Swerve Strickland Joins Forces With Harlem Hip Hop Icon Max B For New Single (Exclusive)

It's no secret that AEW star Swerve Strickland is a much a musician as he is an artist in the professional wrestling ring. The evidence has accompanied him down to the squared circle in cities all across the world.

Whether it be his WWE run where he was part of The Hit Row stable, or in rival All Elite Wrestling, Strickland has a strong connection to the world of hip hop.

While he is most known for "Big Pressure (Remix)" or "Hit Different," Swerve has worked with a variety of hip hop icons, such as Raekwon and Bun B. Now, the former AEW World Champion has joined forces with legendary Harlem rapper, Max B for an upcoming single entitled, 'Coo Coo.'

This may seem like random pairing, but it is something that fate dictated in a lot of ways according to Swerve when telling the story on how he connected with the former Dipset member.

"Honestly, I didn't know how far my wrestling career really had outreach," Swerve Strickland told The Takedown On SI. "I didn't know how far it went until I hear Max B using my name Swerve Strickland, he's like, 'I'm swerving out here man, Swerve Strickland' in an interview from prison. I'm like, 'wow, I didn't know I reached that far to him,' but he's always been a wrestling fan for so long and he's been really tapped in with AEW a lot more than I knew."

This mention from Max B led to a chance encounter that brought the rapper together with "The Most Dangerous Man in AEW."

"So when he finally got out, he was doing his thing, he did the hit single with French Montana, he's going crazy and then my girl's going through LaGuardia Airport and she's like, 'I think I see Max B over there.' I'm on FaceTime and I'm like, 'take the phone to him, take the phone to him' because I heard he's been a big fan of mine," Strickland explained.

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"So she's like, 'ay, are you Max B?' He goes, 'yeah, yeah, yeah.' She says, 'well I got Swerve Strickland on the phone.' He goes, 'yo, Swerveeeee' over the phone. I was like, 'let's go, let's go.' So like I think maybe two, three weeks later, we were in the studio together right after he came back from vacation."

The organic nature of this random encounter leading to a collaboration is something that Swerve is used to and can describe his previous partnership with Wu Tang Clan legend Raekwon for his current AEW theme music, "Hit Different."

"It was very easy like that and that's why I say those organic ways like of making things happen, it usually just works itself in there," The AEW star said. "Same thing with Raekwon, I was at a Mass Appeal event when they were showcasing the Mobb Deep album. They were dropping the hidden verses from Prodigy and Havoc and stuff."

"So I was at the party, I heard Raekwon had like a connection with AEW years ago that fell through and so I walked up to him and she was like, 'can I get your number?' So we got the agent's number and he's like, 'yeah, yeah, you stay in the city? We can do something by the end of the week.' Friday, we were in the studio like it's been very simple, but it's always about showing face man, being there at the right time, right opportunity."

Swerve taking the connection between hip hop and pro wrestling to a "New Level"

Swerve Strickland — All Elite Wrestling - Lee South

Swerve's upcoming new single with Max B is entitled, "Coo Coo." Strickland states that he wanted this song to maintain a sound that his collaborator has become known for.

"That's why I feel good about this record because it holds that Harlem feel to it," Swerve elaborated.

Strickland has been a fan of Max B for a long time and remembers listening to him in his teens and believes Dipset became the identifiable sound of Harlem, New York.

"Man, high school for me, but it was more like I was hearing them, I didn't really know who I was listening to. I knew, I was like, 'this is hard, this is crazy," Swerve said. "It was a sound that defined not only an era, but a location, you know what I mean? That's where certain songs like really hit and register to me because it's songs that really like point out, 'oh, you're from here, you're from here."

"It's a demographic, you know, and those guys just naturally sounded like Harlem, they sounded like New York. They sounded like that. So definitely I would say those mixtapes, I was like more like going towards the blog era mixtapes that was more me, but yeah, that came a little bit later than those guys. I knew how big of a deal it was when he's like locked away and A$AP (Rocky) had the record, 'Max B,' on his 'Long Live A$AP' album."

Swerve Strickland has been someone who has been known for his hip hop inspirations that he has brought to his on-screen presentation throughout his career. From the entrance theme to his look, the current AEW World Trios Champion has maintained that connection and went into detail on where he believes hip hop meets pro wrestling.

"The influence, it's always there because it's the trend you want to follow," Strickland explained. "I always felt like wrestling for generations has been a step behind the trend a little bit on pop culture wise. It gets to it a little bit later, but with music and hip hop, hip hop is so, you have to be on the nose with music or the trend that's very pop culture-y."

Hip hop culture has always been trendsetters and that's something that Swerve understands better than most in the wrestling industry.

"Hip hop's like always on the nose with it and if you're like three weeks too late, you're behind when it comes to hip hop music like, 'nobody wearing that no more, nobody dressing like this no more, nobody wears pink no more.' 'You still rocking that rolly band, they came out with two, you still driving that whip, that's two models ago man," Swerve joked.

"So with hip hop, you always got to be on the nose. I think that's why wrestling always tried to follow hip hop because it was always like the current, you know what I mean?"

The toughest part for Swerve has to be balancing. The wrestling business takes a toil on your body and mind with the amount of physical and mental exertion that goes into stepping in the squared circle.

Talking about how he is able to stay at the top of his game in wrestling and hip hop, Strickland explained what sacrifices he has to make to continue to do what he does.

"You lose a lot of sleep," Swerve laughed. "That's honestly the only way it works, that's the only way it works man. Like yo, this weekend could have been free, but nah, I gotta go to LA, I got to get in the studio with so and so and mix these records. I gotta get there, gotta take the drive to Miami get in the studio."

"This could have been a free time for me, but I gotta fill that up with work and music and meetings and like photo shoots, just all the stuff that doesn't just come with getting into the studio and making a song and making a record."

Further giving insight into what goes into putting a record out to the masses, Swerve went into what his schedule looks like when he is not in the ring and in front of the camera on AEW TV.

AEW World Trios Champion @swerveconfident is here to support @TrueKofi, but wherever Swerve goes, Hangman Adam Page is never far behind!

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— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 7, 2026

"It's just all the planning around it, getting the promotion for it, getting out there and speaking to you guys to promote a record like Max B and 'Coo Coo' and upcoming projects like the EP that's coming, merchandise, like it's just all of it," Swerve stated. "Going to Hot 97 and Bleacher Report and doing all these things, all these things that comes with it, so you do lose a lot of sleep because I'm not someone who just wants to do music."

"I want to like build a brand with the music. I want to make sure that I squeeze all the juice out of something that like comes with the song rather than just put out a song that like dies in maybe two days, you know what I mean? So it's all those extra efforts to feed the song."

Swerve's level of detail in promoting the song also can be seen on AEW programming. Before he is joined by his trios partners The New Level, Strickland yells out, "Coo Coo," which holds a double meaning.

"The funny thing is 'Coo Coo' came from (A$AP) Ferg because it was his record that he passed to us and I just wrote to the 'Coo Coo' record," The AEW World Trios Champion explained. "So, Ferg ties into like both of us with New Level and 'New Level' came with like 24 hours before All In did. So I was like, 'how does that happen?' Ferg has ties to both of us in a way."

With such a major collaboration with an artist with the catalog of Max B, Strickland clarified to the fans what they can expect from and what went into the making of "Coo Coo" before the song drops

"Making record for a mass amount of people to join into is always a tough record to make cause a lot of people can make music that they like and is for them that you put on the headphones, you vibe out to it, this is just for your listening enjoyment only," Swerve said. "This is a record for everybody to listen to, to turn the car on, to blast the music, let it rattle through the streets a little bit, like at a bar, at a club, at a party, at an event."

"This is for everybody to join into and jump and whoop together, you know what I mean? This is that type of record, you know its like, 'you know that song, you know what's coming up, everybody at once' type joint. It's that type of record that was kind of like growth and moving into those type of records instead of just rap and make songs. It'slearning how to make something for the people."

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