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"l f u cked B ritn ey wh ee I barrow styl e." Jonathan "J.R" Rotem

is holding court athis Beluga Heights studio inWest Holiywood, California. The

music producer is wearing enormous silver Elvis sunglasses and a diamond-

encrustedkeyboardaroundhisneck;hishairglistenslikeabirdinanoilspill.Tothe audience clustered around his couch-his managet Zach Katz, two calnera-

men filming a reality-showpilo! Denaun Porter ofhip-hop group D12-Rotemoffers aseries ofimpromptu nonsequiturs: "Ihaveafearofgerms"; "I dontinvestinrealestate,Iinvestinjewelry"; "I'maleo, it's true. It also says that he's from Beverly

alion";"I'veseenZoolnndsrlOotimes";and, Hills, which is not exactly true. He's an

finally, I fucked Britneywheelbarrow style. Israeli born in South Africa, raised first inJust kidding." He waits a beat. "It was trac- Toronto and then in an aftluent Bay Area

torstylel' suburb. He lives in an apartmentbuildingvoo *uy recall Rotem's name and/ in the neighborhood known as wilshire

or hair from the gossip blogs. Back in Corridor-but Beverly Hills, the leafr en-

December, five weeks after Spears sent claveoftherichandfamous,isrt'tfaraway.Kevin Federline packing from Malibu to Hisstudioa"ndrecordlabelarebothnamedthe Valley, sandwiched somewhere in the BelugaHeights, afictitiousplacethatcon-midstofhercataclysmicmentalmudslide- jures up champagne wishes and caviar

betweenpaparazzisho*ofherbaldbeaver dreams. His look-which recalls that ofand her nude noggin-grainy footage ap- ScottStorch,theotherJewishhip-hoppro-pearedofthepos@artumpopstarclimbing duction macher-belies his aceomplished

onto Rotem's lap, cigarette in hand, lean- background as a classical and jazz pianist.

ing in for akiss. Theyhad been working to-gether on her next record and capped thenight with the Cameron Diaz ch ickflick Th e

H ok day - andsome curbside canoodling.Back at Beluga Heights, Rotem's old

friend Porterpresses himfor salacious detailsabout that night. 'ilozi did you do that?" therapper asks, slapping his thigh in disbelief."I heard she's on the wild side. Is that true?"The camergmen exchange excited glances.

Whether out of respectfor Spea.rs or concernforhis career, Rotem clams up. His rightfoottwitches; his knucldes whiten on the arm ofttreleathercouch. An awl<rvard silence creeps

in.'TVe were workingin the studio together,"Rotem replies flatly, hyingto bring the con-versation to a halt. He ventures somethingabout asamplingmachine. But Porterjust ig-nores him:'Youare ahound dog!"heshouts."I rememberwhenhe getno pussy. Nowhegetting all kind of pussy. I was watching E!and I saw this nigga walk ir1 and I was like-That'sJ.R.l"

J.R ROTEM IS a multiplatinum music pro-ducer. It says so on his MySpace page, and

"He's a musical genius and one of the big-gest music producers in Hollyrood," says

Heroes culie Hayden Panettiere, whose de-but CD, coming in August will feature ahandftl of Rotem-produced tracks. "He's

veryfun, verysmartand agenuine, nice guy.

Notahorribleidioti'"He is the best up-and-coming produc-

er in the music industry," says The Game,who, when faced with making his sec-ond record, Doctor's Adoocate, withouthis trusted father figure Dr. Dre, sought

Rotem's services. "I call him the white Dr.Dre because when it seemed like I couldn'tfinish the record unless I had Dre beats,J.R stepped up to the plate and gave methe dopest tracks."

After spending five years quietly earn-ing credibilityinthe hip-hop arenabymak-ing beats for, among others, The Game,5O Cent, Fabolous, Snoop Dogg, G-Unit,Destiny's Child, Rick Ross, Lil'Kim andDr. Dre, the 3l-yerir-old Rotem is this mo-ment's go-to guy for hit-hungry pop stars.His career turning point was "S.O.S.," the"Tainted Love"-sampling track he'd beentrying to sell for three years, before it waseventually recorded by Rihanna in 20O6-and became a worldwide hit that reachedthe top of six Bf llb oard charls.

Today, urban music and ToP 4o PoP areas inseparable as ever, and Rotem's beatsstrike a precise, gaudy compromise be-hveen the two. He offers R&B singers likeRihanna a chance to cross over to main-stream audiences, invoking and updat-ing'Bos dance-floor jams for the Pro Toolsage; and he offers pop blondes like AshleyTisdale and Paris Hilton sinewy, pulsatingtracks steeped in shiny synthesizer soundsand spiked with hip-hop swagger. There'ssomething Bruckheimerian about his pro-duction: It'sbig,busy and-ina Itr/here haoe

I heard this before? sense-generic.His date book shows that Britney isn t

the only one hoping for a Rotem-producedsmash : TheVeronicas and ChristinaMilianare coming by for sessions. A meeting withJessica Simpson has been postponed (ac-

cording to Rotem, his lothario reputationhas made newbeau John Mayer abit nerv-ous). No matter, he has some finishingtouches to put ontracksfor Sean Kingston,the l7-year-old Jamaican rapper who isRotem's first signing to Beluga Heights; heneeds to tighten up a track for J. Lo; andBusta Rhymes has been asking to stop by.

He describes the TV pilot het filming as a

brand-building tool. "People all know thewomen, the jewelry the cars, all of whichI have," he tells the cameras at one point.

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Play That Funky Music, White Boy!J.R. Rotem isn't the only hip-hop honky to leave his (pale) mark on the genre ."

lg77SAL ABBATIELLOTo get his newBronx nightspotDisco Fever off theground, this hip-hopearly adopter booksup-and-coming DJGrandmaster Flash,officially bringinghip-hop in from theschoolyards,

t984RICK RUBINPunk fan Rubincofounds Def Jamin his NYU dorm. Helater helps createrap rock by pairingAerosmith and Run-D.M.C. for "WalkThis Way."

t987BEASTIE BOYSNYC brats tour theworld in support oftheir debut, Licensedfo ,ll, with an inflat-able penis onstage.Rap'sfirst worth-while white MCs.

I

a rggzJERRY HELLERThis former agentcofounds RuthlessRecords wilh Eazy-E.Goes on to manage-and acrimoniouslysplit from-gangstaprogenitors N.W.A.

"But I want to shor,'r'the blood, sweat andthe tears, the stress and the rejection. Iwant people to knowthe different sides tome. I've always been a dick, but I've had tobe nice to getwhere I am; now I wantto beme.Therealme."

In the pursuit ofthe "real" J.R. Rotem,it's easyto gettripped up in the look-whichhe calls "half Guido, half wigger"-andthepainfully unfunny bada-bing one-liners.Drivinghome from the studio one nightinhis Maserati Quattroporte, he erplains thatthis is all mereh a persona, one he creat-ed in an attempt to assimilate into the hip-hop demimonde. He compares himself toa method actor or a Donnie Brasco-anundercover cop who goes native. "When Ifirst got in, I was like, I'll let my music dothe talki.ng. But it became apparent thatit's important how I sell myself. My familybrought me up to think that bragging wasclassless and repugnant. But ifyou donttalkbig, you don'twin."

It's this persona that has made somepeople initially wonder who, exactly, thisclown thinks he is. Thatwas the reaction ofnewcomer LucyWalsh (daughter of Eaglesguitarist Joe Walsh) when her IslandRecords A&R rep Rob Stevenson intro-duced her to Rotem. 'ltrrhen she first methim, she was like,'Who are you having mework with?"' remembers Stevenson. "Butafter 2O minutes ofexplainingto himwhatwe wanted, he started writing a song thatseparates her from the pack. In this busi-nessyou getflash,butoftennothingunder-neath. J.R. has substance."

Born in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, toIsraeli parents, Rotem moved to Torontoat the age of 2, where he was recognizedas having a special talent for playing thepiano. Before he turned 1<!, the Rotemsmoved once more, this time to Moraga,California, outside San Francisco. His pre-cocious dedication to studying the mas-ter composers attracted prestigious teach-ers who encouraged him to perform inclassical-piano recitals and competitions,some ofwhichhewon.

In 1993, he movedto Bostonto attendthe Berklee College of Music. That sameyear, Rotem tookhis firstjazz-piano lesson.Enthusiastically sloughing off the rigidityof classical music, Rotem fell in love withthe free-form improv ofboth the music andthejazzbo lifestyle and spent 12 hours a davpracticing and getting high. "I didn't everwanttobe arockstar-Iwantedtobe ajazzstar," he says. "I thought it would be cooi todie young and on drugs, iike Coltrane andDavis. People wouldn't believe how muchcoke andheroin I would do when I played."Four years ago, Rotem went cold turkeyand nowshuns even caffeinated drinks.

Nineteen ninety-three was also theyear Snoop Dogg released his debut CD,Doggystyle, produced by Dr. Dre. "WhenSnoop came out, I thought he was thecoolest guy on the planet," Rotem says."I started to dress like him, and I learnedall his songs on pianol'After graduat-

ing from Berklee, Rotem moved back toMoraga and started makingbeats, puttingthem on CDs and handing them out to an-yone who would take them. Eventually,someone who knew someone gave one toD'Wayne Wiggins of the R&B group Tony,Toni, Ton6, who 'lr'anted it for an En Voguerecord. Luckily for Rotem, it eventuallylanded on Destiny's Child's Z OOl Suraiaor,as"Fancyl' Suraiuorwent on to sell 8.7 mil-lion copies, turninghis humble initial fee of$z,soo into awindfall.

Within a year, Rotem was living in L.A.After meeting up with Zach Katz, who hadbecome well-known in hip-hop circles formanaging Rakim, among others, Rotemgot an audition to play piano for Dr. Dre,who ended up buying a couple ofhis beats.Since then, Rotem has produced morethan 1OO tracks, generally at $40,OOO to$so,ooo apop; he's boughtthe Maserati-a car he describes as a "panty soaker"; ))

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sRD EASSOueens Jew MCSerch and pal PeteNice release the not-at-all embarrassingThe Cactus Album(despite embarrass-ing hair).

r994LIMP BIZKITFour friends inJacksonville, Florida,bond over a love ofRakim and SuicidalTendencies, and forma band. The resi isred-capped. girl-hating history.

EMINEMDr. Dre hears anunknown MC free-styling on the radioin L.A. and signsthe biggest and bestwhite rapper ever.

r9g9VANILLA ICERob Van Winkleappears on MTVto destroy the net-work's "lce lce Baby"videotape. Still can'tdestroy his "walkingpunch line" status.

Ii zoooSCOTTSTORCHThebiggesrwhitebeat-

20,07SHAMROCKThe Atlanta-born,lrish-repping MCwins VHI's lhe(wnite) RapperShow, Surprisingly,an illustrious careerhas yet to lollow (buthe does have 2 mil-lion MySpace plays!).

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smith of the 'aughtsshows a reporter hisnew yacht-namedStorchavelli.

( t.*.norrnr )and he's succeeded in being ex-pelled from Kevin Federline'sgroup of MySpace friends.

On a Saturday a.fternoon,Rotem, his writing partnerEvan Bogart*son of CasablancaRecords founder Neil Bogart-and Katz are waiting at BelugaHQfor Jessi Malay. A 2O-year-oldR&B singer, she is due at the stu-dio to recut some vocals. Whiletheywait, Rotem andthegang areyucking it up; as it goes, 'tegetari-an" becomes " o agltaiani' "egotis-tical" is pronounced "egoteshcal"and "flow chart" is repeated back,

"Whoops,this is notfte roiletl"

fr ont-loaded with "menstrual." When Malayarrives, Rotem's reality-show pilot gets adose of sex appeal. She's half Filipino, halfJewish, sexy but not intimidating, prettybut also cute. She has salon hair, tightjeansand high heels, and her breasts, side-peek-ingfromher hoodie, zipped down low, splaysuspiciously. After small talk about havingseen each other at the club, he tells her to"One, get in the booth and, two-take yourpants offand sing." Malayrollsher eyes andobediently enters the vocal booth. As shewarbles her chorus, Rotem implores her toreach deeper, offeringcomments into atrwo-

way speaker on the mixing desk: "I'm pic-turing you with a horsei he says. "Fuck thehorse."AndlateS "Tbp intothat Filipinobar-rio. Pretend you have mango juice drippingoffyou; like you are barefoot, pregnant andyou are cooking. Squirt all over the tracki'

Onthe couch, Evan Bogartis Googling.When he comes across a pap arazzipholo ofRotem taken on a night out with Britney, hetilts his laptop so the producer can see it. "Ilike my eyes," Rotem says, unintentional-ly sounding like Derek Zoolander, and rubssome Purell Instant Hand Sanitizerintohispalms. Ablog has another photo of Rotemwith captions that read, Ir's DAR-K our,JAcKASs and pur MoRE oIL INyouR rralR,orrc. Bogart and Rotem laugh hysterical-ly, each taking turns repeating the lines.In the booth, Malay has finished her cho-rus; in the background her voice squeaksthrough the speaker: '.Was that OK?"

The distracted work-play process goes

onforanotherfivehours-aphoto ofakittenis sent to the huge computer screen abovethe mlxing board, tracks from Katharine

lO4 Bl"rd"".co*

McPhee's debut are analTzed, dinner is or-dered, Katz auditions a mariachi band nexldoor-until finally, at 1o r.rvr., Rotem's moodsuddenly sours. He has decided that thevibe in the room is negative, that Bogart andMalay are mad at him, that the magazinesscattered across the floor of the darkenedstudio are too distracting. He rubs morePurell on his hands and identifies anothervibe-killing annoyance: the tangle ofcordson the floor. Compulsively tidying them up,Rotem exhales deeply, sits down at the pi-ano and pounds out an efortless version ofthe somberiazz standard'Autumn Leavesi'Ten minutes later, he lingers on the last noteand calmly announces, "OK, nowwe can fo-cus. Let's getbackto workl'

The following night, at a music-bizparty at the Roosevelt Hotel-where ParisHilton is seenwalking in circles yellingintoher phone-Rotem seeks out a quiet placeon the steps outside for conversation. Awayfrom the reality-TV crew and the teasingfriends, he finally removes his sunglasses.He discusses actresses as singers ("Can'tsayit's a goodthing, but nowyou can make peo-ple sing in tune; you can't fight technolo-gy"), sampling ("I vehadto adjustmyegotouse samples . It's humbling . . . I have to sharecredit and money") and being a white boyin hip-hop ('TWrth jazz,I've always been ina multiracial environment, and I've datedintenacially"). He talks about promiscuity("I don thave one-nightstands") and, finally,what reallyhappenedwith Britney Spears.

"Britney and I were in a relationshipi hesays quietly. 'We were dating for about twoweeks but decidedforboth our careers thatitwouldn't be cool to have aromantic rela-tionship. Shewas reallyemotionaland dis-tressed atthe time."

Rotem says he doesn t regret what hap-pened, orhis overnight notoriety; he knowsitt good for business. Butwhatever anyonethinks of him, he insists he always tries todo the right thing. "There are definitelytimes when I'm an arrogant, vain asshole.But the bigger part is sensitive, good-hearted. People whoiust see me in front ofthepaparazzi acting like ajackass have noclue who I am." And with that, Rotem tertsParis to see where she's gone off16. leuonl