Swizz Beatz Infiltrates The Spirits Industry With The Producer Mezcal

Swizz Beatz‘s list of achievements and accolades are over and above abundant. Which isn’t surprising, since he’s spent the better part of three decades expanding his brand and profile while simultaneously crafting hit records and street anthems.

Platinum plaques and props for being one of the best would satisfy most the industry, but not Swizz, as he continues to push the envelope and challenge boundaries with every opportunity that comes to him.

From luxury cars, fashion, and art to Verzuz-the successful live performance platform he has with Timbaland, the 46-year-old has become the ultimate multi-hyphenate .

This time, however, this latest venture may be the most ambitious, as Swizz looks to translate his touch as a tastemaker into the spirits world with his new brand, The Producer Mezcal. Based in Oaxaca, Mexico, the artisanal mezcal brand is his latest passion project and one he feels will be a game-changer. He’s unabashed in his mission to make The Producer Mezcal the public’s gateway into the world of mezcal.

The first step in this process is Swizz and The Producer Mezcal’s alliance with Seminole Hard Rock Hotels. As part of the partnership, The Producer Mezcal has introduced exclusive cocktails at several Hard Rock locations, including Hard Rock Hotel New York, six Seminole Hard Rock and Seminole Casinos in Florida, and four all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotels in Mexico.

VIBE spoke with Swizz Beatz about his vision for The Producer Mezcal, the looming return of Verzuz, upcoming musical projects, and much more.

VIBE: You recently launched a venture as an investor and a partner and the Producer Mezcal, which is an an artisanal mezcal brand based in Mexico. How did that venture come about?

Swizz Beatz: Well, the venture came about [because] one, my love for mezcal. And me seeing the opportunity with something that hasn’t been getting that much shine in the market like tequila. And I personally feel this mezcal is another level up from tequila.

My neighbor has been into the spirits business for his family for over 100 something years, my partner Snagz always wanted to do something in this space. And the opportunity presented itself and I was like, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ So it started just from a conversation with my neighbor, the passion, and seeing the opportunity.

You and The Producer Mezcal recently partnered with with the Seminole Hard Rock Hotels. What inspired that move?

We have amazing team and the Hard Rock has always been something that was on our list because the Hard Rock always represented creatives. If you go on the Hard Rock [locations], you’ll see memorabilia from all of the greats around the world. And I remember first going in the Hard Rock in Vegas, many, many years ago and just, ‘Wow.’

Somebody really took the time to collect these outfits, to collect these records. To keep the the creativity alive. So that’s what we want to do, you know. And everyone’s a producer. You’re a producer. You’re producing this conversation right now, right.

So it’s not just based on a music producer, which is why it’s called The Producers. [It’s] based on everyone being a producer. And we felt that the Hard Rock fit the title and fit the energy.

As part of the partnership, it’s going to be new cocktails and it’s going to be new experiences that are going to be rolled out . Can you speak on that?

For us, sky is not the limit, it’s just a view. We’re thinking about doing mezcal parties. We’re thinking about doing activations on the menus, activations all throughout and just making our presence be felt. And then also making the people have an experience that they haven’t had before in the spirit side of it and just making it super super fun and relatable and and amazing.

How involved are you in the overall process, as far as the tequila side and the Hard Rock experience?

We have a pretty tight team. As a Virgo, I’m always hands on with these different things. it’s just me being a producer, I guess. But we have a pretty tight team. And some team members that’s with us had a relationship with the Hard Rock, which is why I came and how it came to the table. Our passion is there and our drive is there. So we’re ready.

Right. And on the musical side, last year you and Timbaland partnered with X to relaunch Verzuz. Do you have any updates on that?

A lot of new updates coming soon. We’ve been enjoying taking our time to build something that will continue to be unforgettable and memorable. Iconic. And as custodians of music, custodians of culture, we want to continue giving back to the creatives [like] how we did with Verzuz all through COVID, outside of COVID.

Verzuz allowed artists’ streams to go up 700%, [increased] ticket sales to sell out tours to artists that people didn’t have in front of them. And it also allowed us to celebrate the greats like The Isley Brothers. Earth, Wind & Fire. They even started streaming amazing and their songs went back on the charts with this tool and it’s amazing. We own 100% of the company, you know. And we plan on doing 100% with it.

Definitely, I’m looking forward to it. What made you and Timbaland partner with X as opposed to another platform?

‘Cause, we’ve always been on X, right? We didn’t go nowhere, right? When you seen Verzuz, where did you see the comments at? Where was that at?

A lot of it was on X. It was also on various social platforms, but definitely big on X.

There you go. So the conversation has always been on X. We never moved it from there, and that’s the thing. A lot of people are excited about X because of a lot of things around it. But we never even moved from X the whole time, right? It was always there, so there wasn’t no move.

It just changed from Twitter to X. We always was there as a conversation. It always trended there. People always wanted to see the comments from the celebrities and different people there. That still has always been. The number one conversation has been there.

You’ve been big in the art world for decades now, but last year you launched Giants: Art from the Dean Collection with your wife. What was it like curating that, seeing it grow and the whole process?

Once again, being a producer and trying to influence other producers in art and music and fashion. We didn’t want the collection just to be in storage, we wanted the collection to travel the world and intro as many new creatives as possible to the work.

And that’s [only] about 30% of our collection in that show. And that show will be on the road til about 2030. Which is amazing because that means that many more people, millions of people, would have had seen the collection at that point, right?

So that’s our jobs as custodians of the arts, to have an entry point where people can see where that’s made by people that look like them and just feel the energy. And for us to be the first collection of color to ever do that with major museums, I thought it was crazy. We’re young, so how can we be the first? Somebody has to do it and we’re just having fun doing it.

It’s definitely great for the culture. Great to merge worlds and introduce new people to art and all of that. Speaking of being the creative and the producer, last year, there was a clip of your wife , Alicia Keys, playing the piano for Meek Mill. And Meek Mill was rapping and you compared her to a female Dr Dre.

Mmhmm.

So what’s the back story behind that [session]? And can we expect more beats from your wife?

Yeah. I mean, musically, she’s a genius. That’s been no secret. But also she’s heavy with equipment and analog. She’s serious. And on the producing side. I mean, I feel that she allows people to work on her albums and being nice and she doesn’t have to. She just sit in there and really, really make the records.
She really writes. She really sang. She really produces.

So when she was doing that right there with Meek, I just thought it was a smooth clip to show people a little peek into her. Just having fun, you know. ‘Cause, I don’t think she celebrates that side enough.

But she does celebrate other women that do it, which is why she started shooting the music which represents female producers, engineers, writers, etcetera, etcetera. So I think that’s how she feel that she’s fulfilling that mission. But I would love to see her producing more because she’s unbelievable.

The track was dope and Meek was in the zone. Definitely would like to see and hear more of that. So hopefully we can in the future. Speaking about woman in Hip-Hop, March is Women’s History Month. So if you can name your Mount Rushmore of women in Hip-Hop, who would it be?

There’s too many, it’s a lot of them [laughs].

But if you could just pick four?

Definitely, I got to start with Queen Latifah, Salt N Pepa. MC Lyte. Eve. The Lady of Rage, Nicki [Minaj]. So many, you know what I mean? I gotta be careful with this question because you can’t leave out a name with this topic [laughs]. So just keep it a few right there before I get myself in trouble.

Who are some new female rappers that you like and that you’re looking forward to hear more from?

Right now I’m gonna say Scar Lip, Scar Lip, Scar Lip, Scar Lip and Scar Lip. That’s it.

New York has always been at the core of Hip-Hop. How would you describe the state of music in the city right now?

I think everybody experimenting. People want music to be the same as it was, but it’s never been the same as it was. Music changes with time, whether we agree with it, whether we don’t agree with it, the youth is in control of the driving of that steering wheel.

For me, if people are doing music and it’s getting them out of poverty and giving them a head start like it did for myself, out of the hood or whatever, I think it’s amazing. I might not agree with every song, but who am I to agree with every song? I love when people are just doing something creative. Period.

Earlier, you mentioned Scar Lip, can we or expect any new music or big projects from her this year?

Yeah, she’s been dropping every Sunday. She’s got hit records and I love that she’s been listening and just grinding. She’s not even using the Swizz Beatz card or the Epic card. You wouldn’t even think she’s with a major label, you know what I mean? And I love that hustle about her because she’s really a artist. She really writes. She really can do poetry. She really has stories. She’s not just somebody that’s just for the Tik-Tok only, she could do that, and she can do real records. And I haven’t seen that in the artist in a long time.

She’s really dope on social media. I like movement, like it’s an organic growth. Speaking about you, as far as music, do you have anything coming up that we can look forward to?

Yeah, we got Godfather of Harlem Season 4 coming up, which is going to be unbelievable. I executive produced that whole show since day one. So we got the music coming out for that. And Scar Lip, Lox, Jada[kiss] solo. You know, a couple of secret ones [laughs].

Definitely. So what’s next for Swizz Beatz, otherwise?

I think what’s next is the mezcal take over. I remember when I first seen Patron. Although Patron is the tequila and this is a mezcal, I just remember when patron first came, I remember people didn’t even know what tequila was. And I feel like we’re like that right now at that same spot with the Producer Mezcal, which is the number one mezcal in the world that you can drink with no ice.

It’s smooth, it’s not so heavy on your chest and throat and all smokey. Some people might like that, but this one right here is the best liquid out, period. You can try it and see for yourself [laughs]. So that’s my main focus. Getting into this mezcal space and being the most organic, authentic, most creative and having the best partnership with the Hard Rock that they ever had. We’re trying to go big.