00:00You changed the radio with that, but I changed the streets with this.
00:07During COVID, me and my partner Timbaland created an online live performance platform called Versus.
00:16And at the time, the people needed to feel some good energy.
00:20Swizzy, thanks for joining us.
00:22Thanks for having me.
00:23Now, your panel just explored the collision of culture and technology,
00:27and Versus is the perfect example of this.
00:30What excites you the most about how tech is changing the creative game right now?
00:33When I first started, you had to hand deliver something physically.
00:38Even selling records was physical.
00:43Now, someone can have an idea right here in Qatar,
00:47and instantly people can know about it in New York.
00:50So I think the travel of technology is important because it gives a lot of people the voice.
00:55There's a lot of young entrepreneurs here.
00:57What's your advice to them, whether they're artists or, you know, they have the next big thing in AI?
01:02My advice to all of the young artists that's here and around the world is to take your time.
01:07I know it feels like the gold rush, but when you have quality, you have originality, and you have something
01:12special,
01:13people are going to always go back to those qualities.
01:16A lot of people are going to do the hype fast, this and that.
01:19That's going to burn.
01:20The burn rate on that is going to be very quick.
01:22But the person that sat there and studied and let everybody run crazy is the person that's going to probably
01:27get picked for the long term.
01:28And I was one of those people.
01:30Even what I'm doing here in the Middle East since 06, you know, I've done meaningful things.
01:36But more importantly, I've been a student.
01:39And that's been the best thing ever is to be a student, learn about Qatar, learn about Saudi, learn about
01:45Bahrain, learn about all of these places, Abu Dhabi.
01:49They all offer different things, you know.
01:51Don't just come, because a lot of people just come because of the glitz.
01:55They think, oh, I'm going to go there and get rich.
01:56No, man, like, it's going to take you 10,000 hours like it does anywhere for anything successful.
02:03So what is it about this region that keeps pulling you back?
02:05Like, I've just been a fan for a long time.
02:08My grandfather went to Mecca in 78.
02:11And I remember seeing photos of him.
02:14He's an imam.
02:16He just recently passed, but he lived a great life.
02:18He used to manage Muhammad Ali, all of these things.
02:22And I used to always hear the Arabic music.
02:24And I just always was infatuated with the culture.
02:27I know that somewhere in here I'm Arab.
02:30You know, my name is Gossam.
02:32I'm Abu Nasser.
02:33Right?
02:34My middle name is Dawood.
02:36Right?
02:37You know, we have a Muslim family, so that came naturally.
02:40But when I came here, it was the people.
02:42You know, a lot of people was making fun of me for coming to the Middle East so early.
02:48Oh, you shouldn't go there, this and that.
02:51And I'm just like, when I came here, I felt something that words couldn't describe from people.
02:58And that's what got me.
02:59It was the people.
03:00See, I got to ask you about Creative 100.
03:02Why is it such an important project?
03:03Well, anything I do is the people's business.
03:07You know, by the artist, for the artist, with the people.
03:09And the Creative 100 with Qatar Airways is bringing an ecosystem, you know, a community together.
03:15So, that when we're doing this thing, it's actually helping other people.
03:20So, imagine we get to help 100 people a year or acknowledge 100 people a year.
03:25Speaking of big progress, with projects like Creative 100 and Art Basel Kutter,
03:29how do you see the region shaping global creativity?
03:33I think the region is giving opportunities for global creativity.
03:37Where a lot of places stopped, you know, like they stopped funding art, they stopped doing all this.
03:42The region is doing the opposite.
03:44They're funding creativity.
03:45They're funding the creatives.
03:46They're giving a hub for education.
03:48They're giving a hub for tech.
03:50They're giving a hub for all of these things.
03:52I went back to school in my late 30s, you know, because the world is changing every day.
03:57And we must always be students of our craft.
04:00And we must always be open for information.
04:04The day that you stop learning is the day that you stop living, right?
04:07Do you think tech today empowers creatives or creates new challenges that they never had before?
04:12I think it does both.
04:13I remember getting my first MPC.
04:15The book was this big, I never read it.
04:17I figured out my own way to navigate within the system.
04:20I created my own way to how to make beats.
04:22And I think that was a part of me navigating technology at a young age.
04:26And it made me who I am.
04:28And it made the way that I produced special.
04:31And the way you produced is incredibly special.
04:34The likes of Jay-Z, when you were a young man, obviously saw something in you.
04:37And then many other rappers as well.
04:39What do you think it was about your persistence and your skill set and all that coming together
04:44that made you stand up for the crowd?
04:47I just was having fun.
04:48You know, like, I didn't know I could make money in music.
04:51It wasn't a business to me.
04:52It was a lifestyle of just making music.
04:56What made me more attractive to guys like Jay and everyone else.
05:01When I used to make a beat, I used no samples.
05:04So going back to what I spoke about was, you know, to all of the creatives listening,
05:08the best thing you can be out there is original.
05:11So by having no samples, I was able to put records out the next day.
05:15Most people were sampling, so you got to get it cleared.
05:17You got to do this.
05:17You got to go.
05:18Then I also wrote the choruses for most of my songs.
05:21So my track comes with no sample and a chorus.
05:25So if you're a busy artist and you came to me, I'm already going to have 10 concepts for you.
05:30All you have to do is fill in the blanks.
05:32Right.
05:32And so I came up with that strategy and it works.
05:36Swizzy, thank you so much.
05:38Thank you for your time.
Comments