X doesn’t work well when it’s feeling like work.
As a producer, you have to know who your artist is, right? So for me to get things done with my brother, I knew we had to be in the studio at noon, and let him have the rest of his day at like 4:00 p.m. How long did it take to finish the record from start to finish? We haven’t spent time together, like consistently, for over 15 years or something like that. Seeing him and getting to spend that back-to-back time together, it was pretty amazing. To be able to do that with him on his last days, I just think it was a blessing. But it was nothing like us sitting in the room and being Batman and Robin or Quincy and Michael, masterminding how we want to put this art out to the world. And I went on my way to do different things and they would call me for singles and things like that, which I would do. And then when my brother got super big, other people wanted to work with him and different things like that. When we were first coming out with the music, it was very curated and it was very together. What was your main priority as executive producer on the album?Īs executive producer on the album, I just wanted a classic from him. “We stayed in the studio and recorded the whole album right after that Verzuz.” Maybe it just gave him an energy that was the official launch of this project, because we stayed in the studio and recorded the whole album right after that Verzuz. 1 and breaking records and entering the streaming game and artists calling him to work with him. But when he went on Verzuz, he saw all his albums going back to No.
Of course, when people see you in the street, they show you love, but you don’t really know what that means. Imagine, you don’t have no music out, and you’re not on the level where you’re used to being on. Because when he went on Verzuz, he saw the love people still have for him today. Why do you think that ignited the passion again?Ī lot of artists-not just X-when they get up in age a little bit more, they start doubting things and their art. You’ve said that DMX’s Verzuz battle was a big motivator in getting back in the studio. Other than that, everything was the same. So, we put Moneybagg Yo on a song called “Money, Money, Money.” That was the only thing that was changed. The only thing we changed was the Pop Smoke verse on one of the songs, because the verse was used. He worked on that record when he was living, 100 percent of it.
I mean, the record was finished when he was here. How have you been feeling having to finish up this album without X? Has this process been therapeutic for you? Over the course of two months, X knocked out what Swizz Beatz tells Complex is a “masterpiece.” The rapper and producer duo started work on the project after DMX’s epic Verzuz battle with Snoop Dogg in July 2020. Though he’s been tasked with the responsibility of finalizing the project, he clarifies that “100 percent of the album” was made while DMX was still living. I’m just making it all about him.”įor Swizz Beatz, working on Exodus was a labor of love. I want to think about continuing my brother’s legacy and giving the world what he put so much time and energy into. It’s going to take time, but I can’t think about myself right now. I’m hiding in the creative, but am I destroyed? Yes. “It’s been a long few months, balancing sending my brother home and taking on the task of completing the mission with this record and making sure the world gets it immediately, how he wanted it to be. “I’m a little drained,” Swizz admits, although he assures he’s in a good space overall. As you can imagine, the process of planning a rollout for his close friend and collaborator has been an emotional experience. And now, Swizz is only days away from presenting the late rapper’s eighth studio album, Exodus, to the world. It’s been a little over a month since DMX, whom Swizz Beatz affectionately refers to as his brother, passed away.
0 kommentar(er)
