My first question is how are you doing? I just read on the website about the big spinal cord injury you had last year.
Dirty Swift-Yeah that was pretty rough. I'm doing a lot better now. It's just certain things I have to live with like chronic back pain. They did a lot of surgery on my spine so I have a metal implant that will stay in there for the rest of my life. But when I look at it, I could have been paralyzed, so it's really not that bad.

Are you all threw with physical therapy and all of that?
Dirty Swift-Yeah, I got all through that over a year ago. I work out four times a week and try to stay as healthy as I can.

I read that you're from Canada and that you've always been into making beats. How did you get into hip-hop and rap growing up in Canada?
Dirty Swift-I had some sort of connection to it. I don't know what it was that got me into it. I always loved music. I think it really happened when I saw "Beat Streat," the movie. I was a kid when I saw that and I was like, "I want to do that. I want to see that, I want to go to the Bronx." I didn't think about it like it was a strange thing to do. Then break dancing and I had friends who had cousins who lived in Boston and New York, and they would get these tapes with music from the radio and it was just exciting.

So you came to the states to pursue your music career?
Dirty Swift-Yeah, I moved to New York and just grinded it out. I found some opportunities. Like anyone else I had to build a network. Like people say, luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I was prepared for the opportunity that came when I met 50 Cent. From there it was the major turning point.

When you met 50 Cent you did a couple of songs for him?
Dirty Swift-Yeah, this was about a year before he did his deal. I ended up getting in touch with him from a friend of mine who was trying to sign him to Universal at the time. I gave him a whole stack of beat CD's and let him go at it and "21 Questions" was one of those songs from a batch of beats. He ended up loving the record and he held it until he did his album deal about a year later. It ended up being one of the biggest songs off the album. Being prepared for that opportunity to meet him and deciding to give him a whole stack of beats and I always respect him for that because he decided to go through all the beats.

I know you primarily work behind the scenes. Did you ever have any aspirations to be an MC yourself?
Dirty Swift-Never an MC. I was a DJ though. I used to do the DMC Runhouse scratching competitions and I back up our artists from time to time just for fun to get on stage and to see how people react to what you do.

Now you primarily work as a producer?
Dirty Swift-Yeah I work as a producer and we have the label Family Ties and we are into publishing ventures and all kinds of other stuff too.

I know you all have Deemi and Shire'. Are those your primary artists right now?
Dirty Swift-Yeah those are the two we have placed on labels. What we are trying to do is figure out where we want to have our exclusive label deal at and then we'll take on a few more artists. But right now Deemi and Shire' are enough for us to deal with. We're wrapping up Shire's album right now so we're expecting that to come out sometime next year.

I talked to Deemi once before. How have you seen her grow as an artist. It seems like she puts in the groundwork. Her album hasn't come out yet, but she really works hard. How have you seen her develop as an artist since you've been working with her?
Dirty Swift-When I first met her, she was in Brooklyn and she hadn't started doing the real personal type records. She was still doing generic R&B. Watching her from then till now, we got luke warm response. It was like, "She's cool, she's this, she's that." But when we started doing the records that were real personal, if you hear her music it's almost autobiographical that's when people started going crazy. "Yo, this is incredible music." She's gone through a lot of things. As an artist you go through a lot of ups and downs. There are a lot of politics and label business that you can't control, mergers and people getting moved around and people who supported your project getting shifted around then you have to work with new people. I'm still watching her grow and it's ultimately up to her to see what happens from there but we always support her.


What was it about Shire' that made you take her on as an artist?
Dirty Swift-Shire' in a way she had some similarities. She's from Baltimore. She had not an easy life. She has a lot of pain in her voice. What attracted me to her was her vocals, her voice is just incredible. As a business man, she had been here before. She used to be in a group called Lovher which was signed to Def Jam through Sisqo's deal. It's kind of nice to have somebody's who's been through the system. She's very humbled and appreciative of everything she's gets and Steve Rifkind love's her. It was a really nice, easy deal to do. She's been here before and she knows what she has to do and she's ready to do the work and we have a label that's ready to go now so that's a beautiful thing.

I've seen your Myspace. Myspace is like a breeding ground for new artists trying to get deals. How do you all filter through the artists because I know you can't take on everyone?
Dirty Swift-After awhile I learned to turn off some of the messaging functions on Myspace. It's just too much. I couldn't possibly listen to that much music I wouldn't have time for anything else. There are ways to get in touch with us. If people are determined enough they find a way to get through and those are the ones we usually listen to. It's tough because there's just so much out there. I look at Myspace as anything else. It's a way for people to get heard so I do my best to listen to as much as I can but there's a lot out there.

Do you ever have a chance to go to showcases or open mic nights to check out new artists?
Dirty Swift-You know I've been to a few and I've been asked to judge a few. The guys who do Faces In The Crowd have invited us to a few they're real close friends of ours. But what I find most often is the artists we end up messing with come from someone that we know or through some other way. It's never usually when you go out looking for it. It's almost like relationships, it never happens when you are looking for it, it just happens when its supposed to happen and those are the one's that usually end up working out.

Did you personally get to work in the studio with Fantasia for her big single "When I See You?"
Dirty Swift-Yeah, we worked with her about a year ago on that first batch of songs and she's real cool, she's a sweetheart, she's super talented and real easy to work with. We worked about four days with her and did about 5 or 6 records and "When I See You," was one of them. We're about to go back in with her soon and keep working.

I just read today in the blog that the new J-Lo video "Hold It, Don't Drop It," is out. How did you all end up hooking up with Jennifer Lopez for her album?
Dirty Swift-We've been kind of circling J-Lo for awhile. We almost ended up on the last album but it didn't work out. We ended up submitting this song for this album and it just sounded like the perfect record for her. Usually when you do a song you don't know where it's going to end up and it usually doesn't end up where you think it should go. But when we did that record, we heard it and I was like, "That's J-Lo all day." We sent it to Sony and boom that was it and she cut the record.

What other artists are you working with now that you can talk about?
Dirty Swift-The ones I can talk about? The ones I can talk about, there's a new artist we are working with out of the U.K. His name is Bryn Christopher. I think he comes out of the same house that does Amy Whinehouse. He's real soulful, has kind of a throw back sound but we updated the production so it's new again. My partners over there finishing that up and he sends the rough stuff to me over the Internet and we split the work. We're about to go back in with Fantasia. We just did Kovict, he's a new rapper on SRC Steve Rifkind's label. We just did a song with him and Shire', we think it's going to be his second single.

You've mentioned Steve Rifkind a couple of times. He's so big in the industry, what's it like working with him?
Dirty Swift-You know, I've known Steve for years. I've been trying to do deals with him for awhile. We just ended up doing the Shire' project over there so in a way it's like coming home. He's been real supportive of us. He just really understands the music business and he doesn't try to do what he's not good at. He comes from a promotional background and he understands music because he's a music guy, but when it comes to doing A&R stuff he leaves it to them, he's like just do you and when you're ready to go let's go. That's just really impressive. He signs you for a reason and he expects you to deliver. If you deliver, he's happy, we're happy, it's a beautiful thing. He doesn't try to micro-manage you.

What is the most challenging thing you have faced as a producer?
Dirty Swift-Always trying to stay fresh. You can't do the same thing over and over again even though sometimes that's what people want. Also, and trying to anticipate what's going to be hot. As a producer, you have to always keep your eye on that, maintaining your own integrity as far as what you want to do. You have to balance all of these big different things and have it all make sense.

If you give an artist a really hot track and it doesn't make the album are you really disappointed?
Dirty Swift-Yeah, it's happened a few times and you can't really control it. It isn't always about the hottest track, it's about politics sometimes, things that you can't really do anything about. Me and my partner Bruce we talk about it all the time, we really want to just set up our own label so all I have to worry about is my own artists. A lot of times you do a hot track for an artists and they'll decide to go with another single. You're like, "Why," cause you know in your heart that the single that you did is better and it would be a better look. A lot of times you prove to be right and they'll put your single out later and it will do what you knew it was going to do, and you're like, "Damn, I wish I didn't have to deal with it." That's just part of the game. Once you do the song you have to give it up to the world and see what happens.

What are your long term goals in the entertainment industry?
Dirty Swift-I think I would like to be a part of changing the music industry. It's going through a lot right now. I think we would like to be a part of what the music industry is going to turn into. It's kind of an exciting time because it's going through a transition right now, trying to find new ways to make money and how to get music to people. Figuring ways to get music to people, figuring new ways to get your songs into peoples hands being it ring tones or other forms of technology that haven't been invented yet. Just that whole thing is kind of exciting. In a way its putting music back in peoples hands and taking it out of the system so much. People can choose "I want to hear this song, I don't want to hear the whole album," so they just download that one song. Being a part of that and just making a living doing what we love and making money. Setting up a company, giving other people the chance to do what we've done. It would be nice to just be in the position to just do it because you love it and not have to chase 50 projects just to pay bills. I think that is our ultimate goal whatever the business turns into. I'd love to get into other things, real estate or whatever music only gives us the opportunity to do what we want to do.

Dirty Swift on his long term goals

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Dirty Swift-interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2007

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Dirty Swift -interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com December 2007.