If you are a fan of pop music or even hip hop for that matter, we've become accustomed to infamous celebrity beefs over the years from the likes of Madonna vs. Lady Gaga, Nicki Garbaj vs. Lil Kim, Jay-Z vs. Nas (they've since kissed and made up) and Azealia Banks vs. Everybody to name a few. One of the things that doesn't happen quite as often is a beef between producers.
Take for example a new beef emerging between Bangladesh and Swizz Beatz. Back in the late 90's to the mid 2000's Swizzy produced many big hits for his Ruff Ryder camp such as Eve, DMX, The Lox and many more musical artists over the years. For the past couple of years, rising producer Bangladesh has been giving us some snap my neck anthems from the likes of Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Beyonce, Brandy and Nicki Minaj, to name a few. So in a recent XXL magazine article, Bangladesh felt the need to go in on Swizzy, who he says is only relevant today because he is contractually binded to Alicia Keys' "Superwoman" pussy.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
“I don’t think Swizz is relevant. I’m keeping it 100. I think there’s a difference between relevance and musical relevance. You married a lady that’s poppin’ [Alicia Keys], you know it’ll give you a lot of relevance, but you gotta make hits. Ain’t no hits. Are you relevant for the craft you’re doing or the life you live as far as the decisions you make?”
The relevance is in being youthful. Still being in-the-know. I have a 15 year old son so they think we’re brothers and I put him on to stuff. You know, I’m 34 but people tell me I look 23. He still look to me for information. Usually it’s the opposite; usually the parents are lame or too old to understand or whatever. Just the way I feel, I got so much more time.”
While no one is taking away from the mark Swizz has left on the hip hop music world, I happen to agree with Bangladesh on this one. To remian relevant in this youth-driven industry you always have to keep your ear to the streets as to what's going on, and put your own spin on the hot trends. I can't think of one song Swizz has produced that has given me goosebumps like he used to do back in the days when he was hungry. Sure Swizz has been in the game for over 15 years and has produced some huge hits for many singers and rappers, but his being married to Alicia in a way catapults him to a different level outside of the hip hop world.
You see how fast people forgot about he and Alicia getting together while he was still married to singer Mashonda? They even started working together on new music for her upcoming album. Then again, things might be looking up for Swizzy since he produced some tracks on Nas' latest album which debuted at #1.
Update: Shortly after the article came out, Bangladesh took to Twitter to backpedal what he said about the veteran producer
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