Search - Swizz Beatz :: One Man Band Man

Swizz Beatz, please do us all a favor and just stick to prod

J. Highsmith | Mitchellville, Maryland United States | 08/27/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Most of us were all introduced to Swizz Beatz when we realized he was the one that produced DMX's banger "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" from his debut CD It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. The success of that track allowed Swizz to be able to produce 10 of the 16 tracks on DMX's 2nd CD Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. a year later the Ruff Ryders, who consisted of DMX, The LOX, Eve, Drag-On and Swizzy himself amongst others released a compilation entitled Ryde or Die, Vol. 1. The best tracks ended up being "Ryde Or Die" which featured DMX, The LOX, Eve & Drag-On, "Jigga My _____" which was a Jay-Z solo track that was produced by Swizz Beatz, "Dope Money" which featured Jadakiss and Styles P of the LOX, "Kiss Of Death" which was a solo Jadakiss track and "Down Bottom" which was a Swizz Beatz produced track that featured Drag-On and Juvenile. Swizz would then go on to work with artists such as The LOX, Eve, Jay-Z, Drag-On, DMX, and others on their future releases. Swizz had a nice reputation as a producer and to some people he was right up there with the current producers such as Timbaland, The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, etc. (Notice I said some people).



In 2002, Swizz dropped a compilation CD entitled Presents G.H.E.T.T.O Stories. The best tracks on the CD ended up being the tracks that Swizz produced that featured other artists. My favorite track was clearly "Bigger Business" which featured Jadakiss, Ron Isley, Cassidy, Snoop Dogg, P Diddy, Baby from Cash Money and TQ. I also liked the Salute Me (Remix) which featured Nas, Fat Joe and Cassidy, "Shyne" which featured Shyne and Swizz Beatz' wife, Mashonda, and "Good Times" which featured Styles P. and was the 1st single from his debut solo CD "A Gangster And A Gentleman". Although all the collaborations on this CD didn't work there were enough songs on this CD to make you pay attention to "Ghetto Stories" in some way.



In 2007, Swizz is still producing bangers and he is especially gaining some "newfound fame" in some ways for the work he did on Beyonce's "B Day" after he co produced "Upgrade U" w/Jay-Z and he produced "Ring The Alarm" and "Get Me Bodied", just as reviewer "Josephll" pointed out.



With "One Band Man", I am not sure what Swizz was trying to accomplish. Once you listen to the CD, you're basically left with some tight tracks to play in a club, one serious song in "The Funeral" and several missed opportunities. The CD starts off with "Product Man" as Swizz tells us what we already know that he is a go to producer for banging tracks and that he doesn't use samples like some producers, i.e., Kanye West. The 1st single is next in "It's Me Snitches". This song will definitely be a club banger for years to come along with the remix that features Swizz, Lil Wayne on his 80th guest appearance this year, R Kelly and Jadakiss. My favorite track on this CD, "You Know Your Boy Did That" isn't even produced by Swizz. Snags comes through as Swizz is able to keep braggin' to us about what he has and what we don't have as the majoirty of this CD tells us as well. Neo Da Matrix produces "The Funeral" which is the one of the few songs of substance that Swizz has on this CD. This will be one of the few tracks that you want to pay attention to as Swizz does a decent job of storytelling on this track. "Take A Picture" may have been alot better had Swizz not use the same Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" sample that Twista and Anthony Hamilton used on "Sunshine" that was featured on Twista's "Kamikaze" CD. Comparing "Take A Picture" to "Sunshine" is like saying MC Hammer is the greatest rapper of all time. "Top Down" is produced by the E.McCaine Edition and Swizz and while the production is pretty good, Swizz does nothing to make you wanna listen to the track. His rhymes on this track are BFI or trash on this song. "Money In The Bank" is the 2nd single and will be another track that you won't mind hearing in the club when you're out on the town. "Part Of The Plan" features Chris Martin from Coldplay and is a pretty good track. This will be one of the reasons why you'll be glad that you bought this CD. You will just wish that there were more tracks like these.



"Big Munny" and "Bust Ya Gunz" with Drag-On are just terrible. It's definitely nice to hear Drag-On with a new 16 on the latter track but Swizz's rhymes are just unbearable at times. You figure with all the artists that Swizz Beatz has worked with and/or knows that he would have had more guest appearances on this project. He is clearly a novice on the microphone and you find yourself wishing that he could have atleast had Cassidy, Eve, DMX, Jigga, The LOX or any of his apphiliates join him on some tracks. Even have producers like Timbaland, Kanye or Pharrell join him on something. You would figure as much as this CD was pushed back that someone would have told Swizz that the rhymes on this CD were just terrible from him. Overall, the production is pretty good but out of the 12 tracks Swizz only produces or co-produces 5 songs. You figure he would have had time to upgrade the rhymes, but clearly that wasn't the case. I will definitely hold up my BUYER BEWARE! sign for this CD which is about 2.5 stars in my opinion, if that much.



James' Top 5



1) Your Know Your Boy Did That

2) The Funeral

3) Part Of The Plan

4) It's Me Snitches (Original and Remix)

5) Money In The Bank"

Swizz Beaten

LaughingLion | North of Boston | 09/15/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album could have been so much more. Swizz's last album blew me away. This album erased that memory. Its not that the album sucks, it doesn't. It's just not what he's capable of. With his own producing, in which i place him in the top five in rap, the album should be better.



Swizz, take another three months working on the next album, and work it up to next level.



Overall the album isn't bad, it's just bland.



"

Swizz Beatz - One Man Band

Constant | Vancouver, BC Canada | 08/21/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Producer/Rapper Swizz Beatz (A.K.A. Kasseem Dean) delivers his debut solo album with "One Man Band" (2007), an eleven track release which features guest appearances from Drag-On, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, R Kelly & Jadakiss. When I think of Swizz Beatz I think of the established producer who created the distinct Ruff Ryders sound, and hooked DMX and many others up with fast paced upbeat on point production. Swizz shows he can also be an entertaining MC at times on this joint. Swizz produces five of the track's on this release with additional contributions coming from The Individualz, Nottz, Needlz, Snags, Neo Da Matrix & Young World Music. My favourite track on this release is "Part of the Plan", Swizz delivers some introspective and heartfelt lyrics going back to his childhood and growing up in the ghetto, Swizz keeps it real on the cut delivering his own commentary and stories while using some outstanding vocals from Chris Martin of Coldplay. Two other tracks standout for me on this release, one being "Bust Ya Gunz" which features a guest appearance from Bronx MC Drag-On, this cut features some animated high tempo production which sounds Swizz like but actually comes from Needlz. The other standout for me is "The Funeral", Swizz keeps his listeners entertained with lyrics ranging from the humorous to the dead serious backed by some production from Neo Da Matrix. Singles on this release include "Its Me B******" & "Money In The Bank", I am not a big fan of either. The remix of the former includes guest appearances from Lil Wayne, R Kelly and Jadakiss. A few standouts make "One Man Band" a decent release worth checking out."