Justified is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on November 5, 2002, by Jive Records. The album was written and recorded in a six-week period as Timberlake's boy band NSYNC was on hiatus. For his solo album, he began to adopt a more mature image as an R&B artist opposed to the previous pop music recorded by the group. The majority of the album was produced by the Neptunes (credited as "Williams and Hugo") and Timbaland, and features guest appearances by Janet Jackson, Clipse, and Bubba Sparxxx. It primarily is an R&B album that also contains influences of dance-pop, funk, and soul music.

Justified received generally positive reviews from critics, who complimented the mature progression of Timberlake's material, although some criticized its lyrical content. The album earned Timberlake four Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year, and won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Justified topped the album charts in Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom while reaching the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States. As of 2012, it has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century.

Four singles were released from Justified. The lead single "Like I Love You" peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the follow-up singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body" peaked within the top five on the chart. "Like I Love You", "Cry Me a River", and "Rock Your Body" peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and in the top ten in Australia (with "Rock Your Body" topping the Australian chart), Ireland, Netherlands, and Belgium. To promote the album, Timberlake performed on several television shows and award ceremonies, including the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he made his solo debut appearance. Furthermore, Timberlake embarked on two concert tours—The Justified World Tour and the Justified & Stripped Tour—with Christina Aguilera accompanying him on the latter.

Following the conclusion of their Celebrity Tour in April 2002, boy band NSYNC went on a hiatus, during which co-lead singer Justin Timberlake began work on what would be his debut solo album. With the album, he wanted to portray a more mature image as an R&B performer, rather than a boy band pop artist. He revealed minimal information regarding the producers and artists involved with Justified during its early recording stage, with his management and record label also reluctant to share any information. However, MTV News reported that production duo The Neptunes were working on multiple tracks, while rapper P. Diddy and singer Mario Winans contributed to one track. Other known producers involved included Mike City, Raphael Saadiq and Rodney Jerkins, though between June and July, none of the aforementioned producers had attended any studio sessions. Explaining his involvement with the project, Jerkins said at the 2002 BET Awards that he "just got a call about working on the project" and that whenever Timberlake wanted his assistance, it would "be done". The majority of the tracks the Neptunes produced for Justified were originally intended for Michael Jackson. Since Jackson turned down the tracks, the songs were modified for Timberlake's album.

Brian McKnight's manager stated that his client had already recorded tracks with the singer, while rapper Nelly explained to the reporters that both him and Timberlake had discussed a collaboration effort. Early in 2002, Angie Stone revealed that Timberlake "loves the Mahogany Soul album" with him further saying to her "your CD's in my car right now, you have to work on my solo project". These assertions were later partially denied by a Jive Records spokesperson who announced that the material produced from the collaboration would not appear on the finalized record.

We picked him up right after he checked into his hotel. We drove around in the car listening to old Earth, Wind & Fire albums, and he was totally with it. The background of those songs is the feeling we wanted to incorporate into the music. He was like, 'Nobody's ever heard anything like that before ... a white boy singing this kind of music.' He didn't care what people would say.

Justified was written and recorded in a six-week period. According to Timberlake, the "creative spurt" was reminiscent of "that period of time back in the 1960s and '70s when musicians got together and just jammed and worked out of inspiration. There was no heavy calculation or belaboring songs and mixes. Everything flowed pretty easily and naturally." Recording sessions took place at various studios in the United States, including the Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Manhattan Center Studios in New York City and Master Sound Recording Studios and Windmark Recording in Virginia Beach.

The Neptunes told MTV News that the duo and Timberlake drove in a car listening to Earth, Wind & Fire albums for inspiration, with the background of the band's music being what the production duo wanted to implement into Justified's musical content. The production duo commented that despite not being content with sampling music, for inspiration, they also listened to both Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982), albums by Jackson. Their intentions were to create music that was similar to Jackson's work without "recycling them". One of the two members of The Neptunes, Chad Hugo, commented that they just wanted to re-create "that sense of those timeless, classic songs, without any of the 'bling, bling, hit me on my two-way' style of the new R&B. It has elements of the old and the new." The producer further went on to say that people wanted Timberlake to be conformed to being part of boy band NSYNC, with the former insisting that the singer is an immaculate vocalist. Hugo acknowledged Timberlake's break-up with singer Britney Spears, saying that some of the album's music could be directed towards it.