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You played keys on a lot of songs before you became a producer. How different are those checks?
Those checks are like night and day. That musician money is good, but the writer and producer money — there’s no comparison.
You’re first placement was Yung Joc’s ‘Picture Perfect.’ You used to be in a group with him.
Yeah, we were in a group called ADD — it was me, him and Real McCoy. But then Joc hooked up with Block and that put everybody on. The group just kind of fell apart. Joc got his deal and that was the end of that [laughing].
Who surprised you the most in the studio?
Nicole [Scherzinger] from Pussy Cat Dolls. Looking at her on TV, she’s this beautiful Amazon-looking woman. You would think she’d be arrogant, but she’s actually the sweetest person in the world.
Fergie’s “Glamorous” was huge. How’d that come about?
We were doing a remix for ‘Luxurious’ for Gwen Stefani. So Polow played it for her and she hated it. So we were like all right, cool. We got in with Fergie, came up with ‘Glamorous,’ put Ludacris on it and it was a wrap. You can imagine the check on that record.
Of the songs you’ve produced, which is your favorite?
‘This Is the Life’ on Rick Ross’ album because of the whole street element. It didn’t do as big as people thought it should’ve, but I love that record.
