Swizz Beatz
Swizz Beatz
Kasseem Dean, better known by his stage name Swizz Beatz, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer from New York City, New York. Born and raised in The Bronx, he began his musical career as a disc jockeyand has since added rapper, record executive, creative director and fashion designer, to his repertoire. At the age of 16, he gained recognition in the hip hop industry, through his friendship and work with East Coast rapper DMX and the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth13 September 1978
CountryUnited States of America
My art side is free and there are no strings attached.
I think K-Pop is a type of expression.
I didn't go to prom - I DJ'd all my proms.
Music is the universal language.
When I was a barber, me being extreme was how I got popular: you name it, I was drawing it on someone's head.
You know, I never did music for money. I did music to hear myself in the club, and to hear my creation on the radio.
I started off as a graffiti artist in the South Bronx. My tag name was 'Loco' because I would go crazy and tag anywhere I wanted, in the weirdest places.
My idea to bridge the world together with music starting in Asia and going to the West is something that is new, untapped and leading to the future of bringing the worlds together.
When I was growing up, there were so many things I thought were stylish. Jabo jeans, V Bombers, Clarks, Vikings, Nugget watches, Lee pants with the patches, leather hats - which I still wear now. All hip-hop stuff, all South Bronx stuff.
I think that a lot of people just don't understand creativity.
I'm the last person that wants to give away music for free.
I'm a very creative person, and you know when I hooked up with Benny Boom, I said I want it to be a different kind of video. I want it to be crisp, and I want it to relate, [and] not to be so far over people's heads. And that's when we came up with the p-t-d-d-d-d-d (camera flashes.) You know with the picture changing, and that's it.
My worst haircuts have been the ones where I've done my own.
There's no wrong way of doing art. It's an expression of the individual.