Swizz Beatz "One Man Band Man" (#7 DEBUT!)

[busyboy]

Swizz Beatz Hooks Up With Coldplay, Raps About Death On First Solo LP

'My album is more than just party songs,' hitmaker says of One Man Band Man.

By Shaheem Reid

NEW YORK — Swizz Beatz hasn't had a problem making a hit record for the streets or pop charts since he did the beat for N.O.R.E.'s "Banned for TV" almost a decade ago.

Everybody knows how he recently gave Beyoncé some platinum smashes for her B'Day album (see "Beyonce Hitmaker Swizz Beatz Defies Radio Rules With Two-Minute Single""), not to mention his credentials from working alongside top notch MCs such as Jay-Z, DMX and T.I. (see "New T.I. Songs Leak — Swizz Beatz Calls Track With Tip 'A Whole 'Nuther Level' "). Still, Swizz only got the courage to put out his first solo album a few months ago (he considers 2000's Swizz Beatz Presents: G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories to be a compilation, like the Ruff Ryders series he produced).

"I had the inspiration — it's when I got the heart, when I got the material." said Swizz, sitting in his Manhattan studio, about how his June 5 album, One Man Band Man, started to form.

Swizz said he started thinking about making his own album while working on his latest onslaught of tracks for others. For his entire career, he's had the reputation of not just making beats, but writing hooks for his records too. Recently, he began rapping on some of the songs, just to give the artists a reference of how to flow on the beat. When many of the people he was working with kept telling him they were feeling his raps, he started making his own songs and setting them aside.

"I started tucking stuff away," he said. "Before I knew it, I had six songs. I started working little by little. It was no pressure. Nobody knew I had an album coming out — I ain't even know."

A few of the songs that made his album were tracks he contemplated selling but decided to keep. "I was doing Nas' album, and he said the reason I ain't get a beat on his album is because I played him my album," Swizz said (see "With Tracks From Eve, Nas, Mary J. On Tap, Swizz Beatz Is Hotter Than Ever"). "I played him a song called 'Take a Picture.' But that song meant a lot to me. I wasn't gonna give my song up. It was a significant amount of money offered for the song, but certain things to me — a lot of things to me — is worth more than money. He was like, 'Wow.' It is what it is. We still gravy to this day."

Like his catalog, Swizz's album is a collage of different sounds. He didn't even produce the whole album. Although he handles about 95 percent of the vocals, he handed over a lot of the production to track masters such as Nottz and Rockwilder and newcomers like Snags, E. McCaine, the Individuals and Young World. The tracks range from a cautionary tale about gold diggers out for the kill on "Money in the Bank" (a definite single contender) to "Take a Picture," where Swizz actually uses a piece of S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M.'s "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day." Yes, Swizz Beatz sampled.

"I don't like people to predict what I'm gonna do," he said. "That 'Lovely Day' beat, it's one of the songs I produced. Who says I can't sample? I came in the game not sampling to separate myself from everybody else. Ninety to 95 percent of my catalog — over 400-something songs — have no sample. I can sample now."

Of course the major catalyst for Swizz to make the foray into rapper-hood was the song "It's Me b***hes." He says the success of the record is one of his proudest moments. " 'It's Me' was a water-tester," he said. "Is this water warm or cold? I don't like cold water. It's warm. It's a Jacuzzi. I didn't even put my name on 'It's Me b***hes.' I wasn't all over the record saying, 'This is Swizz Beatz.' I just put it out there. It started in the club, now it is what it is. Now I'm committed to doing the whole thing."

Swizz's commitment included playing most of the album for MTV News. And he didn't do the regular listening session — where we go in a studio, sit down and listen. Swizz's session was more like an experience. First of all, in the room where he played the music, there was barely a blank space on the walls. When there wasn't platinum or gold plaques, the walls were covered with graffiti from the hands of Swizz himself or some of the finest tag artists from all over the world.

And Swizz didn't just cue up songs. He played his records through the turntables and scratched and even brought a few songs back, like the record he wants to be his next single. The song is just about riding around the 'hood and feeling safe in your environment even though you're a hip-hop celebrity. "For the video, you're gonna see me driving around," he said. "I'll park my car, run into the store real quick and come out with nothing but boxes of sneakers."

The mood takes a more serious turn during "The Funeral." "With my album, I wanted to be able to do sh-- that I wanted to do, that I think other people should be doing," he said. "You know, the world is f---ed up ... but when it's sunny outside and things are going good for you at the moment, things are clear. I break down the story, like, 'The funeral now wants a piece of the action.' Like death is coming. 'Maybe death is coming because they did things different/ Like killed you in the crib right in front of your infant/ ... Death is callin', ain't no stopping it.' It's deep as sh--."

Coldplay appears on the song "Part of the Plan." "Not making it in this world is part of the plan because it's so hard," Swizz said. "I put Coldplay on there. Some people team up with Coldplay and do something out of the range of what they're supposed to be doing. I just tried to stick to the topic — break down the story. It was part of my plan to make it and not part of the plan to not make it. 'Start arguing with my brother to see who gonna pick the mouse up/ Walk by, open up the oven door to heat the house up.' That's some real sh--. This story right here, I'm gonna do it like the 'Crash' movie. I'm gonna hook up with the director of 'Crash' [Paul Haggis] for the video, and it's gonna be real crazy.

"My album is more than just party songs," he continued. "I got substance. I got street joints. I didn't really aim for radio too much on everything. I just had fun. I could have done a bunch of songs, did a bunch of features. I could have gotten Beyoncé, a bunch of other people. It might have been a bigger look than I'm probably gonna get, but at the end if the day, people will know it's a great album."

Outside of his own album, Swizz has been working with 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Marc Anthony, Usher, Eve, Cassidy, the LOX, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and some Jennifers.

"Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, all the Jennifers you can think about," he laughed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I loved the first two DMX albums, and I'm enjoying his comeback in the past few years.

Anyway, does this sound like "Shock Value" Pt. II? :o

[No Passengers On Her Plane!]

"I could've gotten beyoncé" swizz you should've..lol...Still looking foward to this album..been a fan since the early ruff riders days

[busyboy]

Swizz Beatz
Recognize A Playa

“CUE UP THAT EIGHT-MINUTE JOINT!”

Twelve songs deep into previewing his new project, Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean looks like a kid on Christmas. Nestled into his “lucky room,” Studio E of Midtown Manhattan’s famed Sony Music Studios, on this March evening, the 28-year-old hip-hop veteran’s been bouncing with excitement and wearing a big ole candy-cane grin on his face since “Product Man,” the album’s high-octane intro, came on over an hour ago.

Lucky as it may be, Studio E is cramped quarters. Maybe 12 by 15 feet, with a wall-to-wall soundboard, human-sized speakers and a large leather couch, the place doesn’t leave a lot of room for its assorted guests—the bespectacled engineer playing the music on a laptop, the reporter with his minirecorder, and a large, silent dude in a black hoodie referred to only as “Cannon” (not the Atlanta DJ). Still, Swizz is up and animated, lip-synching and shadow battling along with every song.

As the “eight-minute joint” begins playing, a jazzy cascade of horns and strings sets the mood on instant cool. Think Busta Rhymes’ “New York Shit” (a DJ Scratch–produced track that Swizz guested on) but more subdued. Untitled at this point and expected to feature Q-Tip in, as Swizz imagines it, “Midnight Marauders flow,” the track is pure, organic hip-hop. Then Swizz comes on and proceeds to freestyle for, yes, eight minutes straight. No main topic, no jaw-dropping lines, just flow and flow and flow.

Swizz is geeked, shouting over the music. “They’re not ready for this shit!”

He’s probably right. MC Swizz Beatz is likely to catch a lot of people off guard. A highly sought-after producer since his largely sample-free, synth-based sound was first introduced on Lox’s “All for the Love,” from 1998’s Money, Power & Respect, the in-house music maker for Yonkers, N.Y.’s once dominant Ruff Ryders movement has co-created a bounteous trove of major hits: DMX’s “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” Eve’s “Love Is Blind,” Jay-Z’s “Money, Cash, Hoes,” Styles’ “Good Times,” T.I.’s “Bring Em Out.”

So his beats are beloved. His vocals? That’s a different story. Known for hyperactive ad-libs (“Swizzy!”) and overly amped cheerleading (“Get it up! Get it up!”), Swizz’s voice has come to be many a listener’s least favorite element in his otherwise successful recipe. That’s why it seems very weird, and incredibly bold, that he’s done what he’s done—recorded a full-on solo album, One Man Band Man, with his own rapping on every track. Then again, we’re living in a time when some of the biggest rap stars boast about their lack of lyrical skills, when a No. 1 hit song starts off with the line, “I don’t gotta rap, I could sell a mil sayin’ nothin’ on the track.” If that’s the case, why shouldn’t producers cut MCs out of the equation? Hell, if Diddy, Kanye, Pharrell and Timbaland can do it, why can’t Swizzy?

“NOW, I’M REALLY ABOUT TO F&#K YOUR HEAD UP!”

Suddenly, the gothic church organs of “The Funeral” fill the room. Swizz’s delivery intensifies, and his subject matter turns serious—untimely death, a child-molesting ex-priest—solemnity matched by the song’s no-frills structure. “No hook, no ad-libs, nothing,” explains Swizz confidently. “I made this song for people to hear and say, ‘Who is this, and what the fuck is this?’”

Swizz is aware that comparisons to other producers turned rappers are inevitable. It doesn’t faze him. “I’m not competing with nobody,” he says. “I’m just trying to make history and push the envelope a little further…Honestly, I’m not trying to be the most lyrical; I just want that ‘Most Creative’ award.”

If you were to check his high school yearbook, you might see Swizz’s mug next to the award for “Most Likely to MC.” Transplanted from his native South Bronx to the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain at the awkward age of 14, Swizz used hip-hop to overcome his new-kid-in-town status. “It started from beating lunch tables,” he says. “If you ask people who went to school with me, they knew I was going to be the best rapper. They knew that I could freestyle forever.” Besides rhyming, he had skills on the wheels of steel, and, under the moniker “DJ K-Swiss,” he spun his way into popular ATL nightclubs like Atrium and Club 112 while still in his teens. He gradually developed his beatmaking and, then, his own sound—an ingenious marriage of Atlanta’s adrenaline and New York City’s grit.

Meanwhile, in Yonkers, his uncles Darrin and Waah had started a record label. When they heard what their nephew was doing, they flew him back up north, and Swizz’s beats became the sound of Ruff Ryders.

The rest, as they say, is history. Through nearly a decade’s worth of hits, Swizz has solidified his legacy as one of hip-hop’s most successful producers. Save for those boisterous hooks and the scattered verses, though, on his commercially neglected 2002 compilation, Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories, Swizz’s lyrical chops have only been heard by those fortunate enough to share studio time with him. “I always had to write somewhat,” he says. “I’ve always had to come up with concepts and hooks for these artists. I’ve had the flows and everything down since day one.”

[busyboy]

From MTV's Mixtape Monday:

"Showww tiiime!" Swizz Beatz, Fabolous and Cassidy have a video up on YouTube for their "Summer Jam Warm-Up Freestyle," and in it, you see all three in the lab one night, rapping the record. What nobody knows is that the very next day, Swizzy had to go the hospital. He came down with meningitis.

"I'm just f---ing happy to be feeling better again," Swizzy said last week. "I was down. I'm in the crib on chill."

Swizz says his challenging work schedule pushed him to a breaking point. When you have 50 Cent, Madonna, Chris Brown and Usher all waiting in line for tracks, you don't exactly have time for rest.

"I [was] up for four days straight," he said of what caused the illness. "I was paralyzed from my legs down. I was twisted. I was f---ed up! ... N---as call me 'The Monster' because how I work in the studio so hard. I can't do it no more. I gotta be on the schedule but still be able to do what I have to do. I just gotta invest in my health right now. That day I went in the hospital changed my whole life. I could have came out in a wheelchair."

As it turns out, just two weeks ago, Swizz was on Hot 97 talking to host Angie Martinez about his sleep depravation, and she warned him that lack of rest would send him straight to the hospital.

"That day when we was in the studio, I was exhausted," he added. "My immune system was low from not eating right. But I wasn't paying no attention. I'm going to the crib and I had a hard time getting out of my truck. I get out of the seat and I'm damn near limping. I was barely making it up my steps. I damn near fell in the bed and my wife was like, 'You have to go to the doctor immediately.' They had to carry me downstairs ... got to the hospital, they stuck a needle in my spine. I escaped some sh--. That changed my life, trust me. I'm happy to be able to run around with my son. Imagine I couldn't even run around with my kids? God gave me one more chance to get my sh-- right."

Swizz was hospitalized for four days and is now at home resting until Friday, when he's hoping to begin production on a new video that mostly focuses on his next single, "Here Comes Big Money" with Kanye West. We will get a taste of "Money in the Bank" at the beginning of the clip, though.

"I just want another look," he explained. "I want three solid looks. Put 'Money in the Bank' in the beginning of the video and Kanye will be like, 'I like that joint but the joint we got together, that's gonna put big money in the bank.' "

Originally Swizz was against having too many guest spots on his album, but when you have Kanye offering a cameo, what are you gonna do?

"Kanye went out his way to give me a verse," Beatz said. "He called me about it. I didn't have to bug him. It was cool. [Turning him down,] I think that would have been rude. If Coldplay could have been on the album, Kanye could be on the album. I'm honored to know he felt my sh-- is hot to even wanna rock with me like that. He could have made it competition, but he's like, 'Yo, Swizzy, I got you, let's get 'em.' "

Swizz is among the array of performers scheduled to hit Giants Stadium Sunday at Hot 97's Summer Jam concert. The event is notorious for all the guest acts that always seem to pop up, but Swizz says he wants to just keep it him. He could be bluffing, though.

"One Man Band Man, that's it," he said. "They expecting me to bring this one and that one. I'm just gonna do me. Let everybody else bring everybody. I'm just trying to raise the bar, point blank."

The "Summer Jam Warm-Up Freestyle" was just a few friends showing solidarity, he said.

"We basically was in the studio and I told Fab, 'Let's do a freestyle,' " he recalled. " 'You got the hottest record in New York. I got a hot record too.' New York n---as don't get along. I'm like, 'Yo, we need to switch it up a little bit.' Then Cass came in the studio too. [For the video] my engineer already had some footage of me in Miami in the Super America car. He pieced that sh-- up right quick and we had fun with it."

By the time you read this, Swizz has probably already leaked Cassidy's first single, "Drink, Two Step."

"I got my drink and my two step/ It's on, it's on and I'm home," goes the chorus.

"I think it's a dope way for him to come back. It's a celebration," Swizz said. ...

[SHOOTER]

NO!! "Money In The Bank" has to be its OWN single and it has to have its OWN video!!! Grrrr.

[busyboy]

Pushed back some more...

Swizz Beatz' Album Pushed Back
June 7th, 2007 | Author: Slava Kuperstein

Fans anticipating Swizz Beatz' album One Man Band Man will be disappointed to hear that the the album has been pushed back from July 17th to August 23rd, according to SOHH. Though it hasn't been confirmed, it is speculated that the producer's recent bout with meningitis (which landed him in the hospital) may be responsible to the delay.

The producer, responsible for such hits as Ruff Ryders Anthem and Touch It, is currently garnering much success with his two singles It's Me Snitches and Money In the Bank.

Despite his illness, Swizz performed at Hot 97's Summer Jam, where he "battled" Kanye West with beat selections from their own catalogues.

One Man Band Man is set to have an extensive guest list: Cassidy, DMX, Kanye West, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Nas, Ciara, Juelz Santana, Mashonda, Jim Jones and Coldplay. Production will also be lended (partially) by Buckwlid and Just Blaze.

One Man Band Man hits the shelves August 23 on Full Surface/Universal.

[SHOOTER]

Swizz has officially pissed me off!

[busyboy]

^ Come on, "Money In The Bank" debuts this week on the R&B charts at #68!

[busyboy]

XXL magazine...

Swizz Beatz
One Man Band Man

Deep down inside, everyone wants to be a star. That’s why it’s no surprise that so many beatsmiths are trading in their boards for the mic. Although there’s the occasional success story (Dr. Dre), not everyone is as fortunate. Creating countless hits for some of the game’s top artists since 1998, Swizz Beatz ignores the odds and adds his name to the list of producer turned rapper hopefuls with One Man Band Man. Not counting his 2002 compilation, Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories, which was more of a showcase of his production prowess and how many rap friends he had on speed dial, this marks the South Bronx, N.Y., native’s official solo debut as an MC rhyming without any assistance for the majority of the disc.

Living up to his album’s title, Swizzy plays double duty as the sole producer and headlining act. Now, expecting any lyrical wizardry from a producer/rapper not named West is downright futile. Yet, for every weak line—“Engine, engine No. 9/You talkin’ crazy, made you lose ya mind,” on the raucous “Bust Ya Guns”—there are glimpses of MC potential. For instance, “You Know Your Boy Did That” finds a confident Swizz listing his numerous accomplishments over brooding instrumentation (“1999/I did that/Took the hard street s**t, and I flipped that/It all started from a little corner scheme/I took it all to a million dollar dream”). The wordplay continues on the organ-fueled “The Funeral” and the somber “Part of the Plan,” with Chris Martin of Coldplay’s soulful vocals on the chorus. On the latter, Swizz spits, “I wish I could fly away on a unicorn/I’m from the ghetto, and every day a human is born/So who cares if I’m stretched out on the scene surrounded by forensic teams.”

Although these bouts of reflection show promise, Swizz’s lyrics take a backseat when he shifts to party mode. Falling in line with his lead single and club smash “It’s Me, b***hes,” Mr. Beatz keeps the energy levels high and the content shallow on the festive booty banger “Money in the Bank.” Then, the producer known for creating multilayered original compositions lazily jacks a Bill Withers sample to pen the ego-trippin’ “Take a Picture” and stunt for the cameras on wax.

Still, if there’s one thing Swizz Beatz can do, it’s get the party started, and he delivers that the rest of the way. Doing what he does best, Da Monsta packs a strong electro-guitar twang and heart-pounding bass line into the catchy “Big Munny.” He continues to get his swag on behind the boards, with anthemic horns and strings carrying “Top Down” to sonic bliss. But it’s the booming “Product Man” that inspires Swizz to brag: “88 million sold, that’s an understatement/Now 100 million units sold, that’s the right statement.”

Clearly, Swizz went into this project trying to prove a point. Aside from Lil Wayne, R. Kelly and Jadakiss on “It’s Me, b***hes (Remix),” the only other rap guest on One Man Band Man is Drag-On, who appears on the aforementioned “Bust Ya Guns.” While the superproducer deserves praise for not falling into the trap of hiding behind a slew of guest appearances, there are pros and cons to going at it for self. For the most part, though, the proven hitmaker masks his lyrical inconsistencies with a bevy of bangin’ beats that should ride out the summer and have cats chillin’ in the Beemer, listenin’ to Swizzle.

SEAN A. MALCOLM

[SHOOTER]

I'm so pissed the album's been pushed back to August cuz now I'm so hyped to hear it NOW!

[busyboy]

Yeah, I feel the same way too, I'm definitely interested...

[damnnnitzzjohn]

No guests? FLOP.

[Linnethia Monique]

damnnnitzzjohn said:

No guests? FLOP.

B!tch you really need to die.

[busyboy]

^ LMAO, he said he's changed!

[busyboy]

Album cover...



... And Spine magazine has "Top Down", from the album.

[SHOOTER]

Album cover is hot!

[busyboy]

Swizz Beatz Scraps One Man Idea For Kanye, T.I.: 'Do I Tell These People No?'
'The list goes on and on,' producer says of potential collaborators on August 21 album.

By Shaheem Reid

NEW YORK — You have to put Swizz Beatz's "Showtime!" up there in the ranks of the top hip-hop catchphrases of the summer, along with DJ Khaled's "We the besssst," Lil "The Rapper Eater" Wayne's "Feed me, feed me!" and Hurricane Chris' "A bay bay." Beatz is sprinkling the phrase over all his new records, including "Top Down," "Money in the Bank" and Cassidy's "My Drink and My Two Step."

True to his word, it truly was showtime on Tuesday. The producer went from signing autographs at an Adidas store to taking his 6-year-old son, Nazir, shopping at the Kid Robot store he owns to hanging out at Sony Studios with the rest of his family and Pharrell Williams. Skateboard P is one of a handful of Swizz's big-name friends who want to be a part of his album, One Man Band Man, which is scheduled for an August 21 release (see "Swizz Beatz Hooks Up With Coldplay, Raps About Death On First Solo LP").

"I wrap up every week on my album," Swizz said at Sony. "It's just not over till it's over. Every week my album gets more and more crazier. I started my project saying, 'I don't want no [guests] on my project.' The reason I said that is because I didn't want to beg anybody for anything. Now with my songs out, I'm getting approached from people I respect. People I thought was too busy to work on the album, they giving me stuff. ... Do I tell these people no? Now I'm just regrouping and trying to make the right decisions because there are a lot of people who liked the idea of me not doing a lot of [collaborations] on my album. I want to stick to that but still finesse it with the people that's coming in. I got a real supportive team with my fellow producers and artists."

Kanye West, T.I. and E-40 are among the folks who have stepped up to the plate for him.

"The list goes on and on," Swizz said about the collaboration offers. "It just has to make sense. I was thinking about putting E-40 on [the remix] to 'Money in the Bank' since the beat got the Bay Area movement to it. E-40 be snapping too. I like E-40."

Swizz has done very well with the material that has been released from the project already. "It's Me Bitches" (see "Beyonce Hitmaker Swizz Beatz Defies Radio Rules With Two-Minute Single"), that song's remix and "Money in the Bank" have all become big club records, while "Top Down" and "Come and Get Me" are getting love in the streets. Still, Swizz and Universal Records have decided to hold the album's in-store launch from late spring (Swizz yells out the date May 15 on the "It's Me Bitches" remix) to late summer.

"My album is coming in August because I felt a lot of people get caught in the hype of the hot songs that's out for the moment," he said. "I'm not considered a rapper yet. Me, I call myself an entertainer. Rappers are Nas, Hov, Jadakiss, Cassidy. I'm just being an entertainer, saying what I feel, doing what I like and being creative. I felt the people need to hear me on more than one hit. 'He got the joint for the club, the cool joints, the vibe joints.' I didn't even get to the Coldplay joint [the group appears on the LP] or to where I'm really talking crazy.

"In the forefront, it's embraced," he continued about his music. "But it's some hating too. ... Some people don't like 'It's me Bitches,' [but] they like 'Money in the Bank' or they might like 'Top Down.' That's why people make albums, so you can pick and choose."

After picking a track from Pharrell at Sony, Swizz headed to the Tribeca Cinemas theater to see another one of his big-name producer friends: Kanye West. West debuted a video for his song "Stronger" for an audience that included Swizz, L.A. Reid, Babyface, Cassie, model Melyssa Ford and about a hundred other people. (Check out pictures of the event here.) Afterward, it was off to Brooklyn, where West and Swizz engaged in a freestyle battle with Drag-On and Sean Paul on the set of Eve's new video.

[busyboy]

Swizz Beatz Bums A Beat From Pharrell, Freestyles With Kanye During One Busy Day
MTV News tried to keep up with rapper/producer as he rubbed elbows all over New York.

By Shaheem Reid

NEW YORK — OK, let's just change Swizz Beatz's nickname for right now.

We're no longer calling Swizz the "One Man Band Man," which is also the title of his August 21 album (see "Swizz Beatz Scraps One Man Idea For Kanye, T.I., Pharrell: 'Do I Tell These People No?' "). We're nicknaming him the "All-Day Band Man." This dude can go. He finds time for his family, his fans and his friends in less than 24 hours and still gets work done on his album. How many artists do you know who start the day at 9:30 in the morning in a helicopter — coming from his house en route to Manhattan — and still have enough energy to jam in an RV driving around Brooklyn?

(See the rapper/producer make his way through New York, rubbing elbows with Kanye, Pharrell and more along the way.)

While you use up your lifelines calling friends to find the answer, all you have to do is sit back and relax and watch. Sort of like we did. (Well, not too much relaxing. Swizzy stays busy, ya know.) We had the opportunity to hang out with Swizz for most of his day. Shortly after he landed in the morning, Swizz taped a TV show with T.I. (or was it T.I.P.?) and EPMD, then we caught up with him and his son "Lil' Swizzy" (does that make him the One Boy Band Boy or the One Man Band Man Jr.?) as they signed autographs and took pictures at the Adidas store in lower Manhattan.

And if you think that was the end of the day, then obviously you forgot about the aforementioned freestyle session with Kanye — but that was only after getting a beat from Pharrell Williams at Sony Studios and chilling with L.A. Reid and Babyface at a party in Tribeca. No wonder Swizz yells "showwwwtyyyyyme" every five minutes: He does it big.

[busyboy]

Leaked!

[busyboy]

I don't know if it's a good album (though it seems like it is, LOL...), but it sure is hot. It has all the Swizz elements, the jumping beats, the percussive chants as in "Get Me Bodied" and his unique crispy sounding quality.

Too bad he samples of "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers (overused, really), and I'm not feeling "Part Of The Plan", that samples Coldplay's "X&Y" ('Trying hard to speak...'). The rest sounds great!

[Linnethia Monique]

It sucks. Nothing else.

[SHOOTER]

Does anybody have a link to the explicit version? LOL. All I got is the "clean" copy.

[busyboy]

Swizz Beatz: One Man Band Man

Rating: 8/10

By Rashaan Meador

Most producers have their run and their sound or style gets burned out. Usually this happens because their sound stays the same or the artists they had the most success with are no longer relevant. Swizz Beatz has leaped over both of these hurdles. Starting his career in the late 90’s, he was hotter than fish grease up until 2001, cooled off, and since ‘04 has been providing hits for anyone who has gone platinum. His voice sampling for hooks technique (Cassidy "I'm A Hustla," T.I. "Bring 'Em Out") started a whole new phenomenon for producers (say Thank you Rick Ross) and he single handedly put Beyonce’s last album into the stratosphere. With his emergence of his newfound sound, he gives us One Man Band Man (Universal Motown), an album that differs from the typical compilations we get from producers-turned-rappers.

Never known as an MC, Swizz manages to create songs that not only have a hot beat , but lyrics and hooks minus the assistance of any of those artists that have benefited from his hit-making magic. Also, instead of producing everything himself, he lets up and coming knob twisters like Neo Da Matrix and Needlez get some shine.

The majority of the music on this album is strictly “in the club” material, which is not a bad thing. All of the songs have a common denominator; simple hooks, repeating verses, and beats with a constant knock. “It’s Me B*#@hes” and the remix featuring Lil’ Wayne, Jadakiss and R. Kelly have been bubbling all summer. The Young World Music produced “Money in the Bank” is another club heater that utilizes the same formula. The Needlez produced “Top Down” with its majestic horns captures the celebratory theme that underlies the majority of the album.

What’s admirable about this project is that it pretty much sticks to Swizz’s strengths. Many similar attempts finds the artist lost in a war between being themselves and a different type of artist. “The Funeral,” which sounds like he watched too many horror movies one night, is really the only song where he strays into the area of trying to be lyrical and deep. To his credit, Swizz fairs better with the introspection on the Coldplay sampling “Part of the Plan.” The rest of the album is true to hitmaker’s nature of creating anthems that people can dance and sing the words to. One Man Band Man plays as an audio desert; short, sweet, and something that’s not going to fill us up, but tastes great.

[busyboy]

Album streaimng at MySpace:

myspace.com/swizzbeatz

[SHOOTER]

The album was disappointing to me.

[reception]

Reviewed by Steve Jones
USA Today

Swizz Beatz, One Man Band Man * * 1/2 (out of four) Producer takes center stage

Swizz has spent nearly a decade producing hits for just about everybody in hip-hop. But on this album, he focuses on showing that he can rap. That’s gutsy, considering that most top producers get a galaxy of stars to do the heavy lifting. He does a passable job, though he mainly limits himself to thumping anthems. Beatz bangs even when he’s not behind the boards.

[busyboy]

Out today in the US!

[SHOOTER]

Album on sale for $7.98 @ Target.

[jamrock16]

i didnt really like his first single

[areyoureadytojump]

Best Buy: $7.99
Circuit City: $7.99