaland's second solo album.[4] In 2007, he produced "Gimme More", the come-back hit of Britney Spears,& Trey Songz hit single "Wonder Woman" off his 2nd album Trey Day. The most recently hit single: "Break the Ice", and some other songs from her Blackout album. More recently, in 2008, Danja co-produced the new single from Madonna, "4 Minutes". He has worked with Mariah Carey on her new song Migrate from E=MC². He has also created a few songs in Danity Kane's 2008 album, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Kelly Rowland is expected to work with Danja for her third solo album. Danja has collaborated with The Clutch to produce Cassie Ventura's New Single Official Girl for her sophomore effort on Bad Boy Records.
He is currently working on the next albums by LeToya Luckett, Clipse, Teairra Mari, Nicole Scherzinger, Eve, Ciara, Keri Hilson, T.I., JC Chasez, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne, Christina Milian, Antonella Barba, Nikki Flores and the second compilation album by Aaliyah.[5]
Danja is also completing work on Ciara's new album, Fantasy Ride. According to Billboard, he is producing the "Crunktown" and "Kingdom Of Dance" sections of Fantasy Ride's three-disc compilation album.
Contents |
[edit] Production equipment
Danja uses a laptop, an Edirol MIDI controller, an Akai MPC4000, an Alesis Andromeda A6 synthesizer, a Korg Triton and a Yamaha Motif. He also uses Steinberg's audio sequencer Cubase, as revealed in an interview with Remix Magazine.[6] Also, in another interview on Danja's contribution to Clipse's new album, it was noted that Danja charges around $50,000-100,000 a track.[7] Like many producers, he makes his work known by saying his name in the songs that he has produced.
[edit] Production discography
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b Janeé Bolden. "Timbaland's Right Hand Man, Danja", SOHH.com, 2006-10-09.
- ^ Malcom Venable. "Danja: Hitting the right note", HamptonRoads, 2007-02-10.
- ^ Jayson Rodriguez. "Timbaland Protege Danja Makes His Own Noise With DJ Khaled, Trey Songz", MTV News, 2007-05-01.
- ^ Hillary Crosley. "Epic's Walk Honors Nate ‘DanjaHandz’ Hills", Billboard, 2007-05-10.
- ^ vidshadow : Your Vids. Your Life. Video sharing and social network
- ^ Anthony Roberts. "Timbaland protégé Danja on producing tracks - Hip-hop Producer Danja", Remix Magazine, 2007-02-01.
- ^ Exclusive: Clipse Q&A (Online news article). [1]. Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
