Disney’s Onyx Collective is bringing the new docuseries “Drive With Swizz Beatz” to Hulu on Nov. 16. The producer and avid car collector will be joined by his oldest son, Nasir Dean, as the pair travel to Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Japan and Saudi Arabia to learn more about each area’s car culture.
All six episodes of the docuseries will be available to stream at once.
The official synopsis of the series reads: “Life is all about drive and the will to succeed despite the odds. Nowhere is this more evident than in the wildly inventive and passionate world of car culture, where enthusiasts show off vastly different vehicles in a display not only of automotive ardor but also of their own personal success.”
It continues, “In ‘Drive with Swizz Beatz, hip-hop legend and car collector Swizz Beatz visits car-loving destinations, where he’ll examine the area’s distinctive car culture and bring together two otherwise disparate car clubs over a shared love of all things automotive and an appreciation for what it’s like to beat the odds through sheer drive alone.”
The producer’s knowledge of cars goes far beyond just collecting vehicles. In 2011, Swizz Beatz was named vice president of global design and creative marketing at United Kingdom car manufacturer Lotus, a role that he used to try pushing the company further toward innovative aesthetics and design.
As he told Complex in 2012, “I mean, you know, for me the titles mean nothing. The title is in my work. And I’m a perfectionist. I love things to be super amazing, and one thing I’m big into is vision beyond the norm. So when it came to working with Lotus and an amazing man, Dany [Bahar], the CEO, and I found out how open-minded he was, I challenged him to produce the first chrome-colored cars.”
His first car was a Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo which he told the outlet he paid $7,000 for and “put like $35,000 into.” Swizz added, “Then I started getting music money and being a little bit successful and started just going crazy and doing car shows and winning the car shows. You know, I had like 13 cars in my garage at one time, one from each brand. And it just was the way I fed my appetite, you know.”
“Drive with Swizz Beatz” is produced by Jay Brown and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith of Ty Ty and Jay Brown Productions, Raymond Garcia of Major TV, Emmet Dennis of Black Drive Originals and Christian Sarabia of 51 Minds.
The series was originally announced in August 2022 during the Television Critics Association press tour. At the time, Onyx Collective’s president Tara Duncan explained, “It is an exciting time to be leading Onyx Collective. When we opened our doors just over a year ago, we set out to nurture imaginative storytelling, creating disruptive, inclusive and wildly entertaining narratives that would spark conversation and forward the culture.”
Duncan continued, “That vision is materializing in ways we could have only dreamed of, and we remain grateful to have a clear lane at Disney General Entertainment, a company that has empowered our work from day one.”
Disney announced the launch of Onyx Collective in May 2021. The brand’s first project was Questlove’s documentary “Summer of Soul (… or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised).”
Disney’s chairman of entertainment, Dana Walden, explained at the time, “Our industry is immeasurably enriched by the incredible talents of emerging and established creators of color. Launching Onyx Collective allows us to be the best partners to those creators, providing them with the support they need to do their best work.”
