Swizz checks in every few weeks to advise some students of NYU’s Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music. He listens to their beats, offers some insight, and assists them on making money off their craft. “The first couple are free, and then you start charging,” Swizz explains to one of his students in the New York interview. He even gives them homework that reflects real life practices – registering with BMI/ASCAP, making beat CDs, and getting airplay in public. The gems he is offering go above and beyond textbook learning. Joining the ranks of Hip-Hop artists like 9th Wonder, De La Soul, and Bun B, Swizz Beatz is another example of a successful Hip-Hop artist entering the classroom to educate the youth on the past, present, and future of the culture. For Swizz, this opportunity arrived after he gave a speech at NYU last year that blew away the faculty. So much, that he was offered a job. Now he feels it’s time to pay it forward. If Swizz Beatz’ students can become paid musicians while attending school, they won’t leave with any post-collegiate financial burden. “I have a whole new plan, knowing the scope of what I’m dealing with,” he tells New York Magazine, “where I can have these kids do music and pay off their student loans at the same time.” This plan for the students is near completion and is far more sophisticated than the plan Swizz set out for himself at 17. That plan? A rough sketch of Swizz in a DJ booth with a compass next to him, meaning he could navigate anywhere beyond where he was if he tried.
Written by Kathy Iandoli
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