Swizz Beatz has recalled the making of DMX‘s “Party Up (Up in Here)” and revealed the late rapper needed a little push to finish the record.
Sitting down with Rema as part of Rolling Stone‘s Musicians on Musicians series, the producer talked about the music process that brought him fame while bringing up a story about forcing Dark Man X to record one of his biggest hits.
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“What made me really popular when I first started was I would have the beat and the chorus already laid for the artist,” he said. “They just had to plug and play. I would look at the energy: If they come in with their friends, it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s in a club mode.’
“Or he or she might be sad with their lover, they’re a little down: ‘Oh, we’re gonna do a good love song.’ I’m always gauging the room. Because you could come in in a mood — you’re thinking about your girl — and if I’m pushing a party song on you, it’s just not going to work.
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“I mean, it worked for DMX one time with ‘Party Up.’ But if you listen to ‘Party Up,’ he does everything against the track. Like, you could tell he didn’t want to do the song. But I forced him, because we was on a deadline.”
He added: “It’s the most disrespectful verse I think he ever did, and it’s the biggest song we ever made.”
“Party Up (Up in Here)” appeared on DMX’s 1999 album …And Then There Was X and peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards but lost to Eminem‘s “The Real Slim Shady.”
DMX discussed “Party Up (Up In Here)” during an interview with GQ in 2019 while breaking down some of his most iconic tracks.
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“That was the second to last song I did on my third album,” he said. “I’m thinkin’ album’s done, and there comes Swizz with this fuckin’ beat. I’m like, whoa my God! This shit is crazy. I thought it was a hit with ‘What’s My Name?’ And then Swizz hit me with ‘Party Up.’ I was like, pshh. Bananas.
“And I felt like I had something to prove, too. ‘Cause at that point, I was the only artist in history that had their first two albums debut at No. 1, and have two platinum albums in one year! So I’m like, ‘I gotta do it again!’ Aight, like, muthafuckas think it’s a joke?! Aight, I’m ‘a show you somethin’!
“It took me 13 years to get a fuckin’ record deal. You know, it brought a couple albums outta me. For one, I didn’t make it for the club, the beat is for the club. I just spit some real shit to it. Like, ‘Aight, you give me a beat that people can dance to, I’ll spit some shit that a motherfucker can beat somebody up to.’ It’s a good combination!
“You kinda want the best on your music if you wanna do music. Know what I mean? Like aight, ‘I could hear X on this.’ So they know I’ma do it justice. I’ma give it a long, long life. It’s called ‘Party Up,’ but it’s very disrespectful!”
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He added: “Again, it confirms another thing I’ve dared to believe that, you know, my music is not just for the moment. It’s forever.”
