Swizz Beatz says that his son, Egypt, helped Kendrick Lamar overcome a bad bout of writer’s block when he was just five years old. Beatz’s son famously earned a credit on Lamar’s track, “untitled 07,” off his album, untitled unmastered. The iconic producer explained how that came to be during an interview on the Jennifer Hudson Show, Tuesday.
“I’m jealous as hell of that one. I thought me and Kendrick was cool,” he joked. “But they kicked it off at the Super Bowl game, and I looked and him and Kendrick was talking for like 40 minutes. I went over and said to Kendrick, ‘Is he bothering you? Should I move him? I know you enjoying yourself.’ He said, ‘No. Swizz, I had writer’s block and what Egypt is telling me is helping me deal with something.’ I was like, ‘Well man, he’s five years old.’ Still to this day, I don’t know what he was helping him deal with, but I let it happen. He definitely charged him. Egypt got some money off that record.”
Swizz Beatz With His Son, Egypt
Later in the interview, Swizz Beatz spoke more broadly about what it’s been like seeing his son take an interest in music. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “The one thing that we don’t do is force things on them. You know, we don’t force art, we don’t force music. What we force is good intentions.” He added: “As long as you have a good intention on what you’re doing, we’ll support it. But it’s not like, ‘You have to be this way.’ We have to let the kids be who they gonna be, but guide them in the right way and not put the pressure on them.”
The interview comes as Swizz Beatz recently released new music of his own. Last week, he dropped an EP titled, Hip Hop 50: Vol 2. He released the project as a part of Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50: The Soundtrack campaign. The project commemorates the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
Swizz Beatz Discusses Eygpt’s Interest In Music
[Via]