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Producer Series: The Scott Storch Touch

Twenty-nine tracks from a Philadelphia keyboard player who went from a band's touring musician to the most in-demand producer in hip-hop, twice.

(Not just some white boy from South Florida….Don’t get it twisted!)

Scott Storch

Scott Storch is the rare producer whose career has two entirely separate first acts. He came up as the keyboard player in The Roots — that is him on "You Got Me" — which means his grounding is live band musicianship rather than sampling.

He then left Philadelphia, went to Los Angeles, and played on Dr. Dre's 2001, where his keyboard work on "Still D.R.E." produced one of the most recognisable piano figures in the music. From there he built a production catalogue that dominated radio in the mid-2000s.

His signature is specific: real keyboards rather than samples, an obvious taste for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean scales, and an unusually clean, dry mix that leaves the drums exposed.

What to listen for

Floetry's "SupaStar" and The Roots' "Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New" are the Philadelphia roots — the same hands, before the technique became a brand.

Terror Squad's "Lean Back" is the commercial summit: an almost absurdly simple loop that became one of the defining club records of its decade.

Beyoncé's "Me, Myself and I" and Mario's "Let Me Love You" show the other side — he could write a genuinely pretty chord sequence, which most of his competitors could not.

"Cry Me a River" is the outlier and the most interesting entry here, a record whose beat is mostly negative space.

Jill Scott's "Epiphany" and Vivian Green's "Wish We Could Go Back" are the neo-soul commissions, and the Jazzyfatnastees track is the deepest cut on the list.

Sean Paul's "Baby Boy" is the one that shows his ear for a rhythm that was not American at all.

Chloe x Halle's "Do It" and Chris Brown's "Undecided" are the late-period returns, and they are surprisingly good.

Go deeper

Play "Still D.R.E." immediately after "You Got Me". Same player, two years apart, two completely different worlds — and the continuity is in the left hand.

For the wider picture of hip-hop producers who came from live musicianship rather than crate-digging, follow James Poyser, Raphael Saadiq and Terrace Martin. It is a distinct lineage and it sounds different.

Listening note: the giveaway is always the keyboard. Where most producers of the era built from samples, Storch played his parts, and the difference shows in the small timing inconsistencies and in the way a chord voicing changes between verses. Once you hear it, his records are identifiable within four bars.

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