Though “Uproar” became Lil Wayne’s biggest hit off of Tha Carter V, it appears that he wasn’t down with the song at first.
Swizz Beatz recently sat down on Mike Tyson’s podcast where he discussed the single. He explained that it began as a freestyle with Wayne basically breezing through the entire instrumental without pausing. Of course, Wayne’s known for his freestyles but Swizz saw the potential behind the record. He explained that he began to tweak the record, including Wayne’s vocals, but the Young Money founder wasn’t entirely behind the move.
“This was the last record. I kind of messed with his vocals. He ain’t like that,” Swizz said. However, the producer said that he explained to Mack Maine that he needed to “mess with” the record to turn it into an actual song, rather than a freestyle.
“I talked to Mack, I said, ‘This gotta be more than a freestyle because he rapped all the way through,’” Swizz said. From there, he took the portion of the record where Wayne raps, “What the f- though? Where the love go? Five, four, three, two, I let one go,” and turned it into the hook.
“When you put this piece throughout, it brings people back and it plays as a chorus,” Swizz explained. “And then Wayne was like, ‘Alright, alright. Let’s do it.’”
“Uproar” became an instantaneous hit that propelled to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song drew controversy due to the sample of “Special Delivery” by G. Dep. The song’s producer, Ez Elpee, claimed that Swizz and Wayne didn’t give him the proper credit for sampling the record.
Check out Swizz Beatz’s full interview with Mike Tyson below.