Timbaland Confirms Telling Bryson Tiller To Quit His Job, Says He Came Up With “Don’t” Afterwards

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Prince Williams / Contributor via Getty Images and Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff via Getty Images

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Timbaland at 2023 A3C Conference and Bryson Tiller visits SiriusXM at SiriusXM Studios

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Key Takeaways:

Bryson Tiller revealed how early encouragement from Timbaland shaped his decision to leave his job.
Timbaland later clarified he was unsure if Tiller truly wanted to be an artist.
The situation highlights how early career advice can sometimes leave artists in limbo.

Yes, Timbaland did tell Bryson Tiller to quit his job — but maybe not quite the way the internet is spinning it.

On Tuesday (Aug. 26), the superproducer responded to a video circulating online of Tiller recalling how Timbaland told him to walk away from his 9-to-5 a year before “Don’t” dropped. While the clip made it sound like he flat-out denied it, the Virginia native clarified in a statement to The Shade Room that it wasn’t that simple.

Timbaland explained he didn’t know if Tiller “really wanted to be an artist” and said he was “highly focused” on getting Tink a record deal at the time.

“There’s really nothing to respond to,” Timbaland said, noting that he and Tiller had already spoken. “Bryson is a great guy…” he went on to say, “He didn’t have ‘Don’t’ when I met Bryson… He’s like me. We don’t try to be in the limelight, and I knew that in this business, you gotta be ready to go or you gon’ get run over.”

“I did tell him to quit his job, and after he quit his job, he came up with ‘Don’t,’ and that was the biggest record of his career,” Timbaland continued. “And as you can see, he really [doesn’t] like being an artist, which I knew back then.”

Unfortunately, Timbaland seemed to dodge the question of whether he left Tiller high and dry. For those who missed it, the “Exchange” singer told the “New Rory & Mal” podcast that he thought Timbo would help fund his career.

“So, like, how does this work? Am I signed right now? So, I called him up. I was like, ‘Yo, so when am I gon’ get my next payment?” Tiller recalled. “My boy Rich was like, ‘Yo, Timbaland said he never told you to quit your job.’ I was sick, dog.”

He added, “My girl at the time was already looking at me crazy ‘cause I quit my job. That was how we was taking care of our kids. I had to figure something out.”