Being in the studio with an artist is something that multi-platinum producer Kwamé says is an absolutely essential part of his workflow — from recording to mixing.
During a recent interview with HipHopDX, he shared that the one time he didn’t join an artist in the studio, he almost lost his credit to a legend: Eminem.
It all started when he shopped beats to Sha Money XL, who was President of G-Unit Records at the time. Sha had told him that 50 Cent liked a handful the beats — and that Kwam would be working on his upcoming LP, The Massacre. After some radio silence, he was later contacted and told Lloyd Banks would be using one of his beats for what would turn into the 2004 hit single, “On Fire.”
He explains, “They were in London, and they did not let me come to the studio with them. I’m like, ‘Well, I’ll fly to London’ and they were like, ‘Nah, just send us the music.’ That was the issue right there.”
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When they sent Kwamé back the song, Eminem had his keyboard player make some slight modifications.
“It’s nothing that I couldn’t do on my own, by the way. I could have easily made those modifications for them. But [they] took it upon themselves to tell me that they were in London, which I don’t believe to this day … they wanted to make those changes.”
Problems arose when Kwam says Eminem claimed to be the song’s lead producer because of those two minor changes. And such actions jeopardized the blistering record from even seeing the light of day.
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“I let everybody know I was willing to throw my whole production career away before I allow somebody to put their name on top of my work,” he states. “It’s just not going to happen. I was willing to take the beat back and give the money back. I wasn’t going to do it.”
Eventually, everything worked out with Kwamé receiving his acknowledgment — and the song going on to become Lloyd Bank’s most successful solo single of his career, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2020, Kwamé remains active, currently working on his artist Vivian Green‘s new LP as well as continuing to mentor and guide his protégée Bobby J From Rockaway. As for Eminem, he’s currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of his monster album, The Marshall Mathers LP on Saturday (May 23).
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