Hot Rodney

Jerkins says he and Jackson have become pals — they've even gone shopping at the Times Square Virgin Megastore (''His disguise is pretty good,'' Jerkins says, ''but a couple of people kind of knew'') — and he's a little sensitive about the knowing smirks Jacko's name often elicits. ''He's totally down-to-earth and cool,'' Jerkins insists. ''He came to my house. My mother cooked for him. A lot of people try to dehumanize Michael, but he's a human like everybody else. He does the same things we do: watches movies, eats food. He eats with a fork like I eat, you know?''

So how, just six years after landing his first professional production job, did a kid from small-town New Jersey come to be comparing table manners with the world's most reclusive pop star? The offspring of a Pentecostal minister father (who also manages his son's career) and a mother who directs the church choir, Jerkins started taking classical piano lessons as a kid. In junior high he ''decided'' to become a record producer, making home demos on rudimentary equipment his father bought him. Jerkins managed to get his work heard by Teddy Riley and other industry players, and in 1994 he landed his first gig: writing and producing two tracks for an unknown R&B singer named Casserine, who was signed to Warner Bros. at the time. ''I'd laugh at them now because my style has grown so much, but it gave me a lot of confidence,'' Jerkins says. ''That's when I knew this is what I was meant to do.'' The Casserine album fizzled, but Jerkins continued to get work, producing tunes for minor R&B successes like Men of Vizion and Intro. Then, in July 1997, a song he co-penned and produced for Mary J. Blige, ''I Can Love You'' went to No. 2 on the R&B charts.

Over the next two years Jerkins exploded, writing and/or producing a string of hits, including Brandy and Monica's Grammy-winning ''The Boy Is Mine,'' Monica's ''Angel of Mine,'' Houston's ''It's Not Right but It's Okay,'' and Lopez's ''If You Had My Love.'' This year he's already scored two chart-toppers, Destiny's Child's ''Say My Name'' and Braxton's ''He Wasn't Man Enough.''

Jerkins' sudden success has literally changed the way pop music sounds. ''I definitely feel I'm responsible for [the diminished use of] sampling,'' Jerkins brags, as the Christian talk and news show The 700 Club plays on a TV monitor in the background. ''From 1990 to 1997, all you heard was samples. Then I came with 'The Boy Is Mine' and we stayed No. 1 for 13 weeks.... It made people switch their whole style up. That was actually my goal, to make music that would change people's minds about samples, make them create something new.... It was real music.''

Mission accomplished, Jerkins now has a less modest goal. ''I just want to be the greatest,'' says the soft-spoken producer, who seems oddly humble (and a little naive) even while boasting shamelessly. ''I feel I'm the best right now in this era, but I got a couple more things to do in order to become the greatest.'' Okay, so it's a long and winding road to George Martin status. But in his campaign to become the King of Pop (sorry, Michael), Jerkins does have a secret weapon. ''I'll tell you, if he keeps that studio in Pleasantville, he's got a shot,'' jokes Bayer Sager. ''That's why he has so many hits. There's just not all that much to do there.''

Hey, he could always do his laundry.