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Interview Podcast Audio Swizz Beatz
One Man Band Man

MP3: Hey Swizz, how you doing man? What's goin on? Pardon the delay, pardon the delay. No worries man, I know how these things work. So, yeah, man, I want to talk about the new album, the new single, you got a lot of stuff jumping off right now. You're doing real well. What can we expect from the new record, man? Oh, man, just a continuation of what's been going on in the streets as far as the good music coming from me. I know this is something you've been working on for a while and I know that originally it was going to be no features… It still is. It's still no features? Yeah. Still, you know, two features, Cassidy and Coldplay, I saved the other collaborations that everybody heard about for like, remixes. Okay, gotcha. Now, you're somebody that's been making hits for a long time now, and there's been a lot of kind of styles, production styles kind of come and go, one year the Crunk was all that and then it was Snap music, this and that. And somehow your style has, you've been able to change with the times and a lot of these producers come out and are real big for a minute and then kind of disappear. What is your secret to staying relevant and to making your music constantly be in touch, or resonate with the streets? Just being a music lover. And just, like, paying attention to the game. Like, I pay attention. I'm like, yeah, you know, this is something that I love to do and I take it very seriously and I'm very competitive and when I come out I come to win, I come to attack and I come to leave bones. Nice. Right on, man. Now, in addition to your own record, your own album, I know you're doing a lot of different stuff. You did the Bone Thugs, you did a lot of stuff with Biance. You're working with Cassidy, obviously, and a lot of different artists. Is there anything that you are putting—what's like the number one priority for you right now, in terms of juggling all those projects? Oh, man, it's just to keep putting good music out and you know, as far as this year, letting Full Surface brands, Eve, Cassidy, Bone, myself, get recognized you know. Is it harder for you to switch from – I know you've been kind of a business man for a while, but I mean to go from just a producer to producer/MC/CEO, is that hard to maintain all that stuff at once, or do you have a good team around you that's helping you with that? Yeah, definitely a good team. What's up with the Kid Robot stuff? I know you're involved with those guys as well. Oh, man, we opening up, you know, 15 new stores around the world and just expanding and just making it show time. That's what's up. Now, there's been a lot of talk, not as much this year, but I know last year, with Nas's record and people from his generation being kind of down on hip-hop, or saying that hip hop is dead or this and that, which obviously it's clearly not, you know, I know that he's a friend of yours and a colleague as well, and you're somebody that—you've been in this on many different levels, going way back to the Ruff Ryders and whatnot, what is your opinion on that when people say, Oh, it's not what it used to be, you know, this and that. When obviously you're still making giant hits today just like you were a decade ago. What do you think when you hear people talking like that? I think that hip hop is not what it used to be. So, you know, hip hop has definitely changed and the music industry as a whole has definitely changed. So you know, it's—you can say that it's not what it used to be, but as far as being dead, that's something that shouldn't have been said. [laughs] Do you think it's getting better or do you think it's getting worse? Or do you think it's just getting different? I think it's getting different. Now you were talking about how the music industry has changed so much, it's like, obviously the whole digital thing and downloads and ringtones has really changed the game. Nowadays it's more about singles than about albums and people that might have had a huge multi-plat record a couple of years ago, is struggling to get the same kind of sales this year. Being that you're putting out not only your solo album but these other people's records as well, does that worry you at all, or you just roll with the punches and just make the music and see what happens? Yeah, I just make the music. I don't really worry about too much of what's going on. I like to control what's going on. Excellent. How did the thing go down last weekend in Camden. I know there was a little bit of controversy about that. [Camden, NJ police objected to Swizz' lyrics and threatened to withdraw sponsorship from the "Peace on the Streets" rally/concert.] Did that go off okay? Yeah, it went excellent, man. You know, I turned something negative into a positive situation, you know, the mayor and the people from the city was very happy, you know, and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to just change the whole situation. So they was understanding me. But everything worked out good in the end? Perfect. It's a shame that the press release of what happened didn't go out on that, you know what I'm saying, and I'm going to press my publicist to get that out, you know what I'm saying? I also wanted to touch on, I mean, similar to what we were just talking about, it seems like the press, the media is always real eager to blow up the negative side of the story, but when something positive goes down, they're a lot more quieter about it. With everything recently with the Imus situation and Sharpton and Russell Simmons and Oprah and all those guys getting involved on it, and speaking on that, you know, I was talking to somebody, I think it was either David Banner or Chamillionaire, last week about that and how it seems like it's the same old thing, ten years ago, twenty years ago, people were saying, "Oh, rap music is causing all these problems in society." And it seems like that whole argument, that whole angle is back again, just as big as ever. Mm-hmm. Does that, as an artist, but also as a businessman, what is your take on that? Do you feel like there's any validity in the critics of hip hop for saying this kind of stuff? I mean, some things that they beefing about is right, some things they beefing about is crazy. You know, and it's just like, some things are disrespectful, some things I can't blame them for saying. Sure. I feel you. So the album is now looking like September, or August? August 21st. Show time. And are you going to be doing a big tour jump off for it as well? Yes, I've been doing that now, I'm on the road now. And you know, just ripping them down one by one. And then are you working on, do you already have more projects on deck to start cracking as soon as this is out? Or are you going to take a break for a while? No, no breaks. Again, they're popping straight, you know, with Alicia Keys, with 50, you know, with Mariah, Madonna, Cassidy, Eve, Mashonda, everybody we getting it popping. Staying busy. I have a new Jadakiss album, new LOX album, all that. Drag-On album. Is that going to be Full Surface? No, Jadakiss going to be Ruff Ryders/Roc-A-Fella. Okay, cool man. Well, I know you got a long day doing press, but I got one more question I want to ask you and this is something that I ask anybody that's a veteran in this business who's been doing it for a minute. Every kid now, they want to rap, they want to make beats, they want to have a label, they want to be a mogul, you know, whatever, you know, instead of demo tapes they're making MySpace pages and trying to get in the game that way. You been doing this for so long, you got a crazy resume, platinum hits galore, what advice would you give to the young cats who see a person like you and look up to somebody like you, and just is trying to get their foot in the door and get started in the business? Bottom line, you're nothing if you don't know your business. Point blank, period. All that other stuff, can have the best songs in the world if you don't know your business, you're nothing. So my opinion is just to stay focused and educate yourself on the business and all that other stuff coming later. So you got any last words to say for the people that's going to be checking this? Just tune in August 21st, it's showtime. Well thanks for taking the time to do this Swizz, I appreciate it man. Definitely.