uh, wow Scott really reached on this one explaining why Paris's album will surprise people. It will surprise me if people buy it.
Comparing it to Cindi Lauper and Blondie? I liked you better when you were in the Roots. I can't believe Storch defends Paris with ease.
"It's about the conviction"





from NYTIMES:

A Producer of Hip-Hop Gets Behind an Heiress


Published: January 16, 2006

MIAMI - The year 2005 was a very good one for the hitmaking producer Scott Storch. For dozens of weeks, singles like Mario's "Let Me Love You," 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" and "Just a Lil Bit" and Lil' Kim's "Lighters Up" - all of which he helped create - topped the Billboard charts and blasted from radio stations around the country. And he is the man behind "Run It," the ubiquitous ditty that single-handedly kick-started the career of the R&B singer Chris Brown.
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Scott Storch, who has produced hits for 50 Cent and Lil' Kim, is working on Paris Hilton's solo album.
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Forum: Popular Music

But as Mr. Storch, 32, strolled about a Louis Vuitton store in Miami one recent December afternoon, buying everything his well-paid heart desired, he looked anything but happy when talk shifted from $300 sneakers to awards. He, it turns out, was outraged and "shocked" that he did not receive a Grammy nomination for producer of the year alongside the likes of Danger Mouse, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and the Neptunes.

"It's all political," he groused as sales assistants with dollar signs in their eyes zipped about. "It has to do with your visibility. It has to do with who got passed over for it before. You have to play the political game, and I was too busy making hit music to play the political game."

While producers like Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes enjoy superstar status moonlighting as rappers, easily switching between the microphone and the mixing board, Mr. Storch, who does not perform, has preferred to toil in relative obscurity, producing hits for the likes of Beyoncé ("Baby Boy," "Naughty Girl," "Me, Myself and I"), Fat Joe ("Lean Back") and a host of others. "I'm not the guy trying to be all up in the videos and be a celebrity," he said. "I feel like I'm going to lose a certain amount of my privacy if I do that."

As a result, Mr. Storch may be the most important hip-hop producer that you've never heard of. And the fact that he is white and Jewish still comes as a surprise to many. (He has called himself the Meyer Lansky of hip-hop.)

"That definitely threw me off at first," Mr. Brown said. "I mean, I was really surprised by that. I just assumed he was African-American."

His color has in no way hindered his success, Mr. Storch said. A compact man who is rarely seen without sunglasses (even at night), he said he produced 80 tracks last year, charging anywhere from $80,000 to $90,000 a song, the going rate for A-list producers. Unlike that of a number of his peers, his sound is not readily identifiable. He is as comfortable working with pop stars like Christina Aguilera as he is with fledgling rappers like Chamillionaire. Because much of today's successful hip-hop and pop music is driven by melody and beat rather than lyrical content, the importance of the producer has increased exponentially.

In the coming months Mr. Storch's hitmaking ability will be put to the ultimate test. He spent a significant portion of last year working with the celebutante Paris Hilton on her debut album, which is scheduled for release this summer. Ms. Hilton has already proven adept at selling books, perfume, racy videotapes and hamburgers, but will she be able to push albums? Yes, the producer is betting. "I think Paris's album is going to take everyone by surprise," he said confidently. Still, walking into the project, Mr. Storch admitted, he had felt some trepidation. "I remember having a conversation with Dr. Dre, and he said: 'Scott, this is a risk. You can either have incredible success or big failure. But risk is good.' " He decided to gamble.

Later in the evening, at a Miami studio, he played a handful of tracks from Ms. Hilton's album. "Jealousy" was clearly aimed at her ever-shrinking, ex-best-friend Nicole Ritchie. And on "It's Like That," destined for the clubs, Ms. Hilton, in a breathy, digitally enhanced register, can be heard cooing, "Gonna lose my clothes/You like that don't you/Let's get exposed/You know you want to."

While Mr. Storch compared Ms. Hilton's sound to Cyndi Lauper's and Blondie's, he tap-danced when asked if Ms. Hilton could actually hold a note. "If people are given the right circumstances and the right track and the right melody, it's about the conviction," he said. "It's not necessarily about being a God-given virtuoso."

Sure.

Mr. Storch and Ms. Hilton became an item during their time together. The two showed up hand in hand at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, and he did buy her a Bentley. (He also purchased one for his ex-girlfriend Lil' Kim when they were an item.) Did the two mix business and pleasure? "It's always a pleasure working with Paris," Mr. Storch said with a sly chuckle. "We were good friends. Let the world figure that out. I take the high road."

A Producer of Hip-Hop Gets Behind an Heiress


(Page 2 of 2)

Shortly before his whirlwind shopping spree that afternoon, Mr. Storch and his entourage, which included his manager; his silent but leggy Brazilian girlfriend; a reggaetón artist, Nox; and several other hangers-on, were listening to old-school classics at his four-bedroom home in Indian Creek Village, a tony community. His yacht, named Storchavelli, was docked in the back. A fleet of luxury cars was parked in the driveway and in the garage. He owns 13 vehicles, including a racing-green 1974 Jaguar, a white Lamborghini, a black Mercedes Maybach, a butterscotch-colored Rolls-Royce and a Mercedes McClaren SLR, a sleek $600,000 limited-edition ride that has been known to reduce grown men to tears. "I drive something different every day," he said nonchalantly, as he strolled past a 1960 Bentley. "It's just my hobby."


In addition to the flashy automobiles, he enjoys even flashier baubles. A diamond-encrusted Piaget watch twinkled on his wrist, while a 32-carat canary-yellow rock dwarfed his pinkie. "I feel like this is a badge of honor," he said, rubbing the ridiculously massive ring. "It's a symbol of hard work, the music that I've made and all the hours that I've spent in the studio." Throughout the day, Mr. Storch, a pack-a-day-type, chain-smoked Marlboros and inhaled prodigious amounts of marijuana. "I'm getting you totally baked right now, aren't I?" he asked this reporter at one point as she sat engulfed in a pungent cloud of secondhand smoke.

He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the son of a court reporter and a singer. He began playing piano at 9, and by 13 he was convinced that a life in music was for him. "I would see musicians performing at weddings and bar mitzvahs, and I knew that at the very worst I could do that," Mr. Storch said. He dropped out of high school in ninth grade to pursue his dream full time. In the early 1990's he was a keyboardist for the Roots, a neo-soul band, but eventually began to feel stifled creatively. "I wanted to work with all kinds of music, and they had a very specific sound," he said.

The rapper Eve, a Philadelphia native, introduced him to Dr. Dre, and life would never be the same. "Dre opened the door for me, and just having my name mentioned next to his raised my stock," said Mr. Storch, who played keyboards on Dre tracks like "Still D.R.E." "Doors that were once closed to me were swinging wide open."

With the song "Lean Back," the summer anthem of 2004, his career shot into the stratosphere, he said. "People don't even come to me for a single anymore," he said. "Now they want their first single," the initial release that will instantly put an album on the radio. And, according to Mr. Brown, "it's money well spent."

He is currently in the studio with Ice Cube, Method Man and Jessica Simpson, and he wants to start his own record label. But Mr. Storch has no plans to significantly raise his profile in 2006.

"For the past 13 years people have thought that I was the new guy because they don't know who I am," he said. "If I can be the new guy for another 10 years, then I'll be all right."

Money buys fame..tell us something we don't know. It isn't about talent anymore. A&R guys = stupid concept.
I'll be so happy when the "industry" gets a facelift and maybe next time they will get it right, and be about finding talented artists, instead of using methods like American Idol in this media era, and get some actual talent. Instead of rich people, and celebrities getting to jump from one "job" to another, based on a whim.

I hate the way the "industry" is set up..makes me wanna gag.

jasonstar said:

Scott, is the one who was always on about singers/emcees/lyrics and art before his "Lean Back" awakening. It's amazing how fast he changed to accomodate superstars in his headspace. And I do find it amusing that Scott pimped Paris and she paid him to collaborate with him and also to have sex if you think about it. That's what surprises me about Scott. This is the same damn cat who was complaining about the Music industry being filled with plastic. What a difference a Yacht named "Storchavelli" makes. Not hating on his lifestyle but I see what happens when you become a "Super" producer. You start making excuses for your clients lack of talent,creativity. God, that has to suck when your realize that.

And it makes you wonder how many "ARTISTS" are just wearing a costume until they "hit" it big and just jump into the Maybach laughing to you all the way to the award shows. Brilliant.....

BTW,Does anyone have any pictures of this "ARTIST" Nox?

I'm so damn sick of hearing about this bitch's album that ain't gon' never come out.Who's label is she signed to anyways???

ABeautifulOne said:

Probably Epic or Jive
They will sign just about anyone.
[Edited 1/16/06 10:46am]

ABeautifulOne said:

This album will come out. It's Paris Hilton. They won't invest that much and just shelve it. She isn't Axl Rose. They will want a return what they put into this project.

The funny part about it is she probably funded the record herself from her parents money. I wonder if Paris has children how %#$@ up they will be. Can you imagine?

Trickology said:

Bigger albums by well known artists have been sheleved. It also cost money to put out an album and that's where well see if the album has faith in her. I think if they release it, they will let it die and Paris will conveintly get into some scandal or something she won't want to talk about and opps...the album tanked. This album was supposed to be out like 2 years ago but after she actually performed what was supposed to be the first single, "Screwed" and it aired on TV, most people laughed at the idea of her releasing an album and the rest of the world thought she must have been kidding.

Scott couldn't parade around in a video like P. Diddles anyway. Scott Storch is easily the ugliest mug you will ever feast you're eyes on. I wonder if he feels as confident about his work w/ Paris as he did about his work w/ Raven Symone. We all know what a big hit Backflip was for Raven.

roundables said:

Yeah, I remeber buying that album....I have no idea why and they touted "Backflip" as the hit but alas....Not everything Storch touches turns to gold.