Dubbed “…the most Punk Rock man in the UK right now…” by NME and with press such as “…simply the best rap album in years…” by the Independent, Sway’s
This Is My Demo certainly aroused a certain amount of interest from myself. After all he is a local boy and people who are into the UK grime scene have also been singing his praises just as much as mainstream press.
One thing about the UK scene is that you hear some of the very worst rap ever made: usually a product of stupid white kids wanting to be the next 50 Cent, but also you can here some of the best rap ever made. But even the best of our batch never does quite have the backing to go completely global especially in regards to the US- after all, how can Mr. Darrel Illinois connect with the grimy streets and housing estates of inner city London? Sway recognises this in his song
Little Derek, stating that “… if you do UK rap you’re number two…” but even with this in mind, Sway manages to be ambitious, original and as British as afternoon tea and scones.
From the outset,
This Is My Demo managed to grip me and send me plummeting through Sway’s world that he has created with his music. Album opener and title track
This Is My Demo instantly introduces the listener to Sway’s sound: multi-layered productions, unusual vocal stylings, charming and witty lyrics that manage to be both light-hearted but also convey exactly the emotions and feelings that he raps about in his lyrics. The track in this way is the perfect opener acting as is all too usual in hip-hop albums as a song where the rapper introduces himself lyrically but also showing off all of Sway’s talents in production and his humour and quirks that make him original. Furthermore,
This is My Demo directly states Sway’s dual-culture heritage in both the lyrics and the samples for example at about 3 minutes in there is a panned sample where the left speaker has the Christian Lord’s prayer while the right plays the Islamic call to prayer.
The album continues at the same pace in which it began, blistering through light hearted songs like
Up Your Speed and
Little Derek to more intense and serious raps like Hype Boys and Pretty Ugly Husband. Yet even in these ‘serious’ songs, Sway’s humour punctuates each line and each sample, constantly giving the impression that (god forbid) he is actually having the time of his life making this music. In fact, some of the comedy in this album is pure gold: the sample at the end of
Download where his production team ‘unveils’ a new album entitled “I Swam Here All The Way From Ghana” with the lead single “I Married Her For A VISA” or the girl at the end of
Little Derek saying that she isn’t a slut, she usually waits four days before having sex with her boyfriend not three.
But despite this humour, Sway can certainly be serious and though provoking when he wants to be.
Pretty Ugly Husband is an incredibly intense track inspired by Mr Ti2bs song produces by Sway in 2003 “Beautiful Ugly”, a song about the two extremes of inner city street life. In a similar theme this track has two voices, that of the drunken violent man who beats his wife and the remorseful cowering husband, pleading with false affection. Telling the story of a husband who comes home from work, physically abuses his wife who draws a kitchen knife in defence. The husband then takes the knife and tries to force his wife into performing oral before he is shot dead from a man in another room whom his wife had been having an affair with. The wife then breaks down and blames herself. It’s hardly a happy story, but it has elements in the lyrics that we can all connect to and more importantly, the contrasting vocals stand to show off Sway’s incredibly versatile rapping.
Other standout tracks include
Up Your Speed (what other rapper would big up Milton Keynes and Sheffield, urging the representatives of these places to show off their accents in a similar way that he does). It’s a loud track, designed to broadcast Sway’s intentions for the UK scene.
Hype Boys is also fantastic, with lines like “…that’s why these rappers couldn’t even see me coming if they were vaginas with spectacles, because I’ve got the testicles to testify the truth…” UK bonus track
Month in the Summer is great as well, not lyrically challenging inn any way but so chilled it’ll cool down even the harshest of summer heat waves.
One thing I also love about Sway is his desire to dispel stereotypes that the UK is all big houses, posh people and fancy neighbourhoods. After all “…some places in here really ain’t where you want to raise your child/hell even the royal family ain’t all smiles…”
I have to say as a whole in terms of poetry Sway’s lyrics aren’t all that. Sometimes the rhymes can sound forced and his flow can be disrupted, but still he tells his stories in a quirky and different way and nobody can fault him for that. Sway’s real strength lies in his production skills which along with his production company Dcypha are top notch.
In terms of production, Sway takes a different route to contemporaries like Mike Skinner and other grime scene artists and instead of having sparse bleak backing tracks and samples, Sway loves to have a lot going on. Multi-layered beats, samples and vocals are the name of the game in this album giving a definite sense of depth. Also, the backing music shows off Sway’s multitude of influences from funk to jazz to smooth soul and quirky electronica. My only criticism is that sometimes there is a little too much going in and in songs like
Pretty Ugly Husband it can sometimes get in the way of the impeccable rapping performance.
To sum up, if you enjoy hip-hop and are looking for something new and different Sway is certainly worth a listen. He’s an essential for the UK hip-hop scene and while he may not exactly be “the most punk rock man in the UK right now” as NME say, he is original and quirky but also instantly accessible and with a sound that could soon grace hundreds of dance floors and rap clubs.
With huge potential for the future and for anyone who wants to get into the UK scene but also wants rap with substance unlike Mike Skinner’s monotonous voice and sparse beats then look no further. I cannot recommend this album more.
Summary
Pros
- Original and well though out.
- Fantastic production
- Quirky and not afraid to show off its’ Britishness
- Genuinely fun to listen to with actually pretty amusing humour and quips
- … but still deep enough to really engage.
Cons
- Samey themes for a lot of songs
- Disrupted lyrical flow, some predictable or forced rhymes.
- Sometimes the backing tracks have too much going on and can become intrusive.
Stand-out Tracks
This is My Demo
Hype Boys
Products
Pretty Ugly Husband
Download
Month in the Summer
