September 01, 2005

Lil Jon Slams Scott Storch For 'Biting' His Style — 'Nonsense,' Storch Replies

By Shaheem Reid (MTV.com)

At one point, Lil Jon and Scott Storch were so tight they worked on some (still-unreleased) beats together. Who knows if they'll ever see the light of day: Both producers are telling the other to step his game up. Jon has even accused Storch of pilfering from his production playbook.

"Scott Storch is biting my style now," Jon said with a smile a couple of weeks back. "I'm putting it out there on MTV News: Scott Storch is a biter. A lot of them records sound like Lil Jon, but they [are produced by] Scott Storch. Have you heard that? All the singles started sounding like me."

"It's sort of nonsense," Storch responded on Saturday in Miami. "There's a message I have for that: just get on my level. I'm a musician, so I don't know anything about [biting]. I've been doing this for 15 years and I've been innovating and always have been someone who's been a pioneer in creating the new sound.

"I don't see any [similarity] in our music, other than we both like to use low-end and bass," he continued. "I think it's just sad in this industry that sometimes the pressures of being successful make you say things that are untrue. This year has been a great year for me: I've had 18 singles that have had nothing to do with each other sound-wise. Each have their own look."

Regardless of Storch's opinion, Jon said he's planning to combat the similarities he's hearing by altering his style.

"If you listen to the new Styles record I produced, 'Can You Believe It,' it don't sound like a regular Lil Jon record," he said. "That's the dope thing about Timbaland, I think: They started biting his style, so he switched his whole thing up and came from another angle and is still doing it. I just go off my vibe and my energy -- my vibe has changed a little bit, and it's still Lil Jon."

In recent weeks, Jon has been working hard with two of his heroes: Ice Cube and Too Short. Jon says he's recorded seven new songs with Cube and is helping him to land a home for the project.