Scott Storch

Producer, keyboard player

Scott Storch, in the words of Lola Ogunnaike of the New York Times, "may be the most important hip-hop producer you've never heard of." Without a strongly identifiable personal musical style, he has gained less attention than other celebrated producers of the mid-2000s, such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis or the team known as the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo). But he was one of the decade's most consistent hitmakers, lending his talent to some 80 tracks a year as his career hit its stride around 2004. Storch's production career has been notable for his musical versatility: he has worked effectively with artists ranging from mainstream pop vocalists to edgy gangster rappers. A prickly figure, he has feuded publicly with several of the artists he has worked with.

Scott Spencer Storch was born on December 15 or 16, 1973. He is of Jewish background and at one point named his production company Tuff Jew Productions. Although various sources have asserted that he was a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a city with a very small Jewish population, a New York Times profile reported his birthplace as Brooklyn, New York. Storch's father was a court reporter, and his mother sang. He grew up in the Philadelphia area and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, taking up the piano at age nine and almost immediately beginning to dream of a musical career, especially after a friend's father paid him $200 for a short piano gig.

Whether it was pop composer George Gershwin or rappers 2 Live Crew, Storch was fascinated by what he heard. He sat at the keyboard and worked out the sounds of different kinds of music. "As a kid, I used to sit there and figure out how to play everybody's song, and through learning all those songs I learned how to put chords together, and it evolved till I could say, ‘Hey, I just wrote that,’" he told Rolling Stone. Storch dropped out of high school in ninth grade—a decision that did not sit well with his parents, who threw him out of the house. As a teenager Storch struggled, working at Pizza Hut and doing construction work while looking for a way to break into the music business as a keyboardist.

The break came when he joined with some Philadelphia musicians to form a group called the Square Roots, later shortened to just the Roots. Storch played keyboards with the group, whose music fell into the hip-hop genre but was often marked by the use of live instruments instead of electronic devices such as sampling—a trait that would later mark Storch's own hip-hop production work. His discography began with the 1993 independent label Roots album Organix and continued with several other Roots releases of the 1990s as well as with session work on albums by other Philadelphia artists such as Schoolly D (Welcome to America, 1994) and G. Love & Special Sauce. Storch remained affiliated with the Roots over their exceptionally long hip-hop career, but he felt the need to strike out in new musical directions. "I wanted to work with all kinds of music, and they had a very specific sound," he told Ogunnaike.

Storch also concluded, as he explained to Rolling Stone, that "the touring life wasn't for me. I like to wake up in the same place most days. And I'm really into sitting behind a mixing console and listening to music all night and making music all night. I'm a studio rat." The chance to make the leap from keyboardist to producer came about after Philadelphia-born rapper Eve introduced Storch to top-rank producer and rapper Dr. Dre, with the result that Storch played keyboards on the track "Still D.R.E." from the 1999 Dr. Dre album 2001. Dre became Storch's mentor, a role he had previously played in the career of another prominent hip-hop figure, Detroit rapper Eminem. With the proceeds from his work on the 2001 album, Storch bought a Ferrari. He became an avid collector of luxury automobiles, which he installed in a spectacular mansion in Miami, Florida's waterfront Indian Creek Village neighborhood.

"Dre opened the door for me, and just having my name mentioned next to his raised my stock," Storch told Ogunnaike. "Doors that were once closed to me were swinging wide open." In 2000 and 2001 Storch-produced tracks began showing up on albums by rappers such as Busta Rhymes ("Bladow!"), Nas, Snoop Dog, and Eminem's group D12 ("Ain't Nothin' But Music"). Unlike most hip-hop producers, though, Storch's talents were equally adaptable to melody-based pop and rock. The years 2001 and 2002 saw him helm tracks by metal band Limp Bizkit and alternative singer-songwriter Pink. His versatility was partly attributable to the way he treated each artist as an individual, in contrast to other producers who devised innovative beats and later matched them to artists and songs. "I like working with people directly," he told Rolling Stone. "They go home, I make a beat. They come back the next night, and I've got a song together." Another contributor to his success was his interest in various musical genres; he studied the musical systems of India and the Middle East and frequently experimented with unusual scales in the keyboard lines that marked many of his instrumental textures. The depth of Storch's musical contributions frequently led to his being given songwriting credits, and he was named songwriter of the year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in 2005.

His biggest coup outside of the pure hip-hop realm was Christina Aguilera's highly sexualized Stripped album of 2002, for which he played a key role in setting a creative direction. But Aguilera became one of a number of music-industry figures disenchanted with Storch's influence. Storch also feuded publicly with hip-hop producer Timbaland, who derided Storch as a "piano man" in his single "Give It to Me." Other publicity came Storch's way as a result of brief but high profile relationships with rapper Lil' Kim (whose single "Lighters Up" he produced) and heiress Paris Hilton (whose 2006 debut, Paris, also bore his imprint). A son, Jalen, was born to Storch and girlfriend Dae Daniel Esquire in 2006.

None of the feuds or publicity damaged Storch's rising production career. A string of major hits flowed from his late-night Miami sessions, fueled by prodigious amounts of marijuana smoke. The 2003 Beyoncé hit "Baby Boy," the summer of 2004's anthemic "Lean Back," by the Terror Squad featuring rapper Fat Joe, and 50 Cent's extremely raunchy "Candy Shop" (for which Storch received a songwriter co-credit) of 2005 were all Storch productions. By that time he was reported to command fees of $80,000 per track and to be worth some $70 million. He owned a yacht worth millions of dollars and frequently left the house drenched in jewelry.

For the Record …

Born December 15 or 16, 1973; children: one son.

Performed with band the Roots, late 1990s; played keyboards on Dr. Dre's "Still D.R.E.," 2001; active as producer, 2001- produced tracks for various artists; founded production company, Tuff Jew Productions, and label, Storchavelli.

Awards: ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, 2005.

Addresses: Record company—Storchavelli Records, c/o Aftermath/Interscope, 2220 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404.

Storch's activities, often carried out under the aegis of his Tuff Jew Productions enterprise, did not slow down in 2006 and 2007. He continued to produce both hip-hop and pop artists, with a new project being the launch of the career of Brooke Hogan, daughter of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan; Storch produced her Brooke release of 2006. Awards shows often passed Storch over in favor of producers with more individualistic styles, a fact that sometimes irked the producer. He was also, however, philosophical about his quiet hitmaking effectiveness. "For the past 13 years people have thought that I was the new guy because they don't know who I am," he told Ogunnaike. "If I can be the new guy for another ten years, then I'll be all right."

Selected discography

As keyboardist

Organix, The Roots, 1993.

G. Love & Special Sauce, G. Love & Special Sauce, 1994.

Welcome to America, Schoolly D, 1994.

Do You Want More?!!!??!, The Roots, 1995.

Illadelph Halflife, The Roots, 1996.

Roots Come Alive, The Roots, 1999.

2001, Dr. Dre, 1999.

as Producer (with others)

Anarchy, Busta Rhymes, 2000.

QB Finest, Nas, 2000.

The Last Meal, Snoop Dogg, 2000.

Devil's Night, D12, 2001.

Lay It Down, 8Ball, 2001.

M!ssundaztood, Pink, 2001.

New Old Songs, Limp Bizkit, 2001.

Justified, Justin Timberlake, 2002.

Stripped, Christina Aguilera, 2002.

Phrenology, The Roots, 2002.

Bella Mafia, Lil' Kim, 2003.

Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé, 2003.

Kiss of Death, Jadakiss, 2004.

Real Talk, Fabolos, 2004.

Tipping Point, The Roots, 2004.

Chris Brown, Chris Brown, 2005.

Cookbook, Missy Elliot, 2005.

Day After, Twista, 2005.

Documentary, The Game, 2005.

Massacre, 50 Cent, 2005.

Sound of Revenge, Chamillionaire, 2005.

Alter Ego, Tyrese, 2006.

Feedback, Jurassic 5, 2006.

Hip Hop Is Dead, Nas, 2006.

Me, Myself, and I, Fat Joe, 2006.

Paris, Paris Hilton, 2006.

Public Affair, Jessica Simpson, 2006.

Undiscovered, Brooke, 2006.

Neighborhood Rapstar, 2XL, 2007.

Sources

Periodicals

New York Post, July 2, 2006, p. 13.

New York Times, January 16, 2006, p. E1.

Online

"Scott Storch," All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com/ (April 8, 2007).

"Scott Storch," AskMen.com, http://www.askmen.com/men/entertainment_200/240_scott_storch.html (April 8, 2007).

"Scott Storch Named Songwriter of the Year at the 22nd Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards," ASCAP, http://www.ascap.com/press/2005/popawards_051605.html (April 8, 2007).

"Scott Storch's Outrageous Fortune," Rolling Stone,http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10699242/scott_storchs_outrageous_fortune (April 8, 2007).