(CelebrityAccess) – Swizz Beatz, real name Kasseem Dean, is now a co-partner/co-owner in the high-end luxury vinyl brand 12On12, as reported by Music Week. The Grammy-winning solo artist, creative director, brand promoter, fashion designer, Verzuz owner, and Harvard Business School graduate continues to expand his portfolio.
12On12 invites figures in culture to select 12 songs that have influenced their lives and collaborate with sought-after brands and visual artists to produce limited edition vinyl. To date, the company has collaborated with Run-DMC, Travis Scott, and Dita Von Teese for specially limited-edition vinyl releases. Swizz has also created his own exclusive 12″ vinyl-only compilation exploring his love of jazz.
Following Swizz’s Long Live Jazz set, 12On12 is already looking to the future and wants to hear from other artists who would be interested in coming on board and creating their releases.
“We have three in the pipeline – in the past, we’ve done about one a year because we’ve been very specific on making sure the collaborations are exactly what we want, and we are still maintaining that,” explained founder and chief creative Claudia Moross to Music Week. “I’ve scheduled pressing plant capacity for three runs, so I’m hoping that all of those come off. We like to work with people who are either established giants or up-and-coming talents. I’d love the music industry to send me people they think are the next big person. If we think someone’s worthwhile to work with, I’d love to pursue it.”
Moross has already praised the energy and insight that Swizz Beatz has brought to the company so far.
“His business acumen is amazing,” she told Music Week. “He’s very knowledgeable and clear in his ideas, and his energy is just infectious. Every time we speak, he has another idea for the business going down the line. He’s been an entrepreneur in everything he’s done with Verzuz, and he’s got some amazing ideas for how we can take the business forward. There’s lots of ways he’s helping us.”
