GHETTO STORIES:TRACK BY TRACK

[themovie]

FROM SWIZZBEATZ.NET

Swizz Beatz, “Ghetto Stories”:
This song is my life story. This is my ghetto story. It tells about how I started out in the Bronx. I didn’t even write it – it just happened. It’s way over 40 bars and I just ripped it, free-flowing and freewheeling. There’s no hook, no catching the breath, just straight through giving the story. There’s real drama – you can hear it in my voice; I am dead serious.

Jadakiss featuring Ron Isley, “Big Business”:
I knew I wanted to do a song with Jadakiss, but I didn’t want what people would ordinarily expect from Jadakiss; I wanted something more international-sounding. Ron Isley and I are cool so I just called him up. I picked him up from a show in Atlanta and we went right to the studio and he laid the track. Jadakiss rhymes about the girls – you don’t have to be a rap critic to get it. The beat is the special effects. It has two beats in one and it gets mellow. It’s something that’s never been done before.

Swizz Beatz featuring Busta Rhymes, “Endalay”:
Busta and I are like brothers. He came to the studio to hang out one day and I told him I was working on an album and that I wanted him to be on it. He said, “Let’s do it right now.” He was messing around in the intro, saying, “Andele.” And I said we should leave that in. Busta is one of the people who always wants me to rap, so I rhymed on this track. The beat is just monster.

Shyne featuring Mashonda, “Shyne”:
This song was recorded a week before Shyne got locked up. [As a result of a 1999 Manhattan club shooting that also involved Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Jennifer Lopez, Shyne was convicted of attempted murder and is currently serving a 10-year sentence.] I was giving him stuff for his new album and he was picking out beats for my album, and he did the song right then. It’s about what happened in the club that night. Shyne says this is the best song he’s ever done, and I agree.

Mashonda featuring LL Cool J, “Ghetto Love”:
That song came along because LL and I were sitting around working on his album and a track from a movie he was working on. It’s about a guy and a girl and they have a ghetto love. He’s gone and she misses him. I wanted to change the vibe on my album with this. It has that soulful, laid-back vibe. Even when I’m listening to hip-hop, I want to hear something laid-back, so putting LL and Mashonda together on a ghetto love song just made sense.

Swizz Beatz featuring Styles, “Good Times”:
We needed a weed song to complete this album, so on “Good Times” Styles is just talking about weed, how he smokes like Bob Marley. The hook’s got a singer singing “I Get High.” [“Good Times” contains portions of “I Get High (On Your Memory),” by Freda Payne.] It also has that soulful, laid-back vibe.

Swizz Beatz featuring Lil’ Kim, “Gone Delirious”:
Lil’ Kim is back with this song. She’s taking it back to her gritty and grimy Hard Core days. This track is so banging – it sounds like King Kong is walking around outside. I put some handclaps on it, too, for more effect. It all goes perfectly with Kim’s delivery.

Noreaga, “N.O.R.E.”:
Noreaga was one of the first artists to support me. I gave him four tracks for his album, and he gave me a verse for my artist, Yung Wun [signed to Swizz’s Full Surface label]. This was one of the first tracks we did for the album. Noreaga came into the studio, then took the beat home and lived with it. I had the hook and when he got ready, he came in and put it down.

Baby (Cash Money) featuring Yung Wun, “Let Me See Ya Do Your Thing”:
Baby and I are both car fanatics, so we’re always on the phone talking about cars and stuff. He was in New York getting beats for his albums [Baby is co-founder of Cash Money Records and a member of Big Tymers], and we decided to work together. My man Klever, from Atlanta, is the one who did the beat for this. And Yung Wun is on my label so this was a good way to introduce him. Since he’s from the South, it made sense to join him with Baby, who’s from New Orleans.

Eve, “Island Spice”:
Eve is like my sister, so, of course, she banged out a track. We actually made this for her last album, but I decided to keep it for me. It’s a rock-the-club track with an island sound. It’s definitely a club-jumper.

Swizz Beatz featuring Bounty Killer, “Guilty”:
I went to Jamaica to see Bounty Killer and when I got back home, I called him again and said, ‘You need to be on my album.’ So he came up and did the song. The concept of the song is that he and I are guilty of making hits – that’s what we’re guilty of. I rapped on it because I felt it was the right introduction for me [“Guilty” is the first radio track off Swizz Beatz Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories]. It’s more about the flow on this one, not the lyrics as much.

Nas, Fat Joe and Cassidy, “Salute Me”:
I never just give an artist a beat. All the artists I work with know what I bring to the table are ideas, and I always try to meet everybody halfway with their ideas. With this song, I knew what I wanted the hook to be and I knew what I wanted the song to sound like, so that’s what I brought. Cassidy is one of my new [Full Surface] artists, and Fat Joe and Nas speak for themselves. This song is a remix of “Salute Me” from Nas’ Stillmatic album.

Swizz Beatz featuring Metallica and Ja Rule, “We Did It Again”:
I knew I wanted to do a rock ‘n’ roll track and I knew I wanted to get the biggest act possible to do it, but I never thought in a million years that I’d be working with Metallica on this. They’ve got 200 million records sold! I went to San Francisco to their studio to do this. They were very down to earth, the vibe was good and the sound was just crazy. They had two songs already that I really liked. I took those and combined them into one song. Then I called Ja Rule and told him I needed him to be on what could be the biggest song of his career. I told him to guess who he’d be working with on it and he was naming all these people he thought it was and finally, I said, “It’s Metallica,” and he said, “Hell yeah!” I came up with the hook. I have Lars [Ulrich’s] live drums and Kirk [Hammett’s] live guitars. This song is a blessing. When people hear it, they won’t believe it. I wanted to do something rock fans can appreciate and when Ja Rule spits, “I’m a rock star baby/ Born in the USA,” it’s just insane!