Alicia Keys Really Wasn't Interested In Future Husband Swizz Beatz When They First Met

Alicia Keys has undergone a stunning transformation from an up-and-coming R&B singer from Hell's Kitchen into the musical icon that she is today. She's been working towards her massive success since she was a teenager, which is also when she met her music producer husband, Swizz Beatz (born Kasseem Dean) back in the '90s. However, their relationship was anything but love at first sight.

The couple met when Keys was around 14 and Beatz was 16. As they grew up, they were thrown into the same groups since both of them were trying to break into the music industry. Keys had no interest in Beatz when they were first introduced by a mutual friend who thought they might get along well. 

"We talked for a minute about nothing deep, and then as I walked off, he asked if we could exchange numbers. I was like, 'Nah, I'm good. I'll just see you when I see you,'" Keys recounted in her 2020 memoir "More Myself: A Journey." 

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz would find their paths crossing frequently over the following years, but she wrote in "More Myself" that her first impression of him didn't improve. His lifestyle in the early years of his career was a total turn-off for Keys. "He'd usually pull up in some fancy car, rolling deep with his Bronx crew and shining with diamonds," she said. "I wanted nothing to do with that scene or with Swizz."

Beatz recounted that time in Keys' book, admitting that his future wife found him "super obnoxious," an assessment he agrees with. "I was so obnoxious that I couldn't even talk to myself. ... The excess was a way to celebrate finally getting some artistic freedom. But all that flash didn't resonate with Alicia, who was never about material things."

Keys and Beatz didn't find their connection until 2008 when a reluctant Keys was convinced to work with the music producer. She finally got to know him beyond all of the ostentatious trappings that had previously turned her off, and the pair started dating soon after. She wrote: "The more we talked the more I noticed how his mind worked. ... Beyond the baggy jeans and arm tats there was depth. He was so aware of what was happening around the world."

Even though Alicia Keys was not interested in Swizz Beatz when they were teenagers, Keys and Beatz have shared a loving relationship in the years since they've reconnected. They've weathered their fair share of storms since they married in 2010, including accusations of infidelity, but they always seem to make it out stronger than before. Keys detailed what has kept their marriage so strong over all of the years.

"I spent a lot of relationships not really saying how I actually felt, and they fell apart," she told People. "If you can't speak your truth, then you can't be yourself. That's a key! I don't worry about speaking to him, even about the hard things, and I think he feels the same. I know that I can tell him what I really feel."

While Keys thinks that being yourself is one of the most important things in a marriage, Beatz has his own view on what has kept their relationship alive after over a decade.  "The main thing is, communication ... but it's also confidence and self-confidence, like, a lot of guys are not prepared for strong women," he explained in an episode of the "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" podcast in 2022.  "We live our life as our own bosses.  But when we come together, we create, you know, we have the love, the bliss, the family."