Superproducer Swizz Beatz and Nigerian pop superstar Rema talk about the importance of collaboration, working with DMX and Beyoncé, and more
, the upstart Nigerian artist who’s become a global superstar, are sitting in one of the larger rooms at the Record Plant in Hollywood. This is the type of place where Swizz, 45, has worked since he was a teenager, and into which the 23-year-old Rema has scarcely ventured.
As the pair discuss Rema’s upbringing in Benin City, the conversation drifts back to Rema’s chain, and to the role that visual art, especially those pieces produced with bronze, has played in’s history. There are numerous Nigerian masterpieces in museums around the world, Rema points out — especially in Britain, pilfered and never returned. Let me know when you’re ready to collect art. That’s something that I’ve been doing for 20-something years now.
I’m glad you got a person who understands your sound, and you guys have a synergy, because that’s how me and DMX were. We had a synergy. Other people would do beats, but it’s different when you have that formula. You can’t be scared of the artists if you’re producing. If I’m just saying yes to anything , then I’m doing myself a disservice, I’m doing the fans a disservice, and I’m doing you, as the artist, a disservice.Yeah. Sometimes they don’t even like the songs, and they remove their tag.