Jerome‘J-ROC’ Harmone’s Interview On “The Cipher”

Photo Credit: Brad Gregory

[Grammy Award-winning producer and key Timbaland collaborator Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon (Jay Z, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, many more) recently sat down with hip-hop personality and SOHH correspondent Shawn Setaro on his popular “THE CIPHER” podcast.  check out five gems he dropped during the Q&A. 

On producing:

“Producing has always been in me. I love playing live, but if I’m playing live, it’s almost like I’m producing on the spot.”

On Timbaland’s sound:

“I’ve been working with him since 2006 and I still can’t describe it. And it looks so simple. He doesn’t really do a lot, but it’s his time and his rhythm.”

 

On working with Ashlee Simpson:

“She was a rock star. And once I heard her voice, it was simple. It was like, you can’t do the candy pop stuff. Your sister’s doing that. You gotta be the evil twin.”

On the difference between hip-hop and other genres:

“You don’t have to be perfect in hip-hop. We want raw. We want realness. You want the drums to be a little offensive sometimes. You want that edge.”

On Jay Z:

“Jay loves to have people in the studio. He listens to conversations. He’ll be in the back, chilling, and he listens. He knows how to take conversations and build a story out of it. He really pays attention to the environment around him.”