10 Facts About Swizz Beatz

Swizz Beatz signed with Epic Records to release his second album, Poison.

Swizz Beatz was named the inaugural "Producer in Residence" at New York University in 2010, and The Source magazine included him on their 2008 list of the "20 Greatest Producers" of the last 20 years.

Swizz Beatz spent much of his childhood raised by his mother in the North East Bronx, where he first encountered hip-hop.

In 2001, in a joint venture with Clive Davis, Swizz Beatz established his own record label, Full Surface Records, which became a subsidiary of J Records.

In June 2007, Swizz Beatz produced and was featured on his Full Surface artist Cassidy's comeback single, "My Drink n My 2 Step", following a murder trial and a car accident.

Swizz Beatz premiered unfinished versions of several music videos made for the album, revealing that the Reebok-commissioned video for "International Party" cost $1.4 million to shoot, and that the video for "You Stay on My Mind" was shot in Dubai: he revealed that he persuaded the Sheikh to let him use the airspace for only a dollar.

In May 2011, during an interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra's DJ Semtex, Swizz Beatz announced that his upcoming third solo album Haute Living, would be released on his birthday, September 13,2011.

In July 2011, Swizz Beatz said instead of releasing all of the songs at once, he would release the tracks over an extended period of time: "Let me clarify: Haute Living is still coming, but as far as releasing all on one day, I'm not doing that no more," he said.

Swizz Beatz recorded 70 songs and used 10 for the album.

In 2011, Swizz Beatz became the official face of Lotus cars until CEO Dany Bahar left the company.