Swizz Beatz
Photo: Full Surface

Swizz Beatz said you're going to learn more about him soon. To fans who are just now catching on to his acclaimed thump, Swizz is going to help them do their homework.

"People thought I started my career with [T.I.'s 2004 hit] 'Bring Em Out,' " laughed Swizz, who's been throwing his weight around in rap since the late 1990s. " 'Yeah, he first started with "Bring Em Out." ' I'm like 'Bring Em Out?'

"What I'm doing this year, I'm doing a bio on Swizz Beatz. I'm doing a bio on Kasseem Dean," Swizz added, dropping his birth name. "Some people don't know 70 percent of the work I've done. They know the obvious stuff that I've done. I think that me being so anti-press, so anti-publicist, mentally, it kept me cool, but on the music level, it held me back. Simple things I see, like ... for people that think me and Bono hanging out was, like, weird, awkward, I know that's a lack of education of who I am. I've been working with rock and roll since way back when — Limp Bizkit, all these different people from way back when."

Swizz said he's planning to start a Web site about his career. One of Swizz's main focuses this year is to build his birth name into a name brand.

"I still don't get my props like that," he said. "But it's cool. When I get it, it's gonna all make sense. ... But I'm not looking for no props. I'm looking for people to have a great time and recognize real music, and that's it. This year, I'm just graduating the whole Swizz Beatz brand. I'm going more Kasseem Dean, which is my government [name]. Kasseem Dean is the guy that travels all around the world, that deals with art, that does all the philanthropic work, that's scoring movies, that's doing clothes with major designers. All those things fall under the Kasseem Dean category. Swizz Beatz is 'On to the Next One,' 'Transform Ya,' all the stuff you see in the video. From 2009 on backwards is Swizz Beatz. All my tracks, that could still be Swizz Beatz. Anytime it's something outside of beats, it's Kasseem Dean. It's important for me to graduate that brand."

Dean, the producer added, is the guy you see hanging out with foreign dignitaries, top-name fashion designers and Bono. "Kasseem is chill. It's like the better side of Swizz," he said.

It's Hip-Hop and R&B Week at MTV News, and we're saluting some of the biggest names who have earned big-dawg status with their steadfast pursuit of excellence. We're also bringing you some of the acts on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough, so stay locked with us all week!

• MTV News Extended Play: Swizz Beatz

• Swizz Beatz

Swizz Beatz
Photo: Full Surface

Even before Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 dropped, fans had already gravitated to the Swizz Beatz-produced "On to the Next One." The popular three-second sample loop on the hook leant itself to a head-nodding and sound-system-bumping experience.

And ever since the video kicked off the new decade, the song's hook has been on repeat on radio. But the funny thing is, the sample doesn't say "on to the next one." It's actually looping the words "under the spotlight." The song samples Justice's 2007 hit "D.A.N.C.E.," and Swizz said he never would have created Jay's club banger without the urging of Pharrell Williams and Q-Tip. "To be honest, Q-Tip and Pharrell put me onto Justice," Swizz told MTV News. "We had a long conversation on the phone, and they were like, 'Yo, you need to get onto this Justice joint.' I knew the sound, but I didn't know the name of the sound that I was liking. They were calling me back, like, 'Yo, did you get the Justice stuff yet?' Nah, nah, I'm on it. I was on vacation or something, and they called me again, and they were like, 'Yo, did you get the Justice joint? We're going to stay on top of you!' "

Swizz said he was vaguely familiar with the song, but he wasn't aware of the French electronic duo, made up of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. Pharrell and Q-Tip felt Swizz was the only person who could flip Justice's song for a beat. Once he finally heard the track, he called Pharrell in excitement.

" 'Yo, I got it! I got the joint! I already hear 10 things I could do with it,' " Swizzy recalled saying. "I did 10 of them, literally, but then 'On to the Next One' was the least complicated one that I did. It was something that would easily fit into the system but still got the bounce, and it still gives Jay space to do his thing, even with the sample behind him through the whole song. It gave me a chance to be able to rock the chorus. It was a perfect fit."

Swizz, a DJ himself, said he can't deny Justice's whole movement. "When you think of a Justice party, it's more like artists performing onstage with a massive rock crowd, rave crowd, hip-hop crowd, disco crowd all in one bunch, but they're DJs, and they made it a lifestyle," Swizz testified. "The whole Justice lifestyle is dope."

It's Hip-Hop and R&B Week at MTV News, and we're saluting some of the biggest names who have earned big-dawg status with their steadfast pursuit of excellence. We're also bringing you some of the acts on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough, so stay locked with us all week!

• MTV News Extended Play: Swizz Beatz

• Swizz Beatz
• Jay-Z

Swizz Beatz
Photo: Full Surface

Swizz Beatz is coming off the heels of producing the epic charity song "Haiti Mon Amour (Stranded)" for Jay-Z, Rihanna and U2's Bono and The Edge, but he said he has something even bigger up his sleeve. James Cameron, look out. Swizz has an upcoming film project he said will knock "Avatar" right off its box-office throne.

"It's so major," Swizz told MTV News. "It gives me chills. Just ... I can't [reveal more details]. That one is so big. I need the ink to dry."

Swizz was confident enough to predict that the movie would be a colossal blockbuster. "I'm working on scoring a movie bigger than 'Avatar,' " he said of Cameron's epic, which became the highest-grossing movie of all time last week. "It's life-changing to the world. The message is life-changing. The concept is life-changing. The sound is gonna be life-changing. This is another thing that put me in a zone to step my whole game up. I can't be involved in these major projects with a sound that's not justifying why I'm on those projects."

Swizz said this project is part of his plan to use a more "worldly sound" in his production.

"It's forcing me to take everything to the next level," Swizz said. "Even though my mind was already there, God just blessed me with a gift to go with that. It's like training in the gym. You're training for a fight or you're training to be in shape. There's a goal in why you're training. Musically, while I'm training myself, I have goals. My goal is to make the sound for this movie as big as the movie. ... Matter of fact, bigger than the movie. I want this sound that me and the director, what we're connecting with, to be the driving force of the movie. When people hear this sound, they think of the movie and it puts them in a positive zone. It's a real big responsibility, and it's about discipline. 2010 equals positive energy. The discipline of having positive energy is very hard — especially when you live in a negative world."

It's Hip-Hop and R&B Week at MTV News, and we're saluting some of the biggest names who have earned big-dawg status with their steadfast pursuit of excellence. We're also bringing you some of the acts on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough, so stay locked with us all week!

• MTV News Extended Play: Swizz Beatz

• Swizz Beatz

Swizz Beatz backstage at the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon
Photo: MTV News

According to Swizz Beatz, helping out the devastated nation of Haiti is not only positive, but necessary.

"I think the important reason to donate to this cause, no matter how much money is being raised or has been raised ... you gotta understand, Haiti has been in shambles way before this event," the producer said backstage at the "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" telethon. "Now you have the real madness that puts the focus on Haiti. If you look at what they been going through before and what they been going through now, it's gonna take more than money. It's never enough money. You have to rebuild a whole place. This is not just rebuilding a couple of homes — you have to rebuild everything over again. I think that knowing that the money is going to a great cause — 100 percent of the money is going to a great cause — you should donate and sleep good at night.

"Sleep good at night knowing you did something for somebody," he continued. "Whether it's a little kid, a father, whether it's to help build a hospital that needs to be built — you can go to sleep knowing you did something amazing with your money that day."

Swizz is not only helping Haiti with his wallet, he also contributed his talent — he co-produced the charity single "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)." The song, which was performed Friday (January 22) on the telethon, features Jay-Z, Rihanna and Bono and The Edge from U2.

"It's important we as a global community all come together to help," Swizz declared. "Sitting in the studio and watching Haiti hurting, I knew immediately I had to do something. I reached out to my friends Bono and Jay-Z and asked for their help. Jay and Rihanna sent their vocals and that same night Bono and I went into the studio."

"When the sky falls and the earth quakes, we gonna put this back together/ We won't break," Jay-Z raps on the track. "Can't wait until tomorrow," Bono and Rihanna sing in unison on the chorus. "Not gonna leave you stranded, alone."

Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Visit HopeForHaitiNow.org or call (877) 99-HAITI to make a donation now.

iTunes customers can exclusively pre-order the "Hope for Haiti Now" full-performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. Individual audio performances will also be available for purchase and download for 99 cents each in the days following the telethon. Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by "Hope for Haiti Now" charities, including the Red Cross and Wyclef's Yele Haiti foundation. Performances will also be available for purchase in the days following the event through Amazon's MP3 service and Rhapsody, through distribution provided by INgrooves.

• Hope For Haiti Now | Performances
• 'Hope For Haiti Now' Backstage Interviews

• Hope For Haiti Now | Performers
• Hope For Haiti Now | Live Event Coverage

• Swizz Beatz
• U2
• Jay-Z
• Rihanna

Photo: MTV News

• Swizz Beatz
• Justin Timberlake
• Jonas Brothers
• Rihanna
• Coldplay

Swizz Beatz
Photo: Full Surface

Behind the Beats: Swizz Beatz, Part 2

Swizz Beatz's commitments are even more hectic than the last time we featured him in this section — the guy only touches U.S. soil for a brief stint these days. Luckily he stopped by our offices before jetting off to Paris and told us a bit about the next Jay-Z album. Swizz has huge things on the horizon, including a song for Haiti with Jigga and U2, a top-secret movie score, high-end art, clothing design and crafting a new, worldly sound for himself and other artists.

"I get the pressure cookers," Swizz says about record execs and artists calling him for must-need smash singles. "It's cool, because I been trained like that since day one. I came from that pressure with my uncles and everybody needed the singles not now, but right now. I'm there getting carpal tunnel in my hand, going in. That [work ethic] never leaves you."

Current Greatness

On Jay-Z's "On to the Next One": "That song was the last one of the album. I [originally] fell back off The Blueprint 3 because there were rumors about Timbaland working on the whole thing, rumors about Kanye working on the whole thing. I respected that. If they want to do that, I respected that. I'm on to the next one. I gotta respect Jay's creativity. If he wanted to have Kanye produce that whole record, let them have that. I know the next album we can hook up or whatever. [Me and Jay] got 11, 12 years in together — that's the homie. Since other people was on the album, I came in the loop at the last minute. [Jay] got on the phone like, 'I need one of them things.' I said, 'I'mma send you something. I don't have a whole bunch of joints I wanna send you. I got this one particular that I wanna send you.' I sent it to him. That was 'On to the Next One.' He said, 'That was crazy. It's "Drop It Like It's Hot" crazy.' I was super excited because I threw one dart and that dart hit the bull's-eye. That's amazing, being where I'm at in the industry where you can throw darts like that."

Next Wave Of Flav

On Young Jeezy's Upcoming Thug Motivation 103: "He just needs that thing to come out the gate like he never left. That's my job. I'm sure he's got some amazing joints. The songs I heard, they're Jeezy joints, but it's like, 'Hmmm, do I throw him on some Fela [Kuti] vibe with some crazy 808s and let him take a risk? Is it too much of a risk? Or do I play safe and do the easy hit that I know they gonna love?' But I can't keep doing that. It's getting me nowhere. The feeling, I'm numb. I want something I can feel, like, 'This joint I got coming out with Jeezy with the African bongos and the Indian instruments, the hook doing this right here — it's gonna change the game.' That's how I'm trying to walk in 2010."

On DMX's Comeback LP: "It's still love. At the end of the day, it's about scheduling, timing — if it was just about going in the studio, we would have 50 albums done. But it's not about that; it's about a lot of personal things. I'm on this side of the world, he's on that side of the world — how do we come and meet?"

On Drake's Debut Thank Me Later: "For Drake, I'm like, 'What you want? A party joint or you want another story joint? What you wanna do?' He said the smartest thing: 'We could shoot for a club thing but don't leave out anything else.' I like that. He's being open-minded, 'cause that means I'm comfortable with surfing in different areas musically. We could surf there, surf there, but don't box me in a corner, like, 'I need that #1 club smash right now.' "

On T.I.'s 2010 Album: "That's the homie. I don't have nothing for him yet. His mind and his thought pattern before he went [to jail] is gonna be different from when he gets out. That man has been in the penitentiary at a time that was the height of his career — he might come out and not wanna use curses no more. He might come out and use more curses. I don't know. I can't create the sound for Tip that's based on 'Swing Ya Rag' and 'Bring Em Out' and all these things we've done unless it's his plan. He's gotta come out, [I] sit down with him, chill how we chill. I gotta do a couple of records with him. I can't be the first thing coming out."

On Shyne's Comeback LP: "I'm rocking with Shyne. I need him to find himself a little bit. Not to say he don't know who he is, I just need him to vibe off a couple beats and be like, 'Swizz, these are four joints right here I been rocking with, me and Scott Storch or whoever. This is the lane I wanna go with.' Then I could digest those things and then I can come up with the best records for Tip, Shyne, for everybody. These are different techniques so I can use those darts."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

• Mixtape Daily: Chalie Boy, Styles P, Greenlantern, More

• Swizz Beatz

Swizz Beatz
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images

Dropped calls usually don't lead to productivity. But after Swizz Beatz accidentally hung up on Jay-Z while trying to conference the rapper into a conversation he was having with Bono, the producer and the U2 frontman used the extra time to come up with the chorus for their forthcoming Haiti charity single.

The song, tentatively titled "Haiti Mon Amour," a.k.a. "Stranded," also features The Edge and Rihanna and will debut Friday during the George Clooney and MTV Networks telethon "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief," airing at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

"The idea of the song is 'We're not gonna leave you stranded,' and that's what the chorus is," Swizz Beatz told Rolling Stone on Thursday (January 21). "So me and Bono started going back and forth with ideas, and he was like, 'You know this word stranded keeps standing out to me,' and I asked him to sing it, and he put me on hold, 'cause he's recording the ideas on a Dictaphone — so he did it there and then on the phone."

The composition came to life as they played phone tag trying to get Jay back on the line.

The Edge co-produced the record, then Jay-Z handled the verses. Meanwhile, Swizz said Rihanna was added onto the song to give it a "caring" quality. "I knew that Jay would be able to tell a story and that Bono would be able to sing and bring it home," he said. "The last component that I added was Rihanna, and she's kinda like the angel that's on the track, softening it up and giving it that caring feeling, because this hook is so powerful."

Rihanna also confirmed that the song will premiere on Friday during a radio interview Thursday in Norway. The singer, a native of the Caribbean island of Barbados, said, "In the Caribbean, we think of ourselves as one big family, one country. We're all together. We all represent each other. It's like [the earthquake] happened to Barbados."

According to The Edge, Swizz and Jay-Z came up with the idea to contribute a song after the earthquake ravaged the small country. The Edge said the two hip-hop stars reached out to Bono, and the ball got rolling.

Swizz told MTV News recently that he and Bono had become musical and philanthropic allies, which made the collaboration a natural pairing. "Me and Bono, he's a music lover," Swizz said. "I'm a music lover. We knew each other for a while through [Interscope chairman] Jimmy Iovine. He's with Jimmy. We share a lot of mutual friends though the art world. Enrico Navarra, which is one of my art mentors, is one of his art mentors. We always hook up in France. I go to his crib, we go to Enrico's crib. He does art. It's like a musical/art/philanthropic relationship that's there. He's an amazing guy. He has an amazing family. He embraced me and my people with open arms. He's a brother."

Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET and visit HopeForHaitiNow.org or call (877) 99-HAITI to make a donation now.

• Crisis In Haiti

• Swizz Beatz
• U2
• Jay-Z

Bono and Swizz Beatz
Photo: Twitpic

Last month, some hip-hop fans were surprised to see a TwitPic of Swizz Beatz partying with U2's Bono. Recently, the two have come together for much more serious matters: a song to benefit Haiti relief efforts.

"Much love to Bono! His part is done now it's showtime!" Swizz wrote in all caps Wednesday (January 20) under a new TwitPic of him and Bono. "It is a blessing to have good people in your life!"

The new photo features the super-producer and the iconic singer holding up a sign that reads "One Love Haiti." A couple of weeks ago, Swizz told us he and Bono have been friends for a while.

"Me and Bono, he's a music lover," Swizz explained. "I'm a music lover. We knew each other for a while through [Interscope chairman] Jimmy Iovine. He's with Jimmy. We share a lot of mutual friends though the art world. Enrico Navarra, which is one of my art mentors, is one of his art mentors. We always hook up in France. I go to his crib, we go to Enrico's crib. He does art. It's like a musical/art/philanthropic relationship that's there. He's an amazing guy. He has an amazing family. He embraced me and my people with open arms. He's a brother."

On Saturday night, U2's The Edge told British radio host Dave Fanning of Radio 1 that Swizz was helping to spearhead the song for Haiti. "Last night we wrote a song," The Edge said about when the public will hear the next new U2 music. "Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti. So Bono came up with the phrase on the phone, and last night we were here, we wrote a song — finished, recorded and sent it back to them. So, that might be the next thing you hear from us!"

Swizz told RapRadar.com that the record with him, Jay and U2 has a working title of "Haiti Mon Amour," a.k.a. "Stranded."

It was announced Tuesday that Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna will perform together on Friday from London as part the telethon "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief." Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and Stevie Wonder are also part of the program. The two-hour special will air Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT without commercials across MTV, BET, HBO, VH1, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, the CW, CMT, E!, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, Oxygen, G4, Fuse and Centric.

Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET.

• Crisis In Haiti

• Swizz Beatz
• U2

Photo: Priority

• DJ Green Lantern
• Snoop Dogg
• Jay-Z
• Swizz Beatz
• Lil Wayne

Swizz Beatz and Jay-Z
Photo: alltheparties.com

The O.D.: A Mixtape Daily Exclusive

Back in September, before the official release of The Blueprint 3, we brought you the exclusive news that Jay-Z was already in the lab putting together his next opus.

"My next album, which I'm working on now — that's exclusive, no one knows that — is gonna be the album that really ... it's not gonna be a #1 album," he explained. "That's where I'm at right now. I wanna make the most experimental album I ever made."

B3 has been certified platinum and Jay is about to start another tour in support of the newly hailed classic, taking Young Jeezy and Trey Songz on the road with him. While Jay — who has been letting his hair grow, signifying he's back in the studio — hasn't announced who he's working with on the project, we've got a bit of the scoop. Hov and "On to the Next One" producer Swizz Beatz are going to collaborate again.

"Crazy," Swizz told us about Jay's new work. "It's crazy. I'm working on the intro right now, matter of fact. It's stupid."

Swizz hinted that the beat he gave Hov had an innovative, trailblazing sound.

"We been talking about that international vibe since the last album," Swizz said. "But the sound changes. You got too many people trying to do too many things. They throw it off. I'm actually going out there doing the legwork, sitting there with the master composers, and we gonna pull this thing together."

Swizz is also working with Young Jeezy on his upcoming Thug Motivation 103 album and has contemplated taking Jeezy's sound in a different direction with this worldly vibe.

"I wanna go out there and collect certain jewels of information so I can pull Jeezy to the side and be like, 'Come here with me right quick, I wanna play you something. Vibe out to this,' " Swizz explained. "The only person that I know right now is open to this [new sound] is probably Jay. We share a lot of creative levels. He'll be like, 'I need all that. Tuck it.' He's there. He's to the zenith. I wanna get a lot of other people to that level. If we got multiple [artists] on that level musically, then what happens to our music industry? It becomes exciting. It becomes more in-depth."

Swizz is literally on to the next one with his new LP — the Bronx native will be traveling the globe to research new sounds and work with international collaborators.

"I see myself taking it on a worldly level," he said. Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are just a few of his planned destinations.

"I said, 'If I'm gonna do a new album, it needs to be about something.' The music industry is suffering so much from a lack of creativity," he offered. "I can't do it by myself. I wanna be a major contributor to the change of the sound for the new decade. ... With this album, I'm giving a large percentage, almost half [the profits from] the album to schools in need of art and music. We teaming up, we got 44,000 students. We're doing major, major stuff that's still making sense but still keeping the freshness. I'm not watering anything down. We're just adding different dimensions to the house you're already living in."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

• Mixtape Daily: Snoop Dogg, Swizz Beatz, Jay-Z, More

• Swizz Beatz
• Jay-Z

Nas, Fabolous, Swizz Beatz Celebrate Young Jeezy's 'Vibe' Cover

• Young Jeezy
• Nas
• Fabolous
• Swizz Beatz

Saigon's "Come On Baby" Video Shoot

• Swizz Beatz

Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Jennifer Hudson, More At The 2007 BET Awards

• Michelle Williams
• Beyoncé
• Kelly Rowland
• Jennifer Hudson
• 50 Cent

Fabolous' "From Nothin' To Somethin' " Album Release Party

• Fabolous
• Swizz Beatz
• Keith Murray

Kanye, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Ciara, More At The 2007 HOT 97 Summer Jam

• Kanye West
• Young Jeezy
• Ciara
• Lil Wayne
• Ludacris

Chamillionaire, Ludacris, Busta, Jim Jones And More At The 2006 BET Hip-Hop Awards

• Chamillionaire
• Ludacris
• Busta Rhymes
• Ying Yang Twins
• T.I.

Direct Effect Presents: Straight Up Hip-Hop All Week Portraits

• J-Kwon
• Twista
• Cassidy
• Miri Ben-Ari
• D12

• Mya
• Backstreet Boys
• Kid Rock
• N.E.R.D.
• Busta Rhymes

• Swizz Beatz