Swizz Beatz Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records (Part 1)

Mr. One Man Band talks about producing for Jay-Z, DMX, The Lox, and more.

WESTWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 03: Recording artist Swizz Beatz arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Dumb And Dumber To' at Regency Village Theatre on November 3, 2014 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
(Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic)
WESTWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 03: Recording artist Swizz Beatz arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Dumb And Dumber To' at Regency Village Theatre on November 3, 2014 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

After over a decade in the game, Swizz Beatz is as hot as he ever was. The man born Kasseem Dean has been making power moves all summer as he was recently named VP of Creative Design at Lotus, dropped his own shoe with Reebok called the Kamikaze, and produced some bangers alongside Kanye West for 'Ye and Jay-Z's new album, Watch The Throne.

Business moves aside, Swizz is still best known for his music. That's why we got down with the One Man Band for part one of our two part series to talk about some of the classic records he's produced. Part one focuses mostly on his early career in the late '90s/early 2000s and the work he did as a member of Ruff Ryders

Not only did Swizz tell us about producing some of his signature songs like "Money Cash Hoes" and "Ruff Ryders Anthem" but he also dispelled the urban legend that he was once sued by Casio, explained why he feels DMX and the Ruff Ryders movement is underrated, and how the Roc-A-Fella/Ruff Ryders beef affected his relationship with Jay-Z. IT'S SHOWTIME!

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

DMX “Ruff Ryders Anthem” (1998)

Album: It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “I made that song right before I moved back to New York to start the Ruff Ryder movement. I was living in Atlanta at the time but I wasn’t producing in Atlanta. I was a DJ first, so I was flying back and forth DJing for DMX and stuff like that.

“It was hard because no one accepted me as a producer. They were like. ‘Oh, you a producer? Nah, Irv Gotti’s a producer, Dame Grease is a producer, P.K. is a producer. You DJ, stick to DJing.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, but I like to produce as well.’


 

DMX didn’t want to do ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem.’ He was like, ‘Man, that sounds like some rock ‘n’ roll track, I need some hip-hop shit. It’s not hood enough.’

 

“I didn’t even know I was producing. I was just making tracks. I wasn’t a producer at the time, I was a beatmaker. I was just making beats for my mixtapes to make them sound different. Once I learned I could make a track by taking all of the acapella and music out, I was like, ‘Damn, how much can you get for a track? Let me try to get on this right here.’

“I made the ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ beat in Atlanta. It was me just bugging out, having my New York influence and having my Atlanta influence. That track was the perfect blend which was awkward and different at the time because nobody had ever heard anything like that—including my clique.

“DMX didn’t want to do it. He was like, ‘Man, that sounds like some rock ‘n’ roll track, I need some hip-hop shit. I’m not doing that. It’s not hood enough.’ I told him, ‘Yo, we can make it hood!’ And then my uncles [Darrin "Dee" Dean and Joaquin "Waah" Dean who ran Ruff Ryders] said, ‘Yo, we should step out the box a little bit.’ We bugged him and bugged him to do this shit.

“Then he came in and did it and we were just hyping him up. The ‘What!’ ad-lib and all of that came about in the middle of us hyping him up. We left it in the track to add energy. Collectively, we came up with that vibe. It was his best shit at that time. Since then, X has trusted my judgment.


 

My uncles asked me, ‘Who do you want to hold it down while you go to school?’ It was between Dame Grease and Young Lord. I felt like Grease needed it more.

 

“It was funny because before I moved to Atlanta, my uncles asked me, ‘Who do you want to hold it down while you go to school?’ It was between Dame Grease and Young Lord. I felt like Grease needed it more. Young Lord was a little more established and Grease was living in the hood. Grease doesn’t even know [that I said this] but I suggested, ‘You should rock with Grease on the joint.’

“Then, I went to Atlanta and they had already started work on the album. I was like, ‘You finished the album?! What do you mean you finished the album?!’ So I said, ‘Fuck that, I’m going up there.’

“I had an arsenal of beats but by then I had stopped dropping in. Fortunately, I was blessed because my track cut through. I was still able to get my shine even though I only did that one song on It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot.

DJ Clue f/ DMX, The LOX, Eve, & Drag-On “Ruff Ryders Anthem (Remix)” (1998)

Album: The Professional

Label: Desert Storm, Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “We did the ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem (Remix)’ for DJ Clue’s album, The Professional. The song was hot and Clue was too. He suggested we do a remix and he said he was going to promote it.


 

Certain classic songs should stay the way they are. It’s rare that you’ll hear a Swizz Beatz remix.

 

“We were cool with Clue and everybody was hyped to do it because the Clue mixtapes were a big deal. So he was able to keep it for his album and we could still use it for what we wanted. I just wish there was a video for it. That was the first ‘Scenario’ [type] record.

“I don’t like remixes. Certain classic songs should stay the way they are. It’s rare that you’ll hear a Swizz Beatz remix. I’m not the remix king, I like to do original compositions. On that song you hear me switch up the kick but I never changed the vibe too much.

“Even with ‘World War III’—when I took the beginning of that and made it a remix—I still kept the vibe. I never switched up the entire beat. I guess I’ve got the demo-itis, where I hear something and just like hearing it that way.”

Jay-Z f/ DMX “Money, Cash, Hoes” (1998)

Album: Vol.2... Hard Knock Life

Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “That song started as a joke with me sliding my hand across the keyboard, just bugging. Then I did the drums to the joint. I had this pattern where we would follow the beat and follow the lyrics with the melodies. So you would hear the beat playing the song.


 

'Money Cash Hoes' started as a joke with me sliding my hand across the keyboard just bugging.

 

“The hook was Jay’s idea but the concept of following the beat was my thing. I played him the joint and he was like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy. I’m trying to figure out what to do with it.’ I told him to just follow the keys. He told me, ‘I want to put DMX on this and I was like, ‘Oh shit, it’s outta here. Let’s go!’ I don’t think Jay and X were ever in the studio together for that.

“The crazy part of that song is X never got to perform it. He never gets to perform that verse, the people do it for him and X just stands there. All the ‘What!’ ad-libs that you hear in the beat were from X live. I wasn’t sampling the ‘Whats’ until way, way later. That’s just what X would always do.

“A lot has been taken away from DMX because of his personal problems. When they look at the situation they think, ‘Aw man, X is locked up again.’ They don’t understand that people couldn’t come on stage after X—the biggest of the big. We were on tours with everybody. Nobody could follow up after X.


 

A lot has been taken away from DMX because of his personal problems... When I hear the top fives—top this and top that—I think DMX is up there.

 

“He prayed with his people at the end of the show. He had 50,000 people crying—grown thugs. You couldn’t compete with the power he had. He’s been battling personal issues since day one. X has always been X.

“When I hear the top fives—top this and top that—I think X is up there. Lyrically he’s up there—battle-wise and content-wise. But why don’t I see him up there? Because his publicity isn’t on tack? Or is it that people aren’t doing their homework and don’t understand? I find myself going through that.

“If you want to compare, black and white to black and white, my track record goes around the corner two times quietly. A lot of people are more bent on hype than facts. So I’m like fuck it, this time around, I’m about the facts.”

DMX “My Niggas” (1998)

Album: Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “X used to always say, ‘My niggas.’ One day he was just humming and mumbling it in the studio. I had this weird beat for it. I remember it was only supposed to be a skit. He ended up going on longer than the skit and it became a song.

“I put that song in the movie when I got to score Any Given Sunday. I remember them wanting that in the film and I was like, ‘Damn, they want ‘My Niggas’ in the movie? Wow.’ Oliver Stone was like, ‘I’m keeping that in. That’s fucking cool, I’m keeping it in there.’ I worked on the movie with him directly. That was my first mentor as far as me scoring films.


 

I remember Oliver Stone flying me out. I remember saying I’m never going back to doing regular music because they treated me so good: Private jets, clothes budget, food budget, the best hotels.

 

“Oliver Stone reached out to me, just like how Marilyn Manson reached out to me. Most of my relationships start from people reaching out to me. You never know who’s watching.

“Oliver Stone was a fan of DMX but he was also a fan of what I was doing outside of DMX because I was able to have such a diverse catalog at that time even though I was young.

“I remember them flying me out. I remember saying I’m never going back to doing regular music because they treated me so good: Private jets, clothes budget, food budget, the best hotels. I was running around with Oliver Stone in L.A. having fun.

“Oliver Stone is a rock star. He was always super cool. I haven’t seen him in years but we kicked ass. Soon as I landed, I’m in the office with Oliver Stone, chilling. We right there on the beach in L.A. and it’s like, ‘Wow, this is your office?’ I had never seen nothing like that.”

DMX f/ Marilyn Manson “The Omen” (1998)

Album: Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “A lot of people didn’t know I was into the rock market. I was producing with Marilyn Manson and Limp Bizkit back then. I never publicized it because I was with the Ruff Ryders, a pro-hip-hop movement. I didn’t feel like it was cool for me to be like, ‘Yeah, Swizz Beatz and Marilyn Manson,’ but I thought that him and X would sound dope on a song like ‘The Omen.’


 

DMX figured that having rock fans wasn’t bad. He was open-minded to that because he recognized the diversity in his audience.

 

“I was building a relationship with Marilyn Manson after I had just finished working on his album. So I used that to go over to X’s side. I knew it was crossing over but I felt that X had that rock potential. They had accepted him in that world from the shows we were doing.

“At that time, DMX figured having rock fans wasn’t bad. He was open-minded to that because he recognized the diversity in his audience. It was like, ‘Wow. It’s not only the hood in here, but everybody’s in here.’

“I didn’t want to make the beat a street anthem, a club anthem, a story, or anything in particular. I wanted to leave it open so that Marilyn Manson had his space and so that X had his space. I left the negative space in there so that you could feel Marilyn Manson and X having their little crazy ass moment.”

DMX f/ The LOX & Jay-Z “Blackout” (1998)

Album: Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “I used to make like 30 beats a day. Powerhouse was the location where everybody would come to hear music and work. It was like a factory out in Powerhouse Studios. I’d be in there banging beats. I would sleep in there and never go home.

“It was like an open door policy. So people knew, ‘Okay, Swizz is in there.’ They would listen and say either, ‘I can’t vibe with that,’ or ‘Yo, give me something like this.’ So I would just be in there making shit. One day my uncle came in and said, ‘Yo, we need the ‘Scenario’ joint. We’re trying to get Jay on it. We need the beat.’


 

There was definitely competition between me and the other producers. So I would be in there banging beats because I only had a little time to display what I could do.

 

“I was like, ‘Alright.’ Keep in mind that I had to compete with about four other producers and it was like a shift. There was definitely competition between me and the other producers. So I would be in there banging beats because I only had a little time to display what I could do.

“The all came in and Jadakiss was like, ‘Oh man, that is crazy.’ Once one person co-signs it and they start writing to it, you’re locked in. Jada started writing to it and everybody else followed him. That’s how it stuck.

“I be forgetting I did that record. Even right now I’m like, ‘Oh shoot, Blackout!’ [Chants Jay-Z’s lyrics] ‘I’m a monster! I sleep whole winters, wake up and spit summers.’ We should have shot a video for that too. That would have been crazy. I wish we had video of it.”

Ruff Ryders f/ Drag-On & Juvenile “Down Bottom” (1999)

Album: Ryde Or Die Vol. 1

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “We wanted to embrace the South at that time. I was always into collaborating, that’s why on ‘World War III’ I had Scarface and Snoop. We had divisions of bikers in other cities and we needed to do stuff so all of the divisions could represent and show Ruff Ryders wasn’t just some New York shit. I was making music to fit that.

“When I made ‘Down Bottom’ I was like, ‘Who can we get on here to switch it up?’ At the time, Juvenile and Cash Money was popping. I was like, ‘Yo, get Juvey on this track. That’ll stamp us over there and it’ll stamp them over here.’ I remember being in Sony studios making the beat from the sound module and it was like, ‘This shit is crazy! Let me flip it.’ The rest is history.


 

People spun it out of control like I got sued by Casio. I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ I’ve never used a Casio in my life...I’m like, ‘How can you make those beats from a Casio?’ I’ve never seen a Casio that could make the type of shit I was making.

 

“The sound module comes with sounds programmed in it already, so I was just looping the sound modules. Then, of course, people spun it out of control like I got sued by Casio. I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ I’ve never used a Casio in my life. That was a myth. I was using the Trinities, these silver keyboards. The Triton hadn’t come out yet.

“Today—because of that story—people think I made all of that shit from a fucking Casio. I’m like, ‘How can you make those beats from a Casio?’ No disrespect, but the only Casio I’d ever seen was little. I’ve never seen a Casio that had those types of horns or that could make the type of shit I was making.

“My equipment list started from two BD10 Gemini turntables with a wood-grain Gemini mixer—the small one. Then I graduated to the Technic 1200’s and I got the other Gemini mixers. I always liked the Gemini mixers.

“On the production side I started out with a Dr. Rhythm drum machine, I had an old TR-808. Then my cousin’s boyfriend—who was Bobby Brown’s brother—gave me an MP60, which was my first MP. I remember hooking all that up to my turntables and that was that.


 

I never used SIM or MIDI to this day. That’s real information that people never knew.

 

“As far as a keyboard, I remember getting the Korg M1. I was sampling from the M1 into my drum machine. I was the first person doing that. I had the black M1 where I was doing ‘If I Should Die’ and ‘Coming Of Age’ for [Jay-Z’s Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life]. As a matter of fact, I did ‘Money, Cash, Hoes’ on the Korg M1 too. I never used SIM or MIDI to this day. That’s real information that people never knew.

“From there I started pairing up all these keyboards to my MP. So I would get the Triton, the Trinity, and all these different things that go with it. I was into the sound modules so I had a bunch of those, and when I started to try new things I didn’t like it.

“Even today I use the MP3000 and Logic, only because I’m able to bang out when I’m travelling. My new tracks are made on Logic. The stuff on Watch The Throne was from Logic, Busta Rhymes’ ‘Stop The Party’ and a couple things off my album are from Logic because I’m travelling with it. My in-studio stuff is my MP and all those fucking keyboards.”

Eve “Gotta Man” (1999)

Album: Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders’ First Lady

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “‘Gotta Man’ was written for Aaliyah. At that time she was with Black Ground and I remember Timbaland being a part of it. We were really cool and she wanted to work with me super bad.

“So I was like, ‘Yo, I made this song. It’s called ‘Gotta Man,’ I’m trying to get it to you,’ but our schedules and labels didn’t permit it. We were going back and forth between price at that time.

“But it fit the vibe of the Eve album I had started working on. I was trying to keep her as the ‘pit-bull in the skirt’ and still appeal to the young female audience. We were trying different things, and it became one of the biggest records ever. It’s up there with ‘What Y’all Want’ and ‘Love Is Blind.’


 

Being with Eve is like being with my sister—cracking jokes, bugging out, making music, reminiscing on stuff. It’s like, ‘I’ve still got some of your outfits. Don’t try to get fresh, I’ll show you what you used to look like.’

 

“We were sending a message to the female youth so I thought that was a great angle. It separated her from a lot of artists of today and of our generation. Back in the day, Queen Latifah set that tone. Eve took a little bit of that and advanced it so that this generation could relate. We still did songs like ‘Tambourine’ but we did it for fun.

“Being with Eve it’s like being with my sister—cracking jokes, bugging out, making music, reminiscing on stuff. It’s like, ‘I’ve still got some of your outfits. Don’t try to get fresh, I’ll show you what you used to look like.’ We have a lot of fun, man. She’s a real person and if she needs me to support her I’m always there.

“I’m there for everybody. I might not be able to be on deck and on call, but it’s an open door policy with me. I might surprise Styles with something this week. Sometimes when you get busy, people think that you’re too busy and that you forgot about ‘em. I didn’t forget about anybody.”

Eve f/ Beanie Sigel “Philly Philly” (1999)

Album: Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders’ First Lady

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “I’m big on representing. I come from the South Bronx and in the Bronx you represent. I’ve always been like that. I felt that it was important for Eve—as big as she was getting—to still represent where she was from.

“‘Philly Philly’ was the perfect chance to let people know that she was still Philly even though she was rocking with a New York crew. To stamp that, we got Beanie Sigel—who’s the ultimate stamp of Philly—on that track and kept things on a roots level. It’s very important to bring people back to where there’s some history and take them from there, instead of taking them out of space. That’s too much for them to think about.


 

The Ruff Ryders movement is underrated. It was a real movement that no one was prepared for. They were prepared for a particular artist, but no one was prepared for 200,000 bikers stemming from a rap group.

 

“Back then, I was the conductor of the train. Once people started to understand my craft, they were like, ‘Swizz got it.’ I wanted to be the boss and I ended up being that overnight. Everyone would be out there worrying about other things but when it came to music it was like, ‘Speak to Swizz.’

“Most of the things we were doing went platinum ASAP. The Ruff Ryders movement is underrated. Lately, I’ve seen people being smart about it but for a long time they weren’t. My people were straight hood. It was a real movement that no one was prepared for. They were prepared for a particular artist, but no one was prepared for 200,000 bikers stemming from a rap group.

“Where we came from, we never followed any rules. There was a lot of things that were happening that people couldn’t understand or control. It was crazy but in the middle of all that we were making history. We were breaking records.


 

All of the crews I see now have a little Ruff Ryder element in them. I feel like we influenced G-Unit, this one, that one, a lot of them.

 

“We dropped two platinum albums back to back with DMX. Ryde Or Die Vol. 1 was responsible for breaking all of the acts on the album, including outside acts. We broke Drag-On on that, we broke Eve, The Lox. We introduced Beanie Sigel and got Jay-Z on that. It was just a moment that brought hip-hop together and I don’t think people give it enough props.

“It’s about the facts because if you don’t let people know, then they’ll never know. You can be quiet and humble but we don’t’ live in a quiet, humble world. These people don’t understand that the reason they got this crew is because of that crew or that this element came from that element.

“All of the crews I see now have a little Ruff Ryder element in them. All of them. The only one I might take out is Cash Money because we started around the same time. They have their own element and they’ve stuck to their script. I feel like we influenced G-Unit, this one, that one, a lot of them.

“We especially influenced crews from New York. There’s a little bit of our element in there, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s a super good thing. Everybody needs a blueprint. At the time, the Roc-A-Fella and Ruff Ryders movements were competitive. I was there to see all that and it was crazy.”

Jay-Z “Jigga My Nigga” (1999)

Album: Ryde Or Die, Vol. 1

Label: Ruff, Ryders, Interscope

Mr. Porter: “I did that at Sony Studios working on the compilation. Once again, I remember following the pattern. I sent Jay-Z the beat and he and Dame Dash called saying, ‘Yo, this is crazy!’ I came up with the hook where they say ‘Jigga.’ I had Eve and another person I can’t remember saying ‘Jigga.’ People don’t know that’s Eve doing that hook. I told Jay, ‘The track’s called ‘Jigga.’’ And he destroyed it.

“Roc-A-Fella had their crew and we had our crew. So I was creating on my own and Jay was doing his stuff on his own like he does today. That’s how we worked. More recently though, [me and Jay have] been together in the studio.


 

I had Eve and another person I can’t remember saying ‘Jigga.’ People don’t know that’s Eve doing that hook.

 

“There was definitely competition between the Roc and Ruff Ryders back then. It was a hard place for me because I would play the beats for everybody and people would act like they didn’t hear everything and then get upset when I would give it to someone else and it turned into a big hit.

“Like ‘Bring ‘Em Out,’ that was for Beanie Sigel but he didn’t want it. So I gave it to T.I. ‘Fancy’ was for Mary J. Blige. ‘Touch It’ was for Eve but it went to Busta. There’s over 500 songs in my catalog and probably half were meant for someone else.

“I’ve always been in the middle. I never had problems with either one. When the Roc and Ruff Ryders started beefing I was like, ‘Here we go...Y’all fucking up my money.’ Jay would probably want a beat from me and would be like, ‘I’m not really messing with them over there, so I’m not messing with Swizz either.’


 

When the Roc and Ruff Ryders started beefing I was like, ‘Here we go...Y’all fucking up my money.’

 

“Then my people would be like, ‘We’re not really messing with them.’ Any of the time I wasn’t working with Jay it stemmed from that beef.

“It was never said or brought up but you could feel it. It was like, ‘You know we’re beefing. Why would you give them that track like that? There was all this, ‘I know they beefing’ feeling. I would hit Jay and Jay would not hit me back. But I didn’t have anything to do with the beef.

“It was rap beef, not street beef. If it was street beef, then I could understand it. I know the difference between beef in the streets and lyrical disputes. This was lyrical disputes. I was like, ‘Y’all stay lyrical. I don’t make diss beats about anyone. Just let me do my craft.’”

DMX “Party Up (Up In Here)” (1999)

Album: ...And Then There Was X

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “I think that’s X’s biggest record to date. That’s our biggest record, globally. ‘Party Up’ was at a time when things were moving fast. X was probably frustrated coming to the studio that day like, ‘Y’all gone make me lose my mind!’ A lot of the stuff we were doing was in the moment. When he says, ‘Y’all gone make me lose my mind!’ it’s probably what he was really feeling.


 

X was probably frustrated coming to the studio that day like, ‘Y’all gone make me lose my mind!’ So we said, ‘Everybody feels like that.’ We took that frustration and excitement and put it into a hit song.

 

“So we said, ‘You’re not the only person who feels like that. Everybody feels like that.’ We took that frustration and excitement and put it into a hit song. Capturing those moments as a producer is important. Knowing how to spot that hit element came in play on that record.

“The ‘meet me outside’ part was spur of the moment but it got famous and people started paying me extra to do the outro. I would charge $15,000 extra just for the outro at that time. Even today people want that on their tracks. I just went in there bugging out. I didn’t think they would keep the ‘One, two, meet me outside.’

“That outro came from me DJing and always wanting to control the crowd. Being a DJ was my biggest secret weapon. I was thinking about how people would react in the club. I knew how to control the crowd so I knew how to make records for the crowd. I’d think, ‘When I play this in the club they’re gonna go crazy.’ I still use that.

“That song was made in Miami. We had started recording outside of New York to change up the atmosphere. Being in the same studio can get tired and boring. Sometimes you need to switch it up. We were like, ‘Yo, let’s go to Miami.’ Back then, Miami was exciting—jet skis, drop tops, hot weather, bikinis. So we made a big trip down there to the Hit Factory. We were having fun.


 

The ‘meet me outside’ part was spur of the moment but it got famous and people started paying me extra to do the outro. I would charge $15,000 extra just for the outro.

 

“It was always a late night session. There’s no such thing as an early session. [Laughs.] Although sometimes X would be like, ‘I was there.’ We’d say, ‘What do you mean you was there?’ He’d be like, ‘I was there at 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Nobody was there.’ And then we wouldn’t be able to find him for the rest of the day.

“You’ve got to have communication with X. That’s what kept me in the loop with him. I could call him and say, ‘What are you doing today?’ He’d tell me something like, ‘Sleep, then I’m gonna do this, they think I’m gonna do this but I’m actually gonna do this.’ I’m like, ‘Alright cool.’ That way I knew I could start working on some other shit. He was tricky.

Ruff Ryders f/ Scarface & Snoop Dogg “World War III” (2000)

Album: Ryde Or Die Vol. 2

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “I definitely envisioned that whole song 100%. My uncles had input in it because they were hands on with everything, but at that point we were on autopilot. Everybody knew I knew what I was doing. I was comfortable in my craft because we were making hits.

“I knew this was going to be big. We were making a statement by having Scarface and Snoop. Me and Snoop had been kicking it so that phone call went through and the Scarface call went through [and we got them]. Then you’ve got Jadakiss on there and a new artist named Yung Wun that I had from Atlanta. That covered a lot.


 

We were making a big statement by having Scarface and Snoop. Then you’ve got Jadakiss on there and a new artist named Yung Wun that I had from Atlanta. That covered a lot.

 

“I thought, ‘Damn, how am I going to shine?’ I was the person that was running down on people saying, ‘State your name, gangsta. Where you from?’ I thought it was a cool way to intro it, rather than a chorus every time. I was like, ‘We need something that’s passing it off. What’s the pass off?’

“I was in the studio vibing when I came up with that intro. Those lines say everything about the artist and who was coming next. It was a creative way to get it to the next level. Then at the end we would do the chorus. The chorus was sung by Cross, who’s my artist. That was him doing all the hypes like, ‘We not in the street, we is the streets!’ That was fun.

“I was into my art stuff back then and I was hyped up to the point where I put paint on my eye [in the video] like I was the maestro. I just wanted to look different.

“When I think about doing those records, I think about how many people didn’t exist back then that exist now. How so many producers and rappers didn’t exist at that time and how sonically, things didn’t exist at that time.


 

I was breaking down a lot of sonic doors for producers at the time because when I came in it was the sample era... Rockwilder came up to me like, ‘Yo, good looking for opening up that door.’ Pharrell and a lot of people were like, ‘By you doing that, we were able to express ourselves as well.’

 

“I was breaking down a lot of sonic doors for producers because when I came in it was the sample era. I was one of the first people to lead the synth era. It was keyboard—no sampling, just expressing your art through bugged out sounds.

“Rockwilder came up to me like, ‘Yo, good looking for opening up that door.’ Pharrell and a lot of people were like, ‘By you doing that, we were able to express ourselves as well.’

“Puff dominated the market when I first came out. So it was like if you didn’t have that loop, you were out the game. I was chasing the loops. Then Puff would come out with the loops and I’d be like, ‘Damn, I just had that loop.’ That happened all the time!

“A hot loop is like everybody having the same record. So I’d be like, ‘Damn, he just used the joint I was going to. Now I’ve got to go back to basics.’ Once I found my freedom in original compositions I never went back. Then I found the business part. I was like, ‘Damn. I can drop this at any time and get more for publishing. I’m ready to go right now. The artist has just got to fill it in and we good.’

The LOX “Wild Out” (2000)

Album: We Are The Streets

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “The Lox were in great spirits because they were out of their previous situation with Bad Boy which they were unhappy with. ‘Wild Out’ was telling people, ‘If you’re glad the Lox is with Ruff Ryders now, Wild Out!’ That whole album was one big street celebration to let everybody know the Lox was officially on Ruff Ryders even though they had always been affiliated.

“They loved the beat. I always had beats in the stash. I was like a hungry pit-bull at that time with nothing else on my mind. Now I have hundreds of things on my mind, including that but before it was just beats.


 

I’ve still got thousands of beats on floppy discs that I never put out that people never heard.

 

“It was like being in the gun range and having that one piece of paper that you’re shooting at 30 times a day. You know what that target is like. You know what to hold, you know what you’re aiming for. Not to take away from what I’m doing now but it’s like looking out this window [points to New York City skyline] and saying, ‘I’m gonna hit that and that and I wanna hit that.’ It’s different now.

“I would make one beat on the spot but I would have a hundred just sitting there from the 30 I would make a day. I’ve still got thousands of beats on floppy discs that I never put out that people never heard. Bags and bags. We were on autopilot so I didn’t have to prove myself at that point. It was more like, ‘Let me go get one of those Swizz joints. We need something crazy.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, let’s wild out.’

“I went in the booth bugging out. I was just saying anything, because I already had the concept—which was wild out. I was mentioning different things that would make you wild out. “We were running down places 100 deep and we had the mentality that if somebody acted up we were going to wild out. It was the slang of the time, and it was a great song. I still perform it.”

Styles “Good Times” (2002)

Album: A Gangster And A Gentleman

Label: Ruff Ryders, Interscope

Swizz Beatz: “I think we did that at Sony, back when we were locking out their studios. I only used that sample because it said ‘I get high.’ Who doesn’t want to smoke good? That’s all Styles does. That song doesn’t represent me. I never smoked weed with Styles, ever. I don’t smoke weed like that. If I smoke weed, I’ve gotta be in Jamaica somewhere or on vacation.


 

One thing about Styles is that his style—from his fashion sense to his business sense—has matured. He’s taken a turn. I remember Styles as the gully-gully, hoody-hoody, Timbo-wearing dude, but now I’m like, ‘What are you wearing?’

 

“I like cigars. I’m like an aficionado with watches, artwork, cigars, fashion—that’s my thing. I’ve never been addicted to cigarettes, or weed, or drinking every day. I’m addicted to making history. Me and Styles make songs that get people high, like ‘Good Times’ and ‘Blow My Mind.’ That’s our chemistry, but now we’ve already done that. Now, if I give him something it’s got to be different.

“One thing about Styles is that his style—from his fashion sense to his business sense—has matured. He’s taken a turn. I remember Styles as the gully-gully, hoody-hoody, Timbo-wearing dude, but now I’m like, ‘What are you wearing?’ He’s got his name brands intact and he’s graduated which is a good excuse for me to give him something that’s bigger than he’s ever done.

“I take note of all those things and try to advance it to the next level. I use that as an opportunity like, ‘You know about all this shit, so I can justify giving you this song.’”

DMX “Get It On The Floor” (2003)

Album: Grand Champ

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “I think we recorded ‘Get It On The Floor’ in New York. I can’t really recall. We did that quick. We were moving 100 miles per hour back then. I just wanted to get X back in the clubs with another mainstream record that people could relate to.

“I was like, ‘We should go back to the basics and get back in the club. We haven’t had nothing in the club for a while.’ I thought ‘Get It On The Floor’ was the perfect song for that time. It wasn’t ‘Party Up’ or ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem,’ but it still held a lot of weight. It was the best song for him and for us.


 

I thought ‘Get It On The Floor’ was the perfect song for that time. It wasn’t ‘Party Up’ or ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem,’ but it still held a lot of weight.

 

“X is like my brother. We did everything together: Gambling, stick-ups…we were going crazy. I’m a changed man, trust me. People don’t understand, it was showtime. I’m glad I didn’t let that image overshadow how people feel about me now. It’s easy to get caught up in that street, thug life label. One of the best things I did was keep that a little under the tuck.

“People knew my family was Ruff Ryders. They knew I wasn’t soft but I don’t come off as a tough guy. I don’t act tough because I feel like all the real gangstas are people that are about their business, they don’t want problems. Most of the killers are the coolest people. They’re the ones chilling, having fun. They’re not walking around mean mugging. Those are usually the people faking and fronting.

“So my thing was, ‘Man, I don’t have no problems with people.’ I knew how to carry myself. I’m wasn’t putting myself in those positions because it’s a bad investment for me to have a problem with you. If I saw something it was like, ‘Yo, let me chill.’


 

X is like my brother. We did everything together: Gambling, stick-ups…we were going crazy. I’m a changed man, trust me.

 

“Sometimes I’d be telling someone who’s acting crazy, ‘You know, you probably want to leave that alone.’ They thought they were winning but it was really me preventing them from having a problem. As long as you don’t put your hands on me or talk to me too crazy, I’m probably going to let you slide because I’m focused on the bigger picture.

“I didn’t always have those plans in my head. My fuse was shorter. That’s what X liked about me. He’d say, ‘Set it.’ [Snaps fingers] Instant. He be like, ‘There he go right there.’ [Snaps fingers] Instant.

“That came from me growing up in the South Bronx, doing my thing for the older dudes in the hood. I used to be the one that was like, ‘That’s him right there? Alright, you taking the bike? Cool.’ I was always down. I just grew up like that. But now I can control it. I keep that for emergencies, that shit ain’t nothing to brag about.”

Jadakiss f/ Swizz Beatz & O.J. Da Juiceman “Who’s Real” (2009)

Album: The Last Kiss

Label: D-Block, Ruff Ryders, Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Swizz Beatz: “That was a last minute Jadakiss song for his album. I told him, ‘You know, if we’re going to do something, it’s gotta count. It can’t be an album cut. People ain’t used to that from us and at this point in my career—I’m either doing singles or I’m wasting my time.’


 

It was Jada’s call to get OJ Da Juiceman. He was a fan of OJ at the time. I didn’t understand it. I was like, ‘He’s got a couple cool joints, but you want to put him on the single and in the video? You feel that strongly about him?’

 

“I felt that he had enough hardcore shit out there that he needed something that could be dope on radio and in the club. It needed to be something that everybody could relate to. People could relate to real and fake people, so the chorus is, ‘He’s phony, she’s fake. That’s the type of people I hate.’

“It was simple to come up with that whole concept—and Jada got it. I gave him a couple other things, he laid his verses on it, and we was ready to go. It was quick.

“It was Jada’s call to get OJ Da Juiceman. He was a fan of OJ at the time. I didn’t understand it. I was like, ‘You going to put OJ on?’ I was up on OJ but I was tripping because that was supposed to be Jada’s single and—out of everybody for him to pick—he went with OJ.

“OJ didn’t have too many joints out at that time. I was like, ‘He’s got a couple cool joints, but you want to put him on the single and in the video? You feel that strongly about him?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ He and OJ had a relationship so I just let him do it. I guess the beats got a little bit of a Southern bounce on it and it was his record so I didn’t care—and it worked.”

Jay-Z “On To The Next One” (2009)

Album: The Blueprint III

Label: Roc Nation, Atlantic

Swizz Beatz: “I got this call from Pharrell and Q-Tip about the band Justice and they were saying, ‘Swizz you should vibe with Justice. You’re the only person who could pull it off and throw that hip-hop vibe to it.’ Pharrell told me about Justice, and they cornered me on the phone—him and Q-Tip—and were like, ‘Yo, go look online. Go get the DVD.’ I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’ll do it.’

“So I bought all the Justice stuff and was just going through different things and I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ I found probably 10 things I wanted to do with it but I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to tap it.’


 

I got this call from Pharrell and Q-Tip about Justice and they were saying, ‘Swizz you should vibe with Justice. You’re the only person who could pull it off and throw that hip-hop vibe to it.’

 

“The ‘On To The Next One’ sample is not even saying, ‘On to the next one.’ I just made it sound like ‘On to the next one.’ I took three seconds from that song and made ‘On To The Next One’ from it. That was a nice way for me to introduce people to Justice.

“I knew people would want to know where that came from and that they’d trace it back to Justice. I did the same thing with Daft Punk and ‘Touch It.’ I took the ‘Touch It’ thing and now let me take this thing and mess around with it. I was just having fun and we ended up getting a Grammy for that shit.

“I figured out my model early and I stuck with it. Now my catalog consists of probably five to 10% samples. At this point, you’ve just got to have fun with the samples, like on ‘On To The Next One’ or ‘Fancy.’

“Sometimes I use the samples to inspire a different sound. Like if I want people to get into the Justice sound, I’ll make it something that’s familiar but still unfamiliar and have fun with it.”


 
Jay called me from London going crazy, ‘This is a hit. Wait till you hear the verses on this.

“That was last minute. Jay was like, ‘I’m wrapping the album up, what’s up?’ I was like, ‘Listen, I’ve got one track. I’m just going to send this one track and that’s it. It was ‘On To The Next One.’

“It already had the hook on it when I gave it to him. I don’t like just sending beats, that’s giving artists too much time not to fuck with it. He called me from London going crazy, ‘This is a hit. Wait till you hear the verses on this. This is fucking outta here. Thank you, I knew you had something. I’m gone.’ And that was it.

“That always happens: Songs are either last minute or not supposed to be for that person. Like on Watch The Throne, the last minute shit we came up with was even crazier than what I had on there."

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