The superstar musical couple have been married for 15 years and claim effective communication and peace as the key to their longevity.
Musical icons Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys—legends in their respective hip-hop and R&B lanes—have been married for fifteen years, sharing kids, business, and life together. Like most successful couples will probably tell you, the key to a happy relationship is friendship and communication.
But in a conversation with US Weekly, Swizz (born Kaseem Dean) went a step further in explaining why he and Keys, specifically, are able to work so well together, and for many couples I would imagine it as both a goal and a work in progress.
“Marriage is definitely a big word, but look at it like your best friend. The communication is there. We’ve never had an argument. Since we’ve been together, our kids [have] never seen it; never seen us raise our voice [or] never seen us yell. Never seen us curse at each other. Why? Because of communication,” said the beatmaker whose productions helped establish the sound of late 90s and early 2000s hip-hop, especially in New York City, and especially of his Ruff Ryders camp that included luminaries like DMX, Eve, and The Lox.
Never argue? My first question is: How?
He acknowledged that he and the “Girl on Fire” songstress do disagree on things. But they also have a level of self-awareness about how to approach their disagreements with one another.
“When you yell at each other, no one is really listening anyway. Nothing gets solved in each other’s yelling.”
Facts.
To take that a step further, Beatz spoke about the mutual respect for each other’s personhood and agency in effectively navigating life, disagreements, and ultimately, success together.
“People think they can own people. You can’t. It’s not property that you own. There’s a whole human, right? So, we’re very clear on that. She’s her own boss. I’m my own boss. That’s how we make magic when we come together. I think that helps because people start getting very territorial and making their partner property, and I think that’s the biggest mistake.”
Beatz, who shares two sons with Keys and is a father to three others, one from his previous marriage to singer Mashonda, makes a lot of sense there. Undeniably, for their life, their mutual understanding has served them well and is perhaps worth taking notes on for other couples. Either way, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys have found the secret sauce for their marriage, and if that’s the case, forever is on the horizon.
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