Swizz Beatz had to push DMX to finish one of the pair's biggest collaborations, "Party Up (Up in Here)," which appeared on X's 1999 album ...And Then There Was X and would go on peak at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the latest installment of Rolling Stone's Musicians on Musicians series, Swizz spoke with Rema about having to force DMX to finish "Party Up," as the pair was approaching their deadline, because according to Swizz, DMX "didn't want to do the song."
“I’m always gauging the room," Swizz said of his approach to a studio session. "Because you could come in in a mood — you’re thinking about your girl — and if I’m pushing a party song on you, it’s just not going to work."
Swizz continued, “I mean, it worked for DMX one time with ‘Party Up.’ But if you listen to ‘Party Up,’ he does everything against the track. Like, you could tell he didn’t want to do the song. But I forced him, because we was on a deadline. It’s the most disrespectful verse I think he ever did, and it’s the biggest song we ever made.”
Back in 2011, Swizz spoke with Complex about the outro on "Party Up (Up in Here)," which features the producer and resulted in Swizz charging $15,000 extra "just for the outro at that time."
“The ‘meet me outside’ part was spur of the moment but it got famous and people started paying me extra to do the outro," he said. "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.’"
Swizz added, “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."
