Then there’s the vocal problem with Swizz’ rapping – occasional shoutouts don’t let you hear enough of him to notice but entire songs expose his vocal tone in an unflattering light. Keeping it simple may be the best way to go when you’re inexperienced but even a simple rap doesn’t need to rhyme “haters” with “haters.” The phrase jacking is also in effect here as Swizzy references the hip-hop classic “The Message” but it comes off weak since he doesn’t have the deep resonant voice of Melle Mel. The first is that Swizz Beatz’ rhyme writing style is about as A to B as you can get. How I keep from goin under when I rock for ten summers” It’s like a jungle sometimes, it make me wonder You see me on top so you wanna see me fall See you never thought you’d see a young fly nigga ball When I see you in the street, I don’t speak to you haters I gotta stunt for you haters, I make my paper you haters Is it the Phantom, nah, or the lime green drop Then brush my teeth, then I put on my necklace Wake up in the morning and my chef cook me breakfast Man I’ma pose so you can picture me doin my thing Let me pose so you can picture me doin my thing Now I’ma pose so you can picture me doin my thing “Get your cameras out, get your flash right Even though “Lovely Day” is one of the most oversampled tracks of all time, it’s still a beat worth jacking for a track – the problem is that Swizz’ rap adds nothing of substance to it whatsoever: “Take a Picture” exemplifies the problem. Swizz Beatz has a tendency to spit catchphrases from the greatest hits of other New York rappers from Akinyele to Method Man, but he hasn’t really developed a style beyond that. Honestly he’s not even Diddy – and he rips the first two lines from “It’s All About the Benjamins” right at the start of “Money in the Bank.” Props for staying thematically true to the greed driven pursuit, but it still seems creatively weak. Lyrically speaking Kasseem Dean is no Daniel Swain or Kanye West. Oh that’s right – we haven’t talked about the negative side yet. Why don’t you pull it out my pants or PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH!” Talkin about – uhh, I wanna ride in your Jag! She sittin at the bar and she lookin so sad Give me your number I bet she ‘gon call yaĪnything is good cause it’s better than she had One thing’s for sure – if you’re not paying anybody else for vocals or beats you can stack a lot more “Money in the Bank”: It worked for Danny, it worked for Kanye, hell a lot of self-produced rappers have been very successful in hip-hop over the years. Best of all as a promotional gimmick it’s hard to beat being a “One Man Band Man.” If you do your own beats AND YOUR OWN RAPPING then you’re truly in control of the outcome. Self-production is another plus, because he can pick exactly the right kind of beats for his style and make sure they blend perfectly. He’s not spitting with the cleanest diction ever, but he’s far from embarassing himself. On the positive side Swizz has picked up a thing or two from producing for so many other rappers. There are plusses and minuses to this change. It’s not as if Swizz Beatz hasn’t released a solo album before but last time he was doing the producing and letting other people do the rapping. When I drop beats I’m the one man band manĬash rules everything around me cream get the money I’m comin through your block with the new two seater “Smoke good eat good, drink good fuck goodĬome into the club stuntin like how you should Swizz dropping a hot single for a rapper is a known factor, and we’re all used to hearing him shout himself out on the tracks, but when “It’s Me Bitches” hit the airwaves it was quite a revelation. While Swizz Beatz definitely has the quantity when it comes to doing tracks, it’s the QUALITY that matters most, and the quality of Swizz’ beats has continued to improve. I must confess I once referred to Swizz Beatz’ production style as “dropping a Casio keyboard on the floor and jumping up and down on top of it.” Over the years though one can discern just how much Beatz has changed and grown in style. Swizz keeps coming back with more and more hits. While doing a little research for this review I was astonished by just how many hits Swizz Beatz produced I had forgotten about. Just Blaze, Kanye West, Timbaland, Alchemist, DJ Premier, Rick Rock, and Swizz Beatz – just a few of many names who do it and then do it again. “We keep coming back with more and more hits.” It’s been 18 years since Nice & Smooth crooned those words but many of today’s top hip-hop producers fit the description.
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