Scott Storch
Songwriter and producer Scott Storch is no stranger to success. After being drafted into hip-hop band the Roots in 1994 upon moving to Philadelphia, the group’s first album Organix leaned heavily on Storch’s distinctive use of the Fender Rhodes and would help define their sound. Storch’s playing eventually lead him to Dr. Dre, for whom he came up with the classic piano riff that propels the 1999 hit “Still D.R.E.” From there, Storch went on to feature in and produce hit records for the likes of Beyoncé, Fat Joe and Justin Timberlake, becoming one of the most sought after producers of the mid-’00s in the process. His meteoric rise in the industry had its downsides though, the party lifestyle eventually leading to Storch entering rehab in 2009 and filing for bankruptcy in 2015. Since then, the piano man has returned to the music industry with more drive and inspiration than ever, working with some of the most exciting names in modern rap, including Young Thug, Russ and Trippie Red.
In this public lecture at the Red Bull Music Festival Toronto 2018, Storch discussed his career and the stories behind hits for Dr. Dre, Fat Joe, the Roots and many others.
Hosted by Rollie Pemberton [applause] How you doing Scott? Scott Storch I’m chilling. How you doing? Rollie Pemberton I’m great. Scott Storch Thank you all for coming, I appreciate it. Representing. Rollie Pemberton Welcome him to Toronto. Scott Storch My first time here in Canada. Rollie Pemberton Wow, well we’re honored to have this happen here. Scott Storch It’s a blessing to be here. Rollie Pemberton So I just want to bring it all the way back to the beginning. I want to just talk about your life, really, at first. Originally you’re born in Long Island, is that correct? Scott Storch Yeah, and then [inaudible]. Rollie Pemberton OK. You also have roots in South Florida as well – Plantation. Scott Storch Yeah, all over Florida. As an infant I moved from Long Island to Florida and grew up there. Rollie Pemberton Cool. What did your parents do? Your dad was a court reporter and your mother, she was actually an artist, right? Scott Storch I mean she was a housewife, but early in her days, like 17, she was into music and had a little record deal for a while. Rollie Pemberton She was on some labels and stuff. Was it on Cameo? Scott Storch Cameo-Parkway Records. Wow you know your stuff man, thorough. Rollie Pemberton I’ve been digging in the crates. I’m trying to get my Nardwuar on. [laughter] And your uncle was in the band The Vagrants. Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton So there’s a lot of music around you already from an early age, right? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton I’m wondering if you ever got to see that music lifestyle close up when you were younger in that way. Did you...? Scott Storch I mean, our family gatherings and stuff, my mom and my uncle and everybody would be singing and take turns. It was inspiring. Rollie Pemberton And at that point you weren’t just jumping on the piano and stuff? Scott Storch Yeah I was. I was trying. Rollie Pemberton Originally back in the day, I believe there’s a connection to soccer as being one of the reasons why you ended up playing piano. Is this possible? Scott Storch Well you know what? I was in soccer for like two seconds in third grade, and I was sent home all the time for leaving my shin guards home. I wasn’t into it, and I would go home and I would just play piano. I would set up my little tape recorder on the piano bench and play all these songs that I was learning in my head. It was crazy, just figure ’em out. Rollie Pemberton And I believe there was a specific incident where you got hit in the face with a cleat? Scott Storch Yeah. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton And you lost some teeth or something? Scott Storch Sports wasn’t for me. Rollie Pemberton And your mom was like, “Let me put him in some piano classes and try that.” Then you really took to that. Scott Storch Well I didn’t take to piano lessons, but I took to piano. The piano teacher I had, he said I was unteachable. Rollie Pemberton Really? Scott Storch Yeah, because I wasn’t really interested in theory, I wasn’t interested in anything. I’m not a normal piano player, I just have my own system. I play the piano like a drum almost, very percussive. Rollie Pemberton Where does that come from, that style? Scott Storch I have no idea. Rollie Pemberton I think that lends itself really well to making beats too, that makes a lot of sense. Scott Storch Yeah. It’s all my passion for music. Before I learned to play the piano, my brother and I used to sit in front of the mirror and play rock songs with tennis rackets and stuff and pretend we were jamming. Rollie Pemberton And you used to do school performances and stuff. I believe you played the part of [John] Travolta in Grease? Scott Storch That was something that backfired on me. [laughter] I was looking to get out of class, and me and my friend found out that you can get passes to go and rehearse during school. We were like, “Oh, let’s try and get a part.” And then they made me the lead, [laughter] so then I had to work. Rollie Pemberton So you and your brother used to play songs and stuff, talent shows and stuff? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton I’m pretty sure when you were 12, 13, you were already starting to do paid gigs at that time. Scott Storch Well it’s interesting, because I had a friend in middle school, and I was at her house one day and her father had found out that I played piano well. He said, “Can you play for my guests tonight?” So I played for the people at his house, and when I was done, he gave me $100. And I was like, “Wow, this is what I want to do for a living.” Rollie Pemberton What kind of stuff were you playing at that time? Scott Storch I don’t know, I forget. Some songs. Billy Joel or something probably. Rollie Pemberton Tight. [laughs] There’s nothing wrong with Billy Joel, that’s very piano. So your dad had a lot of swag. Am I correct in saying this? He had vibes? Scott Storch He was cool. Rollie Pemberton In high school you used to drive his Porsche to school. Is that true? Scott Storch No, I stole it. Rollie Pemberton You stole it, OK. I’m trying to picture this. Just from what I’ve read, doing research, you looked pretty much the same as you do now, you were rocking shades like a Miami Vice kind of vibe. Scott Storch Pretty much. Rollie Pemberton You were 13, 14, 15. Scott Storch Yeah I just wanted a pair of Carrera sunglasses at 12. I don’t know. Rollie Pemberton Red leather jacket? Scott Storch Yeah. I had a fake Rolex and everything. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton I’m just picturing that. And this is around when you moved to Philadelphia, right? Scott Storch No, this is way before that. Rollie Pemberton That’s before that. Scott Storch Yeah. This was like sixth grade, fifth grade. Rollie Pemberton So when did you move to Philadelphia? Scott Storch At 15 I moved to Philly, my dad had to move for his job. And when we got there, the kids weren’t really cool at the school. I got beat up a couple of times. ’Cause I came in in the middle of the year, they’re like, “Oh, he’s a nark. Planted.” [laughter] I was like, “OK, whatever.” So I started cutting school and taking the train from the suburbs of Philly into the city, and I met this guy Richard Nichols, who went on to become the manager of The Roots. [cheers / applause] And he took me under his wing. Eventually, after my parents found out I wasn’t going to school, they said, “You either go to school and you can stay or you’ve got to go.” And I went. I did odd jobs and did whatever I had to do to support myself at 15, 16 years old. And I got a record deal with The Roots. [applause] It’s believing in what you do. Rollie Pemberton And so you knew the eventual manager of The Roots, but were you interacting with anyone from the band at that point yet? When did you actually meet them? Scott Storch He told me I had to go over to this house in Germantown, Pennsylvania and go audition. And I went by myself and it was this guy Questlove. He was in school still and everything, we were kids. I showed up, ’cause the only keyboard I could afford at the time, which is a keyboard that’s very popular now and very expensive, but at the time, nobody wanted it, everybody wanted a synth and I wanted a Fender Rhodes. It had two broken keys on it, and it just had this cool sound. Questlove went crazy and he couldn’t believe that I was using that keyboard. Rollie Pemberton What was the keyboard? Scott Storch The Fender Rhodes. Rollie Pemberton It was a Fender Rhodes? Scott Storch Yeah, electric piano. It’s the warm vintage sound, it actually became the main tone center for what The Roots became, was that keyboard. Rollie Pemberton Amazing. So you’re meeting with them in Germantown, at what point do you start jamming with them? Scott Storch Well, they put me to the test. I had to set up and start playing for them. Then eventually Questlove got on the drums, and it just felt natural. It was a culture shock for me. I was catapulted into this neo-soul, Native Tongues world of hip-hop in Philly, and I’m just a white boy from South Florida. Rollie Pemberton This would be in 1991-92 or something? Scott Storch Yeah, ’92. Rollie Pemberton So this was before people even used the term neo-soul. This is even a time when it was like... Scott Storch We created that wave. Rollie Pemberton You created that, yeah. It was even weird to be a rap band at this time. Scott Storch There was nobody checking for a band at that time to get signed. Wendy Goldstein believed in it. She’s at Republic now, but at the time she was at Geffen Records. To a group with no hit and nothing like anything else that was going on in the world, she gave us a million dollar record deal. It was a blessing. [applause] It didn’t go in our pockets, but records cost a lot of money in those days, to make. You had two-inch tape and studio costs, it was crazy. Rollie Pemberton And so at that time, how were you explaining this music to your family or to other people? You’re playing in a band, but they’re a rap group too. Scott Storch There was nothing like it, but short after we came out a bunch of groups started coming out with live bands, the Digable Planets, and The Goats, and other people. Rollie Pemberton There were some that were also on Geffen too, right? That came after, that they kept signing other people. Scott Storch Yep. Rollie Pemberton I think this is a good time to play a track. I’m going to play a song that you also have a production credit on. This is “Proceed” by The Roots. (music: The Roots – “Proceed”) Scott Storch That’s where it started. Rollie Pemberton So just being in The Roots, what would you say you learned from working with somebody like Questlove. I know he’s... Scott Storch How to keep time. He’s like a human drum machine, it’s amazing. Just learning all the rhythms and how to keep the energy of the beat going. Being around my first experience really with... A close relationship with an MC, being Black Thought, and Malik B., that set the bar really high. Rollie Pemberton Absolutely. Black Thought’s like the rapper’s rapper. Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton I’m trying to wonder, at what point did you transition from your playing keys with The Roots to being like, “I’m going to be producing beats” as well? Scott Storch Being a band member, it’s cool, but I wanted to expand on the music that I make, and I loved being in the studio. That sound that we created was amazing, and I realized though, there’s a whole world out there. I wanted to cross over to the other side, the more commercial side of music instead of the tastemaker neo-soul stuff. I got a little bit of criticism from the core family of The Roots at the time, saying, “What are you doing?” And then when I went, not to jump ahead, but I went to work with Dre, everybody was like, “You working with him ten years too late.” I’m like, “I don’t know about that.” [laughter] We were just getting started. Rollie Pemberton That’s funny. Was there anyone specific that made you want to make that shift to becoming a producer? Anyone that you saw in the early days of playing around with The Roots or meeting people in the industry? Scott Storch You know what, I don’t think it was so much that. I think it was hearing myself one too many times referred to as “the guy who plays keys in The Roots.” I was composing, at that time, the majority of the music for the group. I wanted more, and I wanted to create a name for myself as a record producer, mega producer. We only get as far as we dream and as we imagine. [applause] Rollie Pemberton I like that, mega producer. Usually you hear super producer, but that’s not enough. Mega, I’m feeling that. One thing I wanted to ask you about, just from the Philadelphia era, is you worked at a studio briefly in some capacity too? What studio was this? Scott Storch I was interning. I interned at Ruffhouse Records, at Studio 4, at the time Cypress Hill, and Kris Kross, and the Fugees, Lauryn Hill, all that stuff was happening. It was also simultaneous as I was in The Roots, I was just trying to be everywhere at the same time. Rollie Pemberton What kind of stuff were you doing there? Were you learning anything that would lead to... Scott Storch I was cleaning ashtrays. It was weird, just as we got our record deal I was still working there, with The Roots, I was still working at Studio 4. I was supposed to be cleaning up the studio and prepping the room, and I got caught playing the piano in the live room. I thought I was going to get fired, but I got called down to play keys down the hall on my first record to ever come out. Rollie Pemberton What was that? Scott Storch It was the remix for “Killing Me Softly” for Lauryn Hill with Bounty Killer. I made $300 and I was happy. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton Amazing. You go from doing that to you’re getting more and more involved with The Roots, to the point where you make this hugely iconic track. It all stemmed from you just playing some piano and Black Thought hearing it. Scott Storch No, actually I’ll tell you what happened. I had left the group and I got my own studio upstairs from where The Roots recorded, Sigma Sound. And I was working with this girl Jill Scott, she was working at Urban Outfitters at the time. And she wanted me to help her make some music for her stuff so she could get a deal. We came up with this song, “You Got Me.” It was pretty much all the way done and Questlove came in and said, “I have to have this for our album,” for Things Fall Apart. It was 1997. I gave it to them and I was assuming that Jill would be on the record, and at the last second the label decided to throw Erykah Badu and we won a Grammy. Rollie Pemberton I want to play that song, “You Got Me” by The Roots. (music: The Roots – “You Got Me ft. Erykah Badu”)
Scott Storch Thank you. Rollie Pemberton So just listening to a track like that, you totally composed all the music for that particular beat, right? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton I don’t know, just as a listener sometimes it’s hard to figure like, “Oh yeah, so it’s a band, maybe multiple people are writing this.” It’s interesting. What was the process for you to come up with that beat in particular. Scott Storch Obviously there was add-ons after the fact, but to start it, I just came up with these chords. Jill and I did it... I call it Lennon and McCartney style, where we sit at the piano, I play, somebody has a pad, we create melodies, we create chords, and then the production comes second. We have a generalized tempo in mind, and a feel, so I just programmed the drums around that, and bass... Emulated a bass guitar on the keys. Then Hub came in and he replayed it after The Roots accepted it. Then Questlove, as well, redid the drums with the same pattern that I created. And then he came up with this idea for the end of the record to put jungle music, the drum & bass break in there, then took it a step further and attempted to play it live, which had never been done before at that tempo. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s the magic of The Roots, it’s this combination of very organic, traditional music, but then some weird ideas in there too. Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton So that song definitely worked really well. It wins the Grammy, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000. Did you go to the Grammys for that? Scott Storch I did not. Rollie Pemberton No. But what was the... When you ended up winning? Scott Storch It was amazing, an amazing feeling. That’s inspiring, that’s what really pushes you to keep going. Seeing that people like your music. It gives you a confidence and makes you believe. Rollie Pemberton What’s it like, everywhere you go, you’re hearing the song? It’s a hugely popular song. Scott Storch It’s crazy, I have a story about that. I remember, in Philly, driving around in my car, and even though we were successful somewhat, in the fact that we had a song on the radio, it hadn’t hit to us financially. I remember I saw somebody in the car playing the song and they pulled up next to me, and I was stressing out how I was going to pay my cell phone bill or something stupid. It was just like, “You know what? It’s going to be good.” Rollie Pemberton To all you artists out there, it’s going to be alright. Scott Storch It gets greater later. [applause] Rollie Pemberton And so the same year that that song came out, another massively huge song that you’re involved with came out. I’m just wondering, how did you get involved with Dr. Dre? Scott Storch That’s a crazy story. I went to do a jam session with The Roots in LA. It was my first time ever going to California. It was at the Martini Lounge and we were doing a women in music series, poetry and rap for women called The Black Lily. I ran into a girl that I knew from Philly in LA. I had lost touch with her, it was Eve, the lyricist. She ran up to me and she was like, “Yo, I got a record deal with Dr. Dre.” This is prior to her going with Ruff Ryders. She was like, “You were always really cool to me, I want to take you to meet Dre.” But I had no music with me whatsoever, so I didn’t know what I was going to play him. All I had was my fingers. He said, “I hear you play them keys real good,” [laughter] after I waited for two hours in the lobby, nervous. He literally changed my life that day. Rollie Pemberton And so from then to making “Still D.R.E.,” did you literally compose it as soon as you...? Scott Storch I sat there at the piano and he said, “Listen, I want you to stay in California.” He knew I was going back to Philly. He gave me some money and a hotel I could stay at. The next day we came in, and we didn’t actually work on The Chronic but we worked on Eminem, this song “Just The Two Of Us.” And it’s crazy. He’s like, “Yeah I got this new MC coming in.” I wasn’t expecting Marshall Mathers to come in the door. And it was amazing. And then the day after that, we composed “Big Egos,” from The Chronic album. It was pretty crazy. Rollie Pemberton Sick. [applause] Yeah. Scott Storch I had to seize the day. I had to hit it out the park the first days with him. And it changed it. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s the amazing thing about working with legends and stuff, is you have opportunities to make a good impression. And you want to seize that. So I’m going to play a totally iconic track, “Still D.R.E.,” by Dr. Dre. (music: Dr. Dre – “Still D.R.E. ft. Snoop Dogg”) Scott Storch I guess it wasn’t 10 years too late. Rollie Pemberton No, definitely not. Well, it was weird, in the public sense, people were like, “When is this album coming? It’s been so long since the first Chronic.” Before that track came out, people were a little skeptical, right? But then, that was... It was almost, in my opinion, even better. It was just a seismic track. So, tell me about making “Still D.R.E.” Scott Storch “Still D.R.E.” I remember we were sitting in the studio, and just throwing shit against the wall and seeing what would work, and Dre programmed this kick and snare. I think his food arrived, and he was within earshot of the... Right outside the control room was his kitchen area, and he was eating a sandwich and I was just noodling on the piano. I started playing, “bling, bling, bling” on top of this drum pattern that he had. And he poked his head in and he was like, “That’s it.” By the end of the day, the song was shipped off to Jay-Z to pen, and the rest is history. [applause] Rollie Pemberton That is so cool. There’s something interesting about that song. I feel like there’s a certain... It seems simple, right? It seems like there’s something very familiar about it, upon first listening to it. It reminds me in some ways of, like, “Chopsticks,” or something, right? But it’s more complex than that. Scott Storch You know what it is? Rollie Pemberton What is it? Scott Storch It’s the sloppiness of it. Rollie Pemberton Yeah. It’s those intangible things, I find, that makes songs work or not work. Scott Storch Yeah. And the sonics of it. Rollie Pemberton Well, yeah, you’re working with Dre. It’s just top flight, just perfectly EQ’d everything. Is there anything that you learned about production from Dre? Scott Storch Yeah, I mean just watching it every day. You absorb it, be around it. It makes you set the bar really, really high, because some people think that everything they do is good. It’s not, you have to find the magic. And we’re not on every day. As long as we’re on most days, and we work hard at it, the gems will come. Rollie Pemberton Cool. So you’re doing all these tracks with Dre, in California, how are people really responding in Philadelphia? You were saying before, some of The Roots camp were just skeptical about it... Scott Storch I mean, I really wasn’t playing too much with them, because I did take a trip home, and my trip home was to pack and move to LA. Because I had never left. Everybody was still skeptical, but I know, I could prove to the whole world. Rollie Pemberton I mean this was at a particularly fraught time for rap culture, because it was us against them, or whatever. It was conscious rap, or whatever you want to call it, versus commercial rap, and at that time, people weren’t listening to everything at the same time. You were either down with one or the other. And here you are, making a track with The Roots, and then, making this, Dr. Dre. It was, I guess, ahead of its time, at that time. Scott Storch I mean, Dre, I don’t think he put the album out that people were expecting. It wasn’t like... I mean all his music is gangster, but it wasn’t a gangster rap album. It was a variety album that was done amazing. Rollie Pemberton Yeah, it’s like, it had so many different styles, and... Rollie Pemberton Yeah, it was... And the musicality of it, and the production of it, those were undeniable, I felt. Absolutely. Scott Storch A mix of everything. Rollie Pemberton Yeah, so you go off of working with Dre. When did you start working with Timbaland? Scott Storch You know what? There was a family, the Interscope family, at that time. It wasn’t just Dre. It was Dre there, and then, they brought Timbaland in, so it was all family. I ran into them at the studio, and he said, “Yo, come mess with me on some stuff.” And he definitely brought different stuff out of me than I had ever done, and he wanted me to play things that were not the way I was used to playing. Just try some other stuff. Rollie Pemberton And so this environment, it was pretty collaborative. The idea was like, all these people working together in different rooms and stuff. Was it that kind of vibe, or...? Scott Storch I mean, different studios, but it all led back to the same corporate structure, right, with Interscope, and Jimmy [Iovine]. It was a moment. Rollie Pemberton So when did you start working on “Cry Me A River?” How did that come to be? Scott Storch I got a call from Timbaland. He said, “I’m working with Justin Timberlake. I’m doing his solo album, I want you to come down and do a couple records with me.” Rollie Pemberton And what do you say to that, at that time? Because he was the guy from *NSYNC, at that time. Scott Storch Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, I was cool with it. I knew he was, to me, the best singer out of the group, and if Timbaland’s getting involved in it, it’s going to be something fly, you know? I actually remember sitting in Westlake Studios, and there was the control room, and then there was this little corridor that led to the live room, and we set up a Rhodes in that little room. It was me, and Justin and Tim, sitting right there at the piano, and I just started playing. It was another one of those situations where it was immediate, and “Cry Me A River” happened. Rollie Pemberton OK, let me fire it up. “Cry Me A River,” by Justin Timberlake. (music: Justin Timberlake – “Cry Me A River”) Scott Storch A lot of the best stuff just comes from creating this little chord figure, something unique in that, and it might spark a melody idea from the writer and then, he Timbalized it. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton Like, the beatbox kind of drums? Scott Storch That beat’s obese. Rollie Pemberton Yeah. It’s crazy. Scott Storch It’s crazy, yeah. Rollie Pemberton It’s still too crazy. Scott Storch He killed that. He put in his work on that one. Rollie Pemberton And then you can even see, the song structure, too. I feel like, just from analyzing songs, you can see how these songs became such big hits. Because it’s this new sound, musically, but it has the backbone of traditional pop structure, the bridges, and all that stuff, under... Scott Storch But it does it without changing chords, and that’s some of the cool stuff that being around guys like Tim, and Dre, they helped me harness what I do. I might have been coming at a perspective, where, “Maybe these chords should change with the pre-chorus,” or whatever, sometimes overdo it with the writing to compensate for other... Whatever it is. And making the most of one chord figure and then finding ways to put other things around that, and then taking the chords out, then bringing them back, it’s like... It was cool. Just learning. Rollie Pemberton It’s very hip-hop, right? Taking one thing, and just, bring it to another level. So are you still in touch with Timbaland at all? Scott Storch Yeah, I talked to him three days ago. Rollie Pemberton OK, that’s good. Because I know back in the day he called you the piano man, just... Over... Whatever. Scott Storch I’m glad he did. Rollie Pemberton Yeah? Scott Storch It’s cool. I mean I wear that with pride. I have a tattoo that says, “I’m the piano man,” [applause] ’cause the piano’s my weapon of choice for producing records. Rollie Pemberton I always thought it was kind of cool, actually. I thought it was something to be proud of. Scott Storch Yeah. It was a weird thing. There was a lot of politics. There was some parties in Miami at the time, like... People, not parties, but people that... They wanted to create drama for their own game, so they were telling Timbaland that I was doing this and that, and then going back to me and doing the same thing, trying to create trouble. We figured it out with one phone call, that that’s what was happening, and we just buried the hatchet. Rollie Pemberton I feel like that’s the thing with so much beef too, is it’s miscommunication, and if you actually talk to the person, it’s never as big as it really is. So I’m glad to hear that. Glad to hear they’re good. Yes. Scott Storch Oh, yeah. [applause] Rollie Pemberton So, another person that you’ve gotten to work with, and I feel like, at this point, we’re getting more into songs that are more primarily produced by you. Is there a specific point, in which that started happening more, in your career? Scott Storch Well, there was a point, in 2005, where I watched Dr. Dre win Producer Of The Year award, and I sat there in the Grammys, and I was so happy for him, and he had been killing it, and had such a run, and I was a big part of that run with him, and I decided that I want to create my own world. And I moved to Florida, and I started pursuing, not to compete with what we were doing on the West Coast, but I was doing... I started working on Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé, and just a different tier, and it became a different phase in my career. Rollie Pemberton You really also created a totally new sound for rap too, by doing this. Scott Storch My Miami sound. Rollie Pemberton The Miami era, I’m feeling that. I’m going to play one such song from this time. This is “Baby Boy,” Beyoncé and Sean Paul. (music: Beyoncé – “Baby Boy ft. Sean Paul”)
Scott Storch I mean, it was incredible to included in that project, and with all the success that Destiny’s Child was coming from, and Beyoncé, she and I were put in a studio in South Beach for two weeks, and we created three number one songs, I think, in that run. Rollie Pemberton “Naughty Girl,” as well... Scott Storch “Baby Boy,” and “Me, Myself and I.” [applause] Rollie Pemberton Yeah. Scott Storch I got a chance to help out a good friend of mine too, who was also trying to find his way in the music business, and he was one of our forefathers of rap, and he comes from Three Times Dope, the group, is the rapper named EST. And, you know, it wasn’t... [applause] Ten years prior to this, he was a huge star, and now, ten years later, he was just trying to find work. So I convinced Beyoncé that he was a very experienced R&B songwriter. I put my name on the line for him, but he showed up, and he wrote all three of these songs with B, [applause] and it’s a blessing. Rollie Pemberton I love hearing stories like that. I feel like that’s one of the most special things about music, that you can do things like that, for people, and then they come through, right? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s really cool. One thing I noticed in that beat, and I feel like it’s become a hallmark of a lot of your production, is that there’s kind of a Middle Eastern influence. Scott Storch Yep. Rollie Pemberton And I’m wondering where that comes from. Scott Storch I emulate a lot of the stuff that I listen to. For example, when I was in The Roots, I was listening to Tribe Called Quest. So that whatever they were sampling, I started playing stuff like that, and I would try and capture that feeling. I was listening to a lot of Arabic and weird stuff at the time, and I just ... I got into it. I taught myself how to play these weird scales that they have. The music is a little different, the Arabic music. They have more notes than we have, in their scale. They have halftones, you know what I mean? And I figured it out that I could use this little pitch bend wheel, on the left, to achieve that. Rollie Pemberton If you like stuff like that, those are compositional advantages that you can have, as a producer. Do you think it’s important, studying different kinds of music like that, and...? Scott Storch It’s like having a bag of tricks. I pull different hats out, from time to time. I unexpectedly found myself, the other day, in an Ariana Grande session, and composing for her, and what was asked of me was to do some neo-soul, Roots-type stuff, and killed it. It’s crazy. [applause] They got the right guy for the job. Rollie Pemberton You got the right one, baby! It’s tough! So, yeah, so this is... For me, it gets into your primary production period, after the Beyoncé tracks that do so well. Tell me how you originally met Fat Joe. Scott Storch I met Fat Joe and Rob Tewlow in his office, at Atlantic Records at the time. He goes by the name Reef, sometimes. He’s also a producer. Tell you the truth, it was hilarious, because I had met him, he was like, “Yo, this is Fat Joe, he’s amazing,” and it was a little teeny office. And when he came in, I was smoking some weed, and he was so funny, he was so hilarious, Fat Joe, and his manager at the time, Macho, was like, “I think you got him stoned.” Rollie Pemberton Contact. Scott Storch Yeah, I gave him a contact. Rollie Pemberton And so you started working with him, you start working with his group, Terror Squad. Scott Storch Yep. Rollie Pemberton And you hit again, big time, with something that was not just a track, but it was also a dance too? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton And it was just something people used to say, like,“Lean back.” Scott Storch Yep. I remember my boy Raul, he was hanging out with me in Miami. He was an OG Terror Squad member. He dragged Joe out to my house, which was kind of far from where the city, and everything... So he had to drive all the way out to the burbs to sit down with me. He didn’t really know what was going to happen, but we sat, and 15 minutes after he was in my house, we made “Lean Back.” Rollie Pemberton I feel like this is interesting, because I feel like that sound was not what Fat Joe was known for, right? He had the more street, sample-based, primo kind of beats, in the ’90s more. And I feel like this was a big change of pace for him. It feels like you’re getting into your own style at this time too, so it was a combination of two people doing something kind of new. Scott Storch Yeah. I mean, he was definitely cheering me along and helping me sculpt it. I remember, when we got done making the beat, he’s like, “Now we need a big intro.” And I was just, “Boom, boom, boom, boom,” and it just happened. Rollie Pemberton And now I feel like this sound is now synonymous with New York music now, so going to put it on. “Lean Back,” by Terror Squad. (music: Terror Squad – “Lean Back ft. Fat Joe, Remy Ma”)
Scott Storch I was just trying to capture a mood. Working with Fat Joe, you can’t make anything sound happy, so you want to think about something that sounds dark, but still will move people, and has a pulse, and has life to it. Rollie Pemberton And knowing about music, you’re able to pick different chords, and come up with different things that feel like, “Oh, this is more of a Fat Joe kind of sound.” Scott Storch I mean, you know what, these kind of records, I tend to stay away from chords. I got into a period where now a melody, a single note melody that’s happening repetitiously, is where I was at. That was the phase I was going through, and it works. Rollie Pemberton Is there any specific reason why you were avoiding chords? Scott Storch Just because I felt like the records that are most memorable in history always have that familiar melody. Some of my biggest hits, like the “Candy Shop” is, [hums melody] you remember that melody. All of them. If you listen back to them you’ll see, that they’re less chord-driven. Rollie Pemberton Are there are any of your favorite songs back in the day that give you that feeling, that made you want to make music like that? Scott Storch I mean, yeah. I mean, I’m sure there are. It’s hard to think of, per se, which ones, but yeah, definitely. Rollie Pemberton What was that session like? Did you know automatically, “We got one?” Scott Storch No. Rollie Pemberton No? Scott Storch No. I mean, I made the beat, and the intro, and then, six months later, I got a call. He’s like, “Yo, we got a record. Sick record.” And he dropped my name in a record, which was a game changer for me, and helped my business so much. People now knew who I was, so... Well, they didn’t know who I was, but they knew my name, and they knew they wanted to buy some music from me. Rollie Pemberton I mean, yeah, this was a different era, too, than today, where you have the drops. Scott Storch The tags and the... Yeah. Rollie Pemberton Yeah. So this, “Lean Back,” It became your calling card a little bit, yeah. Scott Storch Yeah. And then a lot of the people that were coming to me for beats were, “Scott Storch!” on the beginning of their beat. Rollie Pemberton Right. Scott Storch Because there was a value in that, maybe, that people would mess with. Rollie Pemberton And so, around this time, what was your life like? You were in Miami at this time. You’re making a lot of records. I think this is a very prolific period for you. When do you get into making “Make It Rain?” Scott Storch “Make It Rain?” I mean it was just almost like an anniversary of the “Lean Back” thing. We made that, and then it was like, “OK, what are we gonna do now?” And I remember Joe saying, “What we need to do is, we gotta make that half-time record, that’s like something...” He called it “down South” at the time, “That some down South shit.” And we did it, and I had to take a crash course in that type of drum production. I feel like records like that sort of led to what, inevitably, trap music became. Rollie Pemberton Yeah, I would agree with that. I feel like he really prefigured trap music, what he did there. It reminds me a lot of the snap music and stuff that was gonna come out like around then, a little bit after that. A lot of the Atlanta sound, I feel like this song was actually very influential to that. Did you meet Lil Wayne before that? Scott Storch Yeah. All the time. I remember we were working all at the Hit Factory, and I had a room there locked out for a year. And they had a studio above mine and Wayne and everybody used to... There was a little balcony and they used to look over at what was going on. And Fat Joe always describes it as like a cheese line, but I literally had the parking lot filled with the top ten people in music at the time, waiting for their two hours to come up and it was crazy. Rollie Pemberton How’d that feel? Scott Storch It was amazing. Lot of pressure. And I started having... Maybe I’d bought a Ferrari or something, but I didn’t get a chance to drive it, it just sat in the parking lot at the studio and that was it. I would go out and look at it and be like, “This is cool.” [laughter] I wasn’t going to the club, I wasn’t doing anything. It was all work, and that’s what it takes. Rollie Pemberton You were working? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton Amazing. So let me fire that up. “Make It Rain.” Fat Joe and Lil Wayne. (music: Fat Joe ft. Lil Wayne – “Make It Rain”) Scott Storch [applause] Yeah. I got into a lot of fights with my friends over that song. Rollie Pemberton Really? Scott Storch Because they were mad at me. They were like, “Listen. I’m going broke from that song. I was in a strip club and... [laughter] I was like, “Alright, no more of that.” Rollie Pemberton It was like a revolution though, because I really feel like that song popularized that phrase. And I feel like at this time in your career, 2006, 2007, you were really making it rain, like in real life as well, like your whole life was making it rain. So yeah, in 2006 you won the ASCAP award for Songwriter of the Year. [applause] Scott Storch We had 30 weeks at number one that year. Rollie Pemberton It was everywhere. I remember. Super hype. And you know, I feel like it also could be the soundtrack of your life at that time, because you had made a lot of money at this point, right. Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton And it’s like, you’re in Miami, you’ve obviously been working a lot, but then when you’re not working you’re hanging at the crib. And how successful were you at that point? You’d put out how many number one singles or whatever. Untold. Scott Storch Yeah. The numbers were crazy. Rollie Pemberton So I just want to verify some things with you about the level of fame and success you had at this time. I read in the autobiography of Gucci Mane that when he went to your mansion he said that, “The guy was living like Scarface.” Scott Storch Literally. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton Like, “Fly pelican fly.” You were spending so much money that you made Gucci Mane go, “Woah. This guy is spending a lot.” [laughter] So I just wanted to ask you some quick questions just to set the record straight. I’ve heard conflicting reports around that time. You had over $70 million. I also read $100 million. Would that be accurate? Scott Storch I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but yeah, that’s the ballpark of what it was. But you know, I was, at one point, I was making so much money and I wasn’t spending it, and then some people came into my life and took me out of the studio and that world, and showed me what the club is, and what being a star is. And all of a sudden I was famous for the wrong reasons. And I painted myself into a corner in becoming this lavish person. And then I stopped working and I was just partying. And that’s where the money started going the other direction. Rollie Pemberton Is it true that you had a $20 million yacht? Scott Storch Hmm, close, 15. Rollie Pemberton What was the name of the yacht? Scott Storch Tiffany was one of them. Rollie Pemberton Yeah. And you had a private jet? Scott Storch Sort of. I was always in a private jet. I had timeshares on them and you know, flight hours. Rollie Pemberton You were always in one. Because I’m wondering if this story is true. So I read that you used to be... You’d be in Miami, hanging out with people at your crib. And then you’re like, “Man, you know what. I really feel like going gambling.” And then you’d get on a private jet and you’d all fly to Las Vegas, and then come back the same night. Scott Storch Not the same night. Rollie Pemberton Not the same night? Scott Storch There was a story that I told in an interview where I was actually at a club and I took everybody from the entire VIP to Vegas that was in there with us, and got a floor at the hotel. It was debauchery, and probably about six or seven hundred thousand dollars later I was like, “I think I need to go home.” But I was playing a role, and I got into the... I wasn’t thinking about life the right way. I was trying to be this figure, like a king or something, and I didn’t want to just be a regular person. Rollie Pemberton What made you want to do that? Scott Storch Cocaine. Cocaine and women, trying to impress women. And trying to be the biggest fish in the pond in Miami. Rollie Pemberton That’s probably hard to... Scott Storch Yeah, it was hard. Rollie Pemberton Hell of a drug. So, in August 2006 you decided to take a break and go to Hollywood. So what were you doing around that time? You went over there and just to take a short hiatus, get out of Miami, what was the vibe? Scott Storch I mean, I was chasing Paris Hilton around, unfortunately. I don’t know why, but... I’m just keeping it real. I don’t know what I was thinking about. But I was definitely going down the wrong path. And that’s what happened. Rollie Pemberton So I read from between August 2006 and January 2007 you spent $30 million. Was there ever a point where you thought, “Hey, I might be spending too much money.” Scott Storch I thought I was invincible at the time. Rollie Pemberton Yeah. Scott Storch You know, it just was coming so fast, and I wasn’t working and it was still coming, so I didn’t realize it that it’s going to slow down. Rollie Pemberton So, knowing what you know now, is there any specific financial advice you’d give to any of the young artists out here? Scott Storch Yeah. Live within your means, and do the right thing with your money, and buy a house that you can afford. Buy things you can afford, really, honestly, and stay away from drugs. Straight up. [applause] Respect your life and your craft. Rollie Pemberton Yeah, so on that note I want to play just another one of your big hits. How did you get involved with 50 Cent? Scott Storch Well you know my relationship obviously with Dre and Em was real tight, so he wanted to take a trip down to Miami, and he came and worked with me. I bought this house that I used exclusively for studios. And he came and we knocked out “Just A Lil Bit” and “Candy Shop” the same day. Rollie Pemberton Amazing. So I’m going to put on “Candy Shop.” Scott Storch “Candy Shop” was actually originally supposed to be for Fat Joe, by the way, but he thought it was too poppy. Rollie Pemberton Whoops. [laughter] Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton “Candy Shop.” (music: 50 Cent – “Candy Shop”)
Scott Storch I mean I was dead on trying to capture some Middle Eastern type of vibe, but I wanted to be sonically... I wanted it to sound sexy, so I used some warm strings and used the right pitch bends on it, and just made it groove. That was a real simple beat. That was all feeling right there. Sometimes it’s no labor, it just comes right out. Rollie Pemberton What’d you say the most complex beat you ever made would be? Scott Storch I made a few, like some stuff I did with Christine Aguilera was real epic, “Fighter,” and we’d have huge breakdowns. I mean the Beyoncé stuff was... “Baby Boy” was pretty sophisticated, and I did a whole Middle Eastern section that was available in the video, not for the radio version, but it was pretty crazy. Rollie Pemberton Right. After the Miami, going to LA, you going to rehab, during this period were you still making a lot of music, were you very productive at that time? Scott Storch I was not making the best music. I would go in sometimes and make whatever I thought was good, but usually the next day when you sober up and you hear it it wasn’t. Those kind of drugs, they’re not good in the studio. Your mind is all over the place. It was like an emotional roller coaster. So you can’t vibe like that. It just doesn’t work. Rollie Pemberton Well it’s the kind of thing that makes you feel like every idea you have is the best idea ever. Scott Storch Yeah, and it’s like you’re not even hearing things properly. Like when you do that, the 10K frequency cuts off. You don’t even hear that. So you’re overcompensating the high end and stuff like that. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s a lesson in and of itself already, producers. But yeah, then there was that brief period of inactivity. And then how did you get to work with Big Boi? Scott Storch He sought working with me. It was funny, I made that song, and it was squeaking by. I liked the beat, I think it’s an incredible song, and it was just a random thing that just... I got lucky with it at a bad time in my life. And I remember him coming over and he was like, “Man I heard rumors, but it seems like everything’s okay here.” And he couldn’t be any more wrong. But I hid it from him, you know what I mean? Rollie Pemberton Yeah, because at the time there were the rumors of you having a session with Janet Jackson, and just being ten hours late or something. Scott Storch Yeah. I left her, I think at my house one time, when we were in the middle of working, and I wanted to go do something, I don’t remember what it was, but I left her there for like eight hours. Not the right thing to do. [laughter] Rollie Pemberton No. I feel like that’s something you learn from though. Scott Storch For sure. Rollie Pemberton But you didn’t do that to Big Boi. And you guys ended up making “Shutterbugg,” which is such an awesome track. The composition of that, I feel is very interesting, because there’s the vocoder going on, and it’s in the beat. Who is that doing the vocoder? Scott Storch It was somebody that he brought in after the fact. Rollie Pemberton Oh OK, so that part was added. Scott Storch That was added, yeah. More treated like a vocal. Rollie Pemberton OK, cool, because it’s really blended in there. And then that’s more of it later, it’s a really interesting track. Scott Storch The video was sick too. Rollie Pemberton Yeah, the video was totally awesome. And I feel like you seem to work with artists at really crucial things in their career. I’ve noticed that throughout your career. And the first Justin Timberlake album, the first Beyoncé album. Then you have Big Boi’s real first solo album outside of Outkast and the first single is by you. Scott Storch You know, it’s one thing to get a hit with somebody that’s got a million hits already, but it’s another thing to bring somebody out and give them their first hit, which is cool. Like with Chris Brown, for example, when he came into my studio he was just a kid, and that day we penned a song and it went to number one, it was his first song ever out, “Run It.” [applause] I like making careers happen, starting... It’s more of an achievement. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s exciting. So I’m going to put on “Shutterbugg” by Big Boi. (music: Big Boi – “Shutterbugg ft. Cutty”)
Scott Storch Or me. I think it’s very different. Rollie Pemberton And so you were talking before about you like to be the person to give somebody their first hits and stuff, and I feel like that’s become a big thing in your career more recently, because you’ve been working with a lot of the newer rappers, some people that might want to call them SoundCloud rappers, you’ve been working with Russ a lot, Trippie Redd, you have the track with Young Thug, “Daddy’s Birthday.” What is it like working with the new generation? Scott Storch I’ll tell you what. When I finally decided to make the move and clean my life up, I joined forces with Steve Lobel. We working. He’s in the audience right there. [applause] And Steve told me the importance of working with new artists again. Because when I came back in I was like, “Oh, we gotta call Beyoncé. We gotta call this one.” He’s like, “Making new music with new artists and get in touch with the culture and the kids are going to love you again.” And he was right. And we watched a bunch of really new artists turn into some successful new artists. Rollie Pemberton I feel like adding your music to the new styles of today, is really... You’ve added this extra level of musicality that I think is really missing in a lot of the new rap. What do you think of the production of rap today, or the trap music, let’s say, specifically? Scott Storch I mean, again, there’s a lot of crap out there, but there’s a lot of amazing stuff out there. I mean, there’s a lot of producers that still put energy into the craft and are making quality music. I like collaborating with producers these days a lot, like a young hungry kid that makes trap beats and just programs the drums next to me, playing my melodies works because it’s like a cheat code almost. You got everything, all the elements are covered. Rollie Pemberton Like you did that track for Young Thug with London On Da Track? Scott Storch Yeah. Rollie Pemberton What was that like? Were you in the studio together working on that? Scott Storch You know, London and I, we made four or five beats in one day, and that was one of them, and he called me and was like, “Yo. Thug loves this track. Let’s do it.” It’s cool. Rollie Pemberton And it’s cool because it’s very unlike anything he’s done before, but it feels very natural too. And I feel like that’s the same with the Trippie Redd track that you did. I’m going to play that one. I feel like it’s so interesting. Also it’s the first track of yours I’ve heard that has the tag on it. So it’s like this is very contemporary. Scott Storch Y’all going to know I’m working. Because some records get passed over. Like I just did something with Post Malone on his album and I didn’t put a tag on it, and nobody knows I’m even on the album because people don’t read credits anymore. That’s the sad part. Rollie Pemberton Which track is that? Scott Storch “Zack And Codeine.” Rollie Pemberton Now’s the time. Yeah, I’m going to play the track, “Taking a Walk,” by Trippie Redd. I love this song. (music: Trippie Red – “Taking A Walk”)
Scott Storch I mean, I don’t want to offend anybody with this answer, but I feel like it’s more melodic today, and people were spitting bars more before. But you know, everybody has their own style. I’m finding a lot of these cats have what they bring to the table. Like Trippie, he’s almost like a rockstar. He’s very daring in what he does. He played me a video two days ago for his new song coming out, and he skipped right past Marilyn Manson, and he went to Charlie Manson, I don’t know if... But he’s an innovator, man, pioneer, which is the most important kind of musician to be. Rollie Pemberton It seems like a lot of the new rappers today too, they’re so much more prolific and more productive and they just have a different way of working than what I’ve read and what I’ve experienced meeting older rappers, and I think it’s refreshing. What advice would you give to the aspiring producers out there? Scott Storch Be a pioneer. Listen to what’s in the market, but make it your own, and create, and be the guy that creates the new sound and not just copies what’s out there. Break ground. [applause] And stay strong. And don’t give up. Rollie Pemberton I think that’s a great note for us to end on. Give it up for Scott Storch. [applause]
It still sounds great.
You know, Sean Paul, an honorary Torontonian. [laughter] If you know, you know. Yeah, so, you got to tell me the story behind making this song, because I feel like, at this time, this is the next track where you’re working with somebody who’s more familiar with being in a group, right? This was Destiny’s Child, and then Beyoncé’s solo tracks, right? So, what was it like working on that project?
So I feel like, just listening to that beat, and a lot of the other productions that you’ve made, I find you make music that’s very evocative. It’s very... That feels like I’m in a mysterious temple, or something. I can see a picture of the sound in my mind. Is that something, when you’re composing, that you’re picturing anything, or you’re thinking?
[applause] So I feel like yeah, that’s again going into Middle Eastern influences. I mean, so how did you actually compose that beat? Can you break it down any further?
[applause] I also like the reference to the system that they put in there with the vocal. I also feel like that track is also very unlike anything Big Boi had ever done before too.
[applause] So what would you say the difference is between working with rappers in the ’90s, early 2000s, and rappers today? What is the difference between working with them?