Welcome to the show.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
I have been such a huge fan of yours
for such a long time, and I'm not the only one.
There are so many rappers who have unanimously said
that you are easily one of the greatest rap producers
-of all time. -Wow.
But Swizz Beatz was someone who we knew in music,
and then, all of a sudden, I remember,
-it seemed like you disappeared. -Yes.
And the next thing I heard, you were at Harvard Business School.
-Yes. -How...?
(laughs) Yes.
(cheers and applause)
For people who lost you at that point,
what happened, and what-what sparked that change?
Well, I started in the music at 17, and I felt like, uh,
I reached every level where I needed to be,
and then, I-I started hitting the ceiling.
And then I wanted to diversify my portfolio
and just do different things out of music.
And I understood that the education is very important,
so I had to go back and take the three years.
And, um, forward to...
So I can invest in another 20 years.
I'm from the Bronx-- I need all the education I can get.
-(laughter) -That's a powerful...
(applause, cheering)
That's a really powerful position to take,
because, you know, for a long time, like, I remember
when I was in the hood, like, a lot of guys would laugh,
we would laugh at each other, be like,
"Oh, you're going to school, you're trying to do this,"
-but it really was a different step for you to take, -Big time.
and it wasn't just the education that you got,
it was what it helped you do,
'cause when you came back into music,
-Yes. -it's changed how you see the game, right?
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you know,
when you think of artists, the music business,
the fashion business, the art business,
but a lot of creatives ignore the business part.
A lot of the creatives ignore the business part,
and then they wonder at the end of the day
they dealt with a bad hand, because they didn't understand
the business that they was actually in.
-Right. -So I wanted to go back and make sure that I understood
the business that I was in and encourage other creatives
to start to learn the business that you're in
so you can end the game on a positive note
instead of, uh, talking about you got took advantage of
when you didn't invest in your own self.
Right, and you came back and you now own what you create.
Why is that so important?
I think a lot of artists don't understand that.
A lot of the time we see people, and they're like,
they were broke when they retired,
but they were so rich, they were so famous.
But that was really important to you, owning what you create.
You have to, you have to. In order to, um, evolve,
you have to have ownership.
Not borrowed time, but real time.
Not borrowed money, but real money.
And you have to keep the legacy going for your kids as well.
Right? And if you don't have ownership,
you can never be the billionaire that you want to dream of,
'cause all the billionaires I know, they own everything.
Right. If you, uh, if you are somebody who's aspiring
to follow the path that you... You know, there's kids out there
who go like, "I want to be like Swizz Beatz,
I want to be a producer." You have programs
where you've started encouraging young artists.
You've really been engaged in not just music artists
but also art artists.
I mean, you're literally walking around
-with a piece of art right now. -Yes. Yes, yes. -(laughter)
You're a big art collector. A lot of people
don't know this about you, but you're really big into art.
-Yes. -And what I enjoyed is that you started changing
how you create, and curate.
What you did was, you said, "I'm gonna move
"from collecting to impress people,
and I'm gonna collect art that means something to me."
What did that mean, and why?
Um, when I started collecting art,
I was collecting to impress my friends,
and, you know, executives that would come to my home,
to separate myself from my peers.
But then I realized that that wasn't
the right reason to collect.
The right reason to collect art is because you felt something
from your heart with that artist.
And I'm an artist myself, and I wouldn't want somebody
to just collect my work just because it impresses
their friends that come to their home,
but actually because you felt something
when you see my artwork-- which led to me creating No Commission
and giving the artists 100% of their sales
and even fighting for artist rights
and them having royalties on the resales of their work.
And these things are important, so, uh, you know,
-it's a blessing. -It is a blessing that you're passing on.
And now Swizz Beatz went from music to the business,
business to the arts, and now the art and the business
has combined in this new piece of art,
-and that's Poison, the new album. -Yes. Yes, Poison.
-It is long-awaited. -Thank you.
The magazines, the reviewers, everybody is loving everything.
-Thank you. -Ten of the finest tracks.
You collaborated with J. Cole, and you have everybody
from Kendrick Lamar on this thing collaborating.
People are, you know what I mean, it's a powerful album.
We saw French Montana in the clip that we played.
What is Poison about, and why is it so specific
in the tracks and the names?
-What are you trying to do? -Yeah. So, um...
I wanted to come back into the music scene with a body of work
that actually wasn't compromising the craft.
Because I could've came and went straight to the penthouse
with a big crossover song.
I wanted to start back to my origins
of where people know me, and that's authentic hip-hop.
I didn't want to put no big, uh...
record that-that might be Top 40 on the record...
on this particular album.
I wanted to give people something that was quality
and that the artists delivered at their maximum capacity.
And the name Poison comes because in life
we have to face our poisons in order to "poise on."
-Right? -Man, that's deep.
-Yeah, that's deep. -(whooping, applause)
-That's real deep. -Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I'm loving it.
It's 33 minutes of the finest music ever.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Congratulations on everything, man.
-Thank you. -Poison is available now.
Swizz Beatz!