Childhood:

Sway was born in Stepney, London, in 1982. He attented Redlands Primary School he spent most of his time experimenting with music, rewriting the lyrics of his favourite artists. He attended Highgate Wood Secondary School in North London where he spent his spare time using the school equipment for musical production. Sway is the cousin of former Arsenal footballer, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie; he claims he is a rapper too.

Early Career:

At the age of 16, Sway had a place in the grand final of an open mic session at Dingwalls in London. He lost to Chester P of Task Force. It was at this age that Sway was a member of Tottenham-based hip-hop trio “Phynix Crew”. Following his defeat at Dingwalls, Sway got into the finals of Choice FM’s ‘Rapology ’99’ with his rap group where they lost. Phynix Crew merged with two other rap groups to form “One”. Sway was now studying at college, as well as having a part-time job and producing ringtones for a company. Sway began to create a studio in his bedroom with the money he earned so that he could start to produce his own songs.

Sway produced many solo singles despite being in a rap group and his first break was under the name ‘Sway DaSafo’ on the track “On My Own” which reached the A-list of BBC Radio 1Xtra when the station was launched. He continued to produce music. When One released their first debut album, called Onederful World, 50% of the 10-track CD was produced by Sway

Debut:

In 2003, Sway started to pursue a solo career in the British music scene. In 2004, Sway established DCypha Productions to enable him to release his mixtapes and debut solo album, This Is My Demo. His song “Hype Boys” is used in the video game Need for Speed: Carbon, and the song “Flo Fashion” is used in the video game FIFA Street 2. His debut has become controversial amongst UK hip-hop artists due to his criticism of many modern rap artists “over hyping” themselves and glorifying themselves using elements from gang culture and street violence to make themselves seem ‘harder’ than they are and thus sell records to people who are potentially ignorant of the true roots of hip-hop. He also argued against the use of nigger in hip hop and R&B songs on an appearance on Sky News.

Second Album:

Sway featured on numerous songs and signed to Akon’s Konvict Muzik record label in 2007, becoming the only UK artist to be signed to the label. Sway released the One for the Journey EP on May 14 2007 on his DCypha Productions label which featured an appearance from Chamillionaire on a Part 2 version of “Up Your Speed”. It was released to coincide with the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, which was hosted in Ghana and to which the song “Black Stars”, a remix of “Black Boys” by Bashy, is dedicated. In October 6 2008, Signature LP was released, the album included the song “F UR X” featuring $tush

F UR X” was included on the soundtrack to the UK film Adulthood prior to the release of The Signature LP. The first single to be released from the album was “Saturday Night Hustle” featuring Lemar, which was poorly accepted and peaked at number 67 in the UK charts. The next single to be released from the album is “Silver and Gold” featuring Akon. On the week beginning 2nd February 2009, “Silver & Gold” peaked at number 76.

Awards:

His reputation rose from underground to mainstream after coming into the public eye by winning a MOBO award in September 2005 for Best Hip Hop Act, defeating heavyweight hip-hop artists 50 Cent and The Game to collect the award. He was also nominated for the second year running in the Best Hip Hop category and Best UK Male for the MOBO awards held at the end of September 2006 and in September 2008 for Best UK Male. In July 2006, Sway’s album This Is My Demo was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize but the award waIn 2008, Sway was nominated for two awards at the Urban Music Awards won by the Arctic Monkeys.

In November 2006, Sway won a BET Hip-Hop Award for “Best UK Hip-Hop Act”, beating the likes of Blak Twang, Plan B, Dizzee Rascal and Kano. By being nominated and winning the BET for “BEST UK Hip-Hop Act”, Sway was seen by millions across America in a video showing himself in a cipher with Saigon, Remy Ma, and Rhymefest freestyling on a rooftop in New York. The freestyle was featured on The Dotted Lines mixtape. In 2009, he released a single with Nigerian international act 2face.

Signed Sealed Delivered:

Sway announced that after the Signature 2 he will be working on his 1st Worldwide Release Signed Sealed Delivered on Akon’s Konlive label.