Timbaland Will Be Replaced By Rodney Jerkins And Ester Dean On Fox’s ‘Empire’

Rachel Sonis | September 15, 2016 9:29 am

Interesting news from the Empire camp.

Timbaland has officially exited his role as music supervisor for season three of Fox’s hit show. According to Billboard, the music producer will be replaced by Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Ester Dean, who’s combined list of collaborators include BeyoncéMary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj and more.

“We were happy to work with Timbaland during the first two seasons,” said Shawn Holiday, senior VP of A&R for Columbia Records, to the publication. “But we wanted to take a different approach for season 3″

Responsible for releasing Empire‘s music, Columbia also noted that other additions to the team include Johntá Austin (Mariah Carey, Usher), Makeba Riddick (Rihanna, Toni Braxton) and Jesse St. John (who co-wrote Britney Spears “Love Me Down” on Glory). Not to mention, Ne-Yo and J.R. Rotem, who worked on season two of the show with Timbo, will return to the group.

There will also be some new additions to the on-screen cast. As well as cameos by Birdman, French Montana, and Biz Markie, Romeo Miller (formerly known as Lil’ Romeo) will star as Hakeem’s musical rival. Miller replaces Kid Cudi, who was first cast for the role but backed out due to “creative differences.”

Watch the trailer for the forthcoming season of the show below.

Season three of Empire will air on Wednesday, September 21 at 9/8c.

Keep up with more pop music news by hitting us up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.