All-purpose performer

Timbaland is used to causing double takes with his music. Now he’s hoping to make a few jaws drop, as well. The veteran producer, who in the past year helped put Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado atop the pop heap, strives for a new level of creativity with his genre-busting album “Timbaland Presents Shock Value,” due in stores Tuesday.

After more than a decade of flooding the airwaves with hip-hop and R&B hits, the adventurous beatmaker blends rap, rock, R&B, punk and world music in his constant quest to stay ahead of the curve.

For first single “Give It to Me,” he calls in favors from Timberlake and Furtado. He also collaborates with the likes of 50 Cent, The Hives, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, She Wants Revenge, Dr. Dre and Sri Lankan rapper MIA.

“This is just me showing my versatility,” says the 36-year-old Timbaland (real name: Tim Mosley).

“I like being mainstream. There is nothing wrong with hip-hop, and I do a lot of it on my album. But I want to make global music that reaches everybody. … When people hear it I want them to go, ‘Hmmm. I would have never thought of that.’ “

“Shock Value” is his first album since 2003’s “Under Construction: Part II,” the third album he did with his longtime friend, rapper Magoo.

While his previous albums have usually been well-received critically, they’ve never been big commercially. His current hot streak and tour with Timberlake, however, have changed things.

“It’s different because my stardom level has gone up,” says Timbaland, who always has been low-key compared with other celebrated producers. “The way people look at me is totally different, and I have a whole new fan base.”

Industry observers agree that Timbaland, who has at times said he was bored with hip-hop, could skirt that genre’s sales doldrums by expanding his horizons.

“The climate for music is so bad right now, it will depend on whether pop radio picks up on it and whether he is seen as a pop star,” says Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur, co-owner of Allhiphop.com. “It will be interesting to see if he gets the same attention as Justin or Nelly Furtado.”

Adds Vibe associate music editor Sean Fennessey: “I think he is genuinely a fan of rock music. He is an Elton fan, he is a Fall Out Boy fan, and that is why he wants to work with these people.

“I don’t think he thinks of things in genres, either. He just thinks this is hot, or not hot. What he does is universal music. It’s very smart music, and at the same time, it’s very danceable.”

Furtado says Timbaland knows how to bring out the best in an artist.

“He has an innate musical knowledge and sense of groove that cannot be quantified,” she says. “Tim has been blessed by God with an incredible sense of rhythm. His production is full of primal energy.”

Timbaland has been on the road on Timberlake’s Future Sex/LoveShow World Tour since January, and has been previewing bits of “Shock Value” during a 20-minute DJ set in the middle of the two-hour concert.

The 38-stop tour hasn’t kept him from his busy production schedule. He has a fully equipped studio on the bus, sort of a recording home-away- from-home from his 5,000-square-foot facility in Virginia Beach, Va. (He also has a residence in Miami.)

Chris Brown, 50 Cent and Rihanna are among the stars he has connected with while traveling. He says that whenever he has to, “we just pull over and go to work.”

The Norfolk, Va.-born Timbaland has been putting in work since the early ‘90s, working as DJ Tiny Tim and collaborating with Missy Elliott and rapper Melvin Barcliff (Magoo).

They got their first break when Elliott’s girl group, Sista, was signed by Jodeci member/producer DeVante Swing to his Swing Mob label. That’s where he got his nickname, after the popular Timberland boots.

He was also a part of a production group, S.B.I. (Surrounded by Idiots), which included another star producer in the making – the Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams.

Timbaland worked on several projects at Swing Mob, but by 1995, most of the acts, including Elliott and R&B singer Ginuwine, had moved on.

A year later, he produced the latter artist’s debut album, “Ginuwine … The Bachelor,” which included the hit “Pony.” The song’s complex drum patterns, stuttering bass lines and quirky sound effects became a Timbaland trademark and spawned numerous imitators.

He teamed with Elliott to write and produce Aaliyah’s double platinum “One in a Million.” That success raised all of their profiles, and he had hits with the likes of Destiny’s Child, Nas, Jay-Z, Janet Jackson and SWV.

The bulk of his work, however, was concentrated on albums for his closest associates, including his own solo album and one with Magoo.

By 2001, Timbaland was still churning out hits. He introduced his new Beat Club imprint with rapper Bubba Sparxxx’s “Dark Days, Bright Nights” and worked with such new acts as Tweet, Ms. Jade and Petey Pablo.

Tragedy struck late that year when Aaliyah died in a plane crash. Timbaland keeps a portrait of her on his tour bus.

In 2002, he collaborated with star producer Scott Storch on several tracks on Timberlake’s solo debut album, “Justified.” He has maintained a steady presence on the radio since then with hits for Xzibit, Brandy, Jennifer Lopez, Elliott, Tweet, LL Cool J, Pussycat Dolls and The Game.

His infusion of Asian and Middle Eastern rhythms into productions once again had other urban beatmakers scrambling to catch up.

“I listen to some of everything, and the rhythms come from me studying the world and seeing what’s really out there besides us,” Timbaland says. “I’m not stuck on one thing. That’s just me.”

He formed the Mosley Music Group in 2005 after his Beat Club deal folded. Furtado was his first signee and her smash “Loose” its initial album.

“Shock Value” is next, and he plans to put out albums by alternative rock band OneRepublic and singer/songwriter Keri Hilston (who has written tunes for Mary J. Blige, Chingy, Chris Brown, Omarion, Usher and others) later this year.

Other acts signed to the label include his brother Sebastian (Garland Mosley) and production partner Nate “Danja” Hills.

Timbaland says he has several high-profile collaborations in the works, but he’s sworn to silence about them. Reports have him working with Duran Duran, Nicole Scherzinger and possibly Madonna.

He also has broached the idea of recording with troubled pop princess Britney Spears, although nothing is in the works.

“All I’ve said is that I was tired of people talking about her,” he says. “I like Britney as a person. People should leave her alone and let her get her life in order and not write about her every five minutes. That doesn’t show that you care about her. It just shows that you build a person up so that you can tear them down.”