Timbaland - Timbaland And Dre Co-Sign New Artist

Hip-hop heavyweights TIMBALAND and DR. DRE are giving aspiring rapper HAYES a big boost in the music industry - the superproducers have co-signed the wannabe star.

Timbaland is already working with R&B star Akon to launch new rap artist Billy Blue, but he reveals Hayes - who he has likened to the late Notorious B.I.G. - is also destined for big things.

He tells MTV.com, "I think people are gonna wanna know about (him). Me and Dre just signed him, this guy named Hayes from Detroit.

"Incredible storyteller. Incredible. Reminds me of how B.I.G. tells his stories."

And Hayes has already been given some insight into life in the studio with Dr. Dre - he helped to write the rap legend's rhymes for his long-awaited third album Detox.

Timbaland adds, "He wrote some of Dre's Detox - if Dre ever is gonna do it - but he wrote a lot of that for Dre. He's just been around the camp... Me and Dre both think he' a crazy artist, so we said, 'Let's do him together.'"

Hayes is signed to both Timbaland's Mosley Music Group and Dre's Aftermath Records.