Swizz Beatz has built hits for half the music business. He’s one of the most respected producers alive, and he’s married to the singer Alicia Keys. So when a man like that says meeting someone left him a little starstruck, it’s worth leaning in.
On a hip-hop show called “The Real Report,” Swizz went back to the day he and Alicia got invited over to Michael Jackson’s house.
Michael was in a great mood that day. He was getting ready to head back out on the road and couldn’t wait to go. His kids were there too, and Swizz and Alicia had brought presents for them. Swizz still lights up telling it.
“We set up the meeting at the crib. We go to the house, Michael was so cool Michael was so cool, bro. Just seeing him in his real element. He had his beautiful kids there. I remember we brought gifts for the kids and he was just excited about going on a tour.”
They sat and talked for a while. Michael even showed Alicia a few of the dance moves he’d been saving up. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Swizz noticed something odd sitting on the floor.
Propped against a wall, right down at ground level, were a set of framed plaques.
These weren’t leftovers headed for the trash. They were Michael’s own “Thriller” awards, the kind of trophy most people would bolt to the wall and shine a light on. Michael caught Swizz looking at them and offered to just hand them over. He brushed them off like they weren’t a big deal. “Just things,” he called them.
Swizz said no.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want them. Any music fan would. He turned Michael down because he didn’t want to come across as too “thirsty” in front of the King of Pop. So the awards stayed right there on the floor where he found them.
Those plaques were earned by one short film. Here’s the whole thing, remastered, the one that rewrote what a music video could be.
The short film those floor plaques were made for
There was one more thing Swizz couldn’t stop raving about. Michael had a personal chef from Jamaica, and the man made a jerk lobster that Swizz still thinks about to this day. The small stuff like that is what sticks with the people who got to see Michael at home, away from the stage and the crowds.
Michael passed away in 2009. Stories like this keep surfacing because the people who knew him can’t help sharing them, and this is one of the warmer ones. It’s the King of Pop at home with his kids, trying to give his own trophies to a guest who was too shy to take them.