Swizz Beatz to Release ‘Haute Living’ on His Birthday

Swizz Beatz is ready to unleash his forthcoming solo effort, 'Haute Living.' The rapper-producer announced that the album's release date has been confirmed for Sept. 13, which is also his birthday.

In an interview with BBC Radio's Semtex, Swizz explained that his weekly installment of new music, Monster Mondays, was a pre-cursor for what fans can expect from the album. "Monster Mondays was a warm-up for people to understand that I'm doing things different," he said. "So when we get into my album Haute Living, which I'm dropping on my b-day September 13th, people, when they hear the track with me, Bono and Kanye ['Skyscrapers'], they can be prepared for it. When they hear the track with me, Lenny Kravitz and Lil Wayne, they can be prepared for it."

Swizzy, who has worked with just about every big name in hip-hop noted several of his collaborators as inspiration. "Jay is on another planet right now," he said of working on Kanye and Jay-Z's 'Watch the Throne' album. "I was just working with him and Kanye on [their] album, he lyrically just stepped it up like he didn't make it in hip-hop yet. That's the key to maintain, staying dedicated to the craft. That's why I do so many things outside of the music, if I'm just doing beats beats, beats, beats, my love for it is not going to be the same. I have to switch up a little bit."

The New York native also confirmed that he is thinking about shooting a video for 'The Transporter,' featuring Rick Ross. The track was originally offered up as a Monster Mondays freebie back in January.

Swizz's last album, 'One Man Band,' dropped in 2007, but was met with disappointing sales, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts selling 45,000 copies in its first week. To date, the album has sold a little less than 160,000 copies.

'Haute Living' will feature several big names including Eve, Mary J. Blige, and Swizz's wife, Alicia Keys.