Swizz Beatz

Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ), and songwriter.

Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean initially embarked on his musical career as a DJ.

At the age of 18, he gained recognition in the music industry through his family's record label Ruff Ryders Entertainment and his affiliation with its flagship artist, Yonkers-based rapper DMX.

Working with DMX as his producer, DJ, and hype man helped Dean gain prominence as a high-profile figure in hip hop in the following years.

The song was placed onto DMX's seminal 1998 debut album It's Dark and Hell is Hot.

Dean then began producing major hip-hop songs released in 1998 such as "Banned from T.V." by Noreaga, "Money, Cash, Hoes" by Jay-Z and more.

The following year, he produced most of the songs of the Ruff Ryders compilation album Ryde or Die Vol. 1, as well as the bulk of Eve's debut album.

Dean later found a protégé in Philadelphia-based rapper Cassidy, whose success foresaw the launch of Dean's own label imprint, Full Surface Records in 2001.

Dean has since signed numerous artists to the label, including Eve, Mashonda and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

In 2001, in a joint venture with Clive Davis, Swizz Beatz established his own record label, Full Surface Records, which became a subsidiary of J Records.

The first artist signed was Philadelphia-based rapper Cassidy.

As a recording artist himself, he released his compilation album, Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories (2002) and debut studio album, One Man Band Man (2007) through the label; the latter peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200 despite mixed critical reception.

When Dean released his first compilation album Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories, in 2002, he began to get noticed for his production style and interesting ideas, as well as his protege and artist, Cassidy, who also started to gain recognition for his ability as well.

The same year, Dean released two singles, "Guilty" and "Bigger Business", both of which charted on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Along with often being associated with Ruff Ryders and Roc-A-Fella Records, Dean began to expand his scope to include production of artists from more mainstream labels such as Elektra, Atlantic, Epic, Def Jam and Bad Boy Entertainment.

His career largely grew from that point.

In February 2007, design duo Heatherette staged their Fall 2007 New York Fashion Week runway show, and Dean was asked to mix the music.

In June 2007, Swizz Beatz produced and was featured on his Full Surface artist Cassidy's comeback single, "My Drink n My 2 Step", following a murder trial and a car accident.

The song proved to be a hit, reaching the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

On August 21, 2007, Dean released his solo debut studio album, One Man Band Man.

The album, preceded by the lead singles "It's Me Bitches" and "Money in the Bank", debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 and sold 45,000 copies in its first week.

On October 19, 2007, he launched a contest called "Share the Studio", presented by Music Video 2.0 and The Source magazine.

The contest was intended to be a continuation of the work from his debut album.

Later that same year, Dean signed former Ruff Ryders cohorts and longtime friends, Drag-On and Eve, to Full Surface Records.

He also signed legendary Cleveland-based hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, where they later released their seventh studio album Strength & Loyalty in May, which Dean executive produced.

The Source magazine included him on their 2008 list of the "20 Greatest Producers" of the last 20 years.

Rapper and producer Kanye West has referred to Dean as "the best rap producer of all time".

He was named the inaugural "Producer in Residence" at New York University in 2010.

Aside from music, Dean has also been involved in fashion design, art collection, and board directing—he has been a member of trustees at the Brooklyn Museum since 2015, and served as a creative director for the companies Monster Cable and Reebok.

He signed with Epic Records to release his second album, Poison (2018).

As a producer, Dean has been credited on releases by prominent music industry artists in hip hop, pop, soul, rock and R&B.

With a career spanning over two decades, his productions include "Ruff Ryders' Anthem", "Party Up (Up in Here)" (DMX), "Upgrade U", "Check on It", "Ring the Alarm" (Beyoncé), "Bring 'Em Out" (T.I.), "Hotel" (Cassidy), "Touch It" (Busta Rhymes), "Fancy" (Drake), and "Uproar" (Lil Wayne), among others.

Dean has won a Grammy Award from five nominations.

With his wife Alicia Keys, he jointly won the Producers & Engineers Wing Award by The Recording Academy for "outstanding contributions to music" in 2018, and the couple were featured in their first cover shoot for Cultured Magazine that same year.

He spent much of his childhood raised by his mother in the North East Bronx, where he first encountered hip hop.

After obtaining the necessary equipment from his stepfather and uncles, he began DJing as a teenager and enjoyed a modicum of success.

After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, due to his repeated involvement in violent behavior at Harry S. Truman High School, he started to work for his uncles, Joaquin (Waah) and Darrin (Dee) Dean, who were co-CEOs of the Ruff Ryders record label.

In his early work, he generally chose not to sample, instead using the Korg Trinity and Triton keyboards and seeking to accentuate the performance aspect of his music.

With his uncles Waah & Dee, as well as his aunt Chivon Dean, all involved with the Ruff Ryders record label, Swizz Beatz began to produce tracks at age 16, and was signed to Ruff Ryders Productions as a producer and songwriter.

A year later he sold his first beat to Ruff Ryders artist DMX, which became his chart-topping single "Ruff Ryders' Anthem".