Swizz Beatz Preps For A "Haute" B-Day

Producer Swizz Beatz will make it a hot summer this year by dropping the new Haute Living solo album on his birthday come mid-September.

Along with announcing a release date, Swizzy hinted at what fans can expect from his LP.

"Monster Mondays was a warm-up for people to understand that I'm doing things different," Beatz said about releasing new music on a weekly basis. "So when we get into my album Haute Living, which I'm dropping on my [birthday] September 13th, people, when they hear the track with me, Bono and Kanye [West] they can be prepared for it. When they hear the track with me, Lenny Kravitz and Lil Wayne, they can be prepared for it." (BBC Radio)

A few weeks ago, confirmation of Swizz Beatz and pop singer M.I.A. linking up in the studio hit the Internet.

M.I.A. and Swizz Beatz have created magic with a range of talented artists, separately, which is why we were excited - and anxious - to hear that the two were collaborating. A rep from Swizz Beatz's camp has confirmed with Billboard's The Juice that Beatz and M.I.A. are recording music for each other's upcoming albums, M.I.A.'s yet to be titled album and Beatz's "Haute Living." (Billboard)

Prior to the confirmation, in-studio footage of Swizzy and M.I.A. also emerged online.

Swizz Beatz and M.I.A. posted a photo of themselves in the studio on 4/20, and now video taken at the same session has hit the 'Net. In the clip, a blond MIA asks Swizz, an avid art collector, about the Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring painting he has in his home. The 'Money in the Bank' rapper then showed off tattoos of both artists on his arm as well as of Shepard Fairey and Andy Warhol. (The Boom Box)

Last January, Swizzy discussed the content of his forthcoming LP.

"I think people are not gonna expect what they're gonna hear on my album," Swizz said in an interview. "I'm very hard on myself with the album because it's like putting on another hat and it's opening up the door for a lot of criticism...Doing this album I said, 'Look, I'm not trying to be the best rapper in the world, I'm not trying to do none of that. I'm just trying to have fun and treat it as [an] art project where I'm expressing myself.'" (MTV)