Timbaland & Magoo are a rap duo consisting of producer/rapper Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley and rapper Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, the duo first met when they were teenagers. They later paired up as a duo and released their debut album Welcome to Our World, spawning their highest-charting single "Up Jumps Da Boogie". They would release two more studio albums as a group, Indecent Proposal in 2001 and Under Construction, Part II in 2003. The latter was meant as a sequel to Missy Elliott's 2002 album Under Construction. They later joined the Virginia-based supergroup the V.A. Playaz, with Missy Elliott, Skillz, Pharrell, Clipse and Fam-Lay.

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972) better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper. Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. As a rapper he initially released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo, but later released his debut solo album Tim's Bio in 1998. In 2007, Timbaland released the first album in his Shock Value series, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value. Then In 2009 Timbaland Presents: Shock Value II. It is expected that Timbaland will release Timbaland Presents: Shock Value III in June 2012.

Timothy Zachery Mosley was born on March 10, 1972 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he was raised. He graduated from Salem High School. During his time as a DJ, he was known as "DJ Tim" or "DJ Timmy Tim". His brother, Sebastian, is nine years younger. Timbaland began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While attending high school, he began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. (which stood for surrounded by idiots) which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell. Mosley was also high school friends with Terrence and Gene Thorton, who would go on to be known as Pusha T and Malice of the rap group Clipse. In 1986, when Timbaland was 15 years old, he was shot while working a part time job at his local Red Lobster and was partially paralyzed for nine months. During this time, he began to learn how to DJ using his left hand.

Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actress. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have six albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one double platinum for her 2002 album Under Construction. Elliott is known for a series of hits and diverse music videos, including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "4 My People", "Work It", "Pass That Dutch", and "Lose Control". In addition, she has worked extensively as a songwriter and producer for other artists, both alone and with her fellow producer and childhood friend Timbaland, with whom she received her first production credit on R&B singer Ginuwine's 1996's album Ginuwine...the Bachelor.

Elliott was born on July 1, 1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is the only child of mother Patricia, a power-company coordinator, and father Ronnie, a Marine. At the age of four in 1975, she wanted to be a performer, though she knew no one took her seriously, as she was always the class clown. While her father was a Marine, the family lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in a mobile home. Elliott enjoyed school for the friendships she formed and had little interest in school work, though an IQ test classified her above average and she was able to jump two years ahead of her class. This made her feel increasingly isolated, so she purposely failed all her classes, eventually returning to her age-appropriate class. When her father returned from the Marines, they moved back to Virginia, where they lived in a vermin-infested shack.

Isaac Freeman III, better known by his stage name Fatman Scoop is an American hip hop promoter and radio personality famed for his on-stage rough, raw, loud voice.

He is known for the track "Be Faithful" which went to number one in the UK and Ireland in late 2003 and top 5 in Australia. The song has been a favorite in clubs around the world for years but it took two years to clear the samples from Jay-Z, Black Sheep, Queen Pen, The Beatnuts and Faith Evans.^{[citation needed]}

Fatman Scoop also has his own sex and relationship show/podcast. All episodes can also be seen on the Man and Wife channel on internet TV network, ONLOQ.com, as well as MTV. He also appears as himself on the TV series The Boondocks (season 2, episode 5, "The Story of Thugnificent" and episode 15, "The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2", from the same season).

Fatman Scoop received his stage name after appearing in the Fugees 'Killing Me Softly' video as a cinema worker serving popcorn and ice-cream. Lauryn Hill was a massive ice-cream fan herself so would shout 'scoop, scoop, fatman scoop' when she wanted a tub of her favourite snack. Lauryn Hill and Pras also made a spoof version of their most popular song, exchanging the lyrics 'killing me softly with his song' for 'filling my belly with popcorn'. Fatman Scoop was laughing for weeks.^{[citation needed]}