Alicia Keys has never cared too much about convention. When it comes to the family she has with her husband and producer Swizz Beatz, the singer has always been happy to do things their way. The couple raise 5 children together, including Prince Nasir, Kasseem Jr, and Nicole from Swizz’s previous relationships, as well as Egypt and Genesis.
Alicia opened up about her family unit in her 2016 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. At the time, she was promoting her new song Blended Family (What You Do For Love). Alicia said, “I feel like the family is such a beautiful and diverse unit, and – as we’ve all experienced – our families come in all different sizes and shapes and versions.”
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The singer is fascinated by the many competing aspects of motherhood, which has inspired a lot of her creative work. In 2019, she told People magazine, “Motherhood, I find, makes you look at yourself in a way that is a mirror, like no other that you’ve been presented with before.”
At the time, she was appearing at the American Express and Billboard Women in Music Impact Brunch in Los Angeles. She added, “I think it makes you look at what you have taken or learned from other people and how that becomes your truth, whether it’s yours or not.”
Swizz’s Oldest Son is 23
Her partner Swizz had previously spoken up about the difficulties he had initially faced when becoming a parent. Talking to People in 2011, he said “It makes you grow up real quick because now you start making decisions based on how you want your kids to make decisions.”
Swizz started learning those lessons years before getting together with Alicia. He had his first son, Prince, in October 2000, making him now 23 years old. The producer’s adult son has expressed his desire to follow in his dad’s footsteps as a musician.
After one of Prince’s first performances, under the name Note Marcato, Swizz took to Instagram to share his joy. He wrote, “I’m so proud of you making your own way, my prince keep going.”
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Six years after Prince was born, Swiz welcomed a second son, Kasseem Jr, with his former wife Mashonda Tifrere. Kasseem Jr, who also goes by KJ, is reportedly close with Alicia as well as Mashonda.
His mom talked about her friendship with Alicia in an interview with People, saying, “I wanted to get to know her because my son was telling me amazing things.” Alicia even wrote the foreword for Mashonda’s book, Blend: The Secret to Co-Parenting and Creating a Balanced Family.
Everyone connected to Alicia’s family is determined to make everything work in harmony with love and respect. Mashonda and Swizz divorced in 2008, the same year he welcomed his daughter Nicole with singer Jahna Sebastian.
Like her brothers, Nicole loves spending time with the whole family and is often seen on social media enjoying vacations. She has spent time with her dad in the studio and accompanies Jahna to outings like the London Fashion Week.
Egypt Wrote His First Song by the Age of Six
Around Nicole’s birth, Swizz first got together with Alicia. They welcomed their first baby together in 2010, named Egypt.
Egypt seems to have inherited a lot of his parents’ artistic abilities. In 2022, Swizz called his son a “mastermind of a creative” on Instagram. He reportedly wrote his first song at 6 and received a producer credit on Kendrick Lamar’s Untitled Unmastered album.
His parents gushed about him to Entertainment Weekly in 2016, saying, “We have always encouraged Egypt to create the music he feels.” They explained, “As much as he has fun with it, he works very hard and is always practicing.”
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Three years later, Egypt joined Alicia at the 2019 iHeart Radio Music Awards for a duet of Raise a Man. Reflecting on the experience, Alicia said, “That moment was the first time he performed with me on stage and I remember being so completely wrapped up in him being okay.” She also admitted that she had “asked him to do it.”
However, despite encouragement from his parents, Egypt has other plans for his future. In 2023, he said on the Jennifer Hudson Show, “I don’t really want to be a musician. I want to be a basketball player.”
According to Alicia, the couple’s second son, Genesis, was a surprise to them both. She wrote in her 2020 memoir, More Myself, “The music I was creating felt more important and urgent than just about everything.”
She even wrote that the pregnancy seemed to come at the “worst time ever.” However, Alicia is as smitten with her youngest child as she is with the rest of her blended family.
