DMX and Swizz Beatz shared a unique bond throughout their careers. As a result, the super producer-turned-mogul decided to use X’s homegoing ceremony as a platform to call out people who weren’t there for his friend.
During an interview with Angie Martinez, Swizz explained that his comments weren’t aimed at DMX’s fans. Instead, he was talking to those who had access to X but turned him away when he needed love.
“From the fans’ standpoint, X got a lot of love. It’s just the other love he was looking for I don’t think he got a lot of,” Swizz said around the interview’s 3-minute mark. “And that’s what made me want to say what I said at his homegoing because I was dealing with a lot of that. And I was with X a lot. Especially, recently. So I was very current in his life and understanding where he was at and what he was going through. So when I started seeing things, naturally as his brother, it just bothered me.”
Swizz went on to detail how X’s appearance on Verzuz with Snoop Dogg reignited his fire to create new music for fans because he saw how the youth gravitated to his presence.
“We stayed [in LA] and finished the album at Snoop’s studio after Verzuz,” Swizz told Martinez before explaining the motive behind releasing X’s posthumous album.
“I was like, ‘Let’s keep all the new music he was excited about moving,’” he continued. “I wouldn’t even call it an album, I would definitely call it a masterpiece. … It’s a well-deserved masterpiece.”
Verzuz provided X with the confidence and motivation to get back into the studio and that’s the reason Swizz and Timbaland want to keep the brand going. Swizz explained to Martinez that the platform’s new partnership with Triller allows them to create a business model that will cater to creatives and further entertain fans.
“The future of Verzuz is very big,” he said. “The biggest reason [for the Triller deal] was because we can bring our friends with us. All the other places that was a hard structures to bring into those ecosystems. … For creatives to have control we have to change the things we don’t like that businesses do to us. … We had to go with the team that would allow us to have the freedom that we want.”
Swizz Beatz is expanding this creative and financial freedom to various other ventures. He dabbles in cryptocurrency, curates art, and owns a fleet of racing camels.
“I am the first American to own a full camel team. We came in top 5 in the middle east,” he said. “I got the Ruff Ryder logo on my camels.”
