Swizz Beatz

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Live: DMX Brings Hip-Hop Redux To S.O.B.'s

DMX S.O.B.'s Thursday, February 23 Better than: Time travel. Shot in grainy black-and-white in NYC's notorious Tunnel nightclub, the 1998 music video for DMX's first single "Get At Me Dog" was pure, unadulterated hip-hop; it set X apart as a raw, menacing rapper at a time when the genre was inunda ... More >>

Holler! The Ten Loudest, Shoutiest Rappers

Waka Flocka Flame is the sort of of hip-hop artist who doesn't so much rap or flow as he shouts his ass off. It's a formula that imbues the Atlanta-based rapper's songs with a boisterous, visceral appeal—and one that he's looking to continue with the release of his second studio album, Triple ... More >>

Live: Swizz Beatz Brings Out T.I., DMX's Brother And Some Other Guys At The IAC Building

Swizz Beatz IAC Building Wednesday, November 30 Better than: Ja Rule's acting in The Fast and the Furious. It seems cruel that as the recession continues to hit the "snooze" button, Swizz Beatz has picked up yet another job, another paycheck. He is the luxe James Franco, collecting 1099s like pass ... More >>

This New Lenny Kravitz Song Is Completely OK Until Drake Horns In On It

via BillboardThree people who have never been in my kitchen. ​When I hear the name "Lenny Kravitz" I instantly think his retro grabs, songs that are at their best expertly crafted and can flow seamlessly into the hits from its era, or at their worst something that sounds like a lazy rock trope ... More >>

Jay-Z And Kanye West Spared No Expense To Watch Watch The Throne

​That Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne didn't leak until about half an hour before its iTunes release is a noteworthy story in this age of Rapidshare and Megaupload being as stuffed with digital versions of new releases as iTunes and Amazon. And it turns out that the business decisions ... More >>

Live: LMFAO Cause Panda-Monium At Pier 36

​ LMFAO w/Swizz Beatz Pier 36 Thursday, August 11 Better than: Watching the new episode of Jersey Shore. It was a beautiful coincidence that LMFAO, holders of the No. 1 song on Billboard's Hot 100 for most of the summer of 2011, headlined the trade publication's end-of-summer blowout at Pier ... More >>

Who Will Be The Next Pop Star To Draw Inspiration From t.A.T.u.?

It probably shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise that the attention-seeking girl-kisser Katy Perry drew inspiration from the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u.; her recent creepy chart-topper "E.T." sounds as good as it does in large part because it's heavily inspired by the pair's still-dizzying 20 ... More >>

Live: Rick Ross Lives Out His Dreams At Summer Jam

​Hot 97 Summer Jam New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday, June 5 Better than: Sitting at home and moping like 50 Cent. Rick Ross closed out Summer Jam. Just so there's no revisionist history here, let's remember how incredible that statement is. Three years ago, Ross was the punching bag of hip-h ... More >>

Beyoncé, "Move Your Body," The Obamas, And The Body Politic

​It was popular, for a while, to talk about African-Americans born after the civil rights movement as "the hip-hop generation," which implied that the swath of people being discussed was tied together more by a shared culture than by a shared political purpose. But it was hard not to notice th ... More >>

Live: Araabmuzik Harasses His MPC at Brooklyn Bowl

Araabmuzik Brooklyn Bowl Tuesday, April 5 Better than: Bowling. In the past few months, I've read a handful of articles and reviews suggesting that watching a DJ is boring. In one sense this is true, as watching the moves a DJ is making is almost always secondary to dancing to the records that D ... More >>

Live: Kanye West At Bowery Ballroom, Ranting, Seething, And Enthralling

The 10 Best Posse Cuts of 2010 (So Far)

​Posse cuts are like friendlier versions of the WWE's Royal Rumble -- a platform designed to showcase all of the stars in the game, both up-and-coming and certified. Think back to the Main Source's 1991 "Live At The Barbecue," featuring Akinyele, Joe Fatal, and the debut of a rapper named Nas, ... More >>

The 10 Best Verses From Kanye West's Good Friday Project, So Far

​As sustained, goodwill-generating rap publicity stunts go, Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Fridays series is almost entirely without precedent. Other rappers, guys like Freeway and Crooked I, have given away free music in regular installments, but those guys are B-listers and supporting players, and th ... More >>

GOOD Friday: Kanye West feat. RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz & CyHi Da Prynce, "So Appalled"

​For the second consecutive GOOD Friday, Kanye West delivered something of an epic, with the new "So Appalled" and last week's "Lord Lord Lord" totaling over fourteen minutes of rap music between the two, and featuring Swizz Beatz, Mos Def, Raekwon, Charlie Wilson, RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, and CyH ... More >>

GOOD Friday: Kanye West Comes Late With "Lord Lord Lord"

​Kanye West just keeps coming through, in a variety of styles and moods, on different days and with a wide range of friends. On this most recent GOOD Friday, West delivered the track somewhere close to 5 a.m. Blame it on Swizz Beatz, who is featured on "Lord Lord Lord," along with Mos Def, Rae ... More >>

Week in Review: Sit Down, Man

​​​​Behold the amazing talents of Ryan Dombal.​In the week someone introduced us to the term "rap sabbatical," we got investigative, bringing news of the newfound hip-hop ban at Savalas (which sent DJ Ayres packing), HARD Fest's harsh words for M.I.A., Lil Wayne's prefe ... More >>

Live: Jay-Z And Eminem Bring Out Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Swizz Beatz, And Chris Martin (??!!) At Yankee Stadium

This actually happened Jay-Z/Eminem Yankee Stadium Monday, September 13 Better than: The shows in Detroit, I have to think. Sorry, Detroit. So let's start somewhere in the middle: Chris Martin! The dude from Coldplay! Seriously! Out he shuffles roughly halfway through Jay-Z's n ... More >>

Download This Bonkers Three-Disc Swizz Beatz Mix Immediately

​In honor of hip-hop super-producer Swizz Beatz' triumphant contribution to Kanye West's "Power" remix (seriously, go listen to that again), beloved friend-of-SOTC Sean Fennessey has compiled a homemade Swizz best-of, spanning two discs (from "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" to "On to the Next One") with ... More >>

Kanye West's "OFFICIAL POWER REMIX" Has Arrived

​It's here. Jay-Z's on it. But Swizz Beatz runs away with it. Believe it.

T.I. Played a Secret Show Last Night at Capitale with Cam'ron, Swizz Beatz, B.o.B., Mary J. Blige, and Keri Hilson

Axe Music​Well, it wasn't that secret: here is a clip of Tip talking about the show, out in the Hamptons. But the location was closely guarded, more or less, revealed late yesterday by Axe, the fragrance company at whose promotional behest this concert was staged. Unlike Kayne's super late nig ... More >>

American Idol Season 9, Top 8 Ladies: Siobhan Magnus Murders "House of the Rising Sun"; Paige Miles Goes Meta with "Smile," and Pays the Price

Please welcome the next Ernie and/or Swizz Beatz. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ FOX​Holy shit, only one hour this week! Do you guys know what this means? It means we don't have to sit through endless inane video packages about every contestant's favorite fruit or whatever the fuck! It means the ne ... More >>

The Wild and Wonderful Story of Under 100, the DIY Show Space in Dame Dash's Basement

Sleigh Bells perform at Under 100 in front of an extremely focused Ryan Schreiber. Photo by Rez Avissar/Pitchfork. Used by permission.​Greg Finch is the 20-year-old Pitchfork.tv intern who, along with Less Artists More Condos' Ariel Panero, runs Under 100, the DIY show space located in former ... More >>

F2K No. 30: Swizz Beatz with Ja Rule and Metallica, "We Did It Again"

F2K is a countdown of the 50 worst songs of the decade. Track our progress here. It's shit, snitches! After rap-rock had successfully worn itself down into a parody of self-parody, hip-hop producer Swizz Beats set out to make the most cartoonishly macho rapcore song in history. In fact, every ti ... More >>

Live: Jay-Z Celebrates Life, Death, and The Blueprint 3 at Madison Square Garden

Jay-Z and Madison Square Garden have a little history between them. In 2003, on the occasion of his retirement, Jay-Z recorded his MSG farewell concert on 35MM film. That footage became Fade To Black, the single best concert film of the decade. In 2009, on the occasion of the eight year anniversar ... More >>

Listen: Justice Feat. Jay-Z, "On To The Next Dance (Terry Urban Transition)"

​Those wondering exactly how Swizz Beatz flipped Justice's super-iconic "D.A.N.C.E." in mostly unrecognizable service of "On To the Next One," the world-beating Jay-Z track that sits right in the middle of Blueprint 3, need look no further than SOTC buddy Terry Urban, who helpfully edited the ... More >>

The "Who's Real" Remix: Most Improbable Ruff Ryders Reunion Ever

Less than a month ago, Jadakiss was telling MTV that he wanted Cam'ron and Kanye West on the remix for "Who's Real," the Swizz Beatz-produced, improbably successful fifth single off The Last Kiss. Instead, it turns out we got...a Ruff Ryders reunion? This was a buzzed-about possibility ever since ... More >>

Picking Apart Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, Part 2

Status Ain't Hood Does Summer Jam, Again

Status Ain't Hood Podcasts 39 & 40

The Quarterly Report: Best Singles of 2008 Thus Far

Status Ain't Hood Podcasts 25 & 26

Clipse: Back with Vengeance

Track 18 Wins Again

Major-label hip-hop records in burying-best-tracks shocker!

The Quarterly Report: Status Ain't Hood's Favorite New Singles

Status Ain't Hood Podcast 3

Swizz Beatz Has Lost His Mind

Track 18 Wins Again

Major-label hip-hop records in burying-best-tracks shocker!

Kanye West Premiers the "Stronger" Video

Live: Hot 97's Summer Jam

Swizz Beatz Kills Rap

The (White) Rapper Show: Still Great

Shop Till You Flop

Welcome back to Gwen's dollhouse, as garish and luscious as ever

Grow Dem Bow

Reggaetón expands, consolidates, gets gussied up, breaks through, and looks to firm up its pummelling legacy

Pulling the White Strings

Light-skinned acts ride hip-hop’s changing tide with dark-skinned Svengalis

Dirty-Dirty Deeds

As O'Reilly's nemesis lip-smacks toward financial future, Rubber Band Man one-ups him

DMX Jock-Jam Doppelgängers Deliver Flesh of Their Flesh

Escape Claus

Death Rock 2000

Making an Old Bag New Again

Desco Records and Breakestra Put Funk Back on the Good Foot