Sway – Still Speeding

(PRE ORDER: AVAILABLE NOW!!! Sway – Still Speedin’ (Digital Single) | Out 4th Dec | http://bit.ly/stillspeedin)

“Click, click, hear the strap, seat belt, Derek’s back!” On 4th December Sway is indeed back with an almighty bang, with his new single ‘Still Speedin’’, taken off the upcoming album ‘The Deliverance’, hitting the shops – and, almost certainly, the charts. The official video has already had over 366,600 views in just a month, and the remix featuring Kano has pulled in an additional 148,000 listeners.

The twenty-nine year old rapper, born Derek Safo in Hornsey, North London, hit the scene in 2004 with mixtapes ‘This Is My Promo’, Vol. 1 & 2. Even before his debut album was released, he had already beaten leading US rappers The Game and 50 Cent to winning the Best Hip-Hop award at the 2005 Mobo Awards. ‘This Is My Demo’ was released the following year, and despite only reaching number 45 in the UK Albums Chart, his tour sold out across the USA, Europe and Africa. He has since gone on to collaborate with leading acts such as Lupe Fiasco, Lemar and Akon, alongside winning more awards and gaining millions of views on YouTube.

Sway hasn’t released any official singles since the summer of 2010, but has kept fans interested with his freestyles over Top 40 tracks ‘Game Over’ and ‘Pow 2011’ by Tinchy Stryder and Lethal Bizzle, respectively. Both were met with outstanding commentary from the UK hip-hop community, as the leading MC abused and overshadowed the original tracks. Unlike some artists nowadays, Sway does not have to resort to overly controversial topics and use an excessive amount of profanities for people to listen to his music. His videos don’t often feature inadequately clothed ‘hip-hop honeyz’ writhing around for the camera-man either. People want to listen to Sway purely for his musical brilliance. He doesn’t need to bribe us with the aforementioned factors – he does it with his rapid spitting, complex bars and his quick-witted humour.

Sway really does go HARD on ‘Still Speedin’’. The general message of the song is that Sway is back and he’s greater than ever, and there is very little basis to argue against this claim. He demonstrates his expertise with his trademark intelligent punch lines such as “time to blow like I’m Dynamo, no more disappearing acts” and refers to himself as the “Lewis Hamilton of rap”: fast, first-class and not often surpassed. The final verse is spat faster than the speed of light yet sounds neat and precise – but thank God he uploaded a lyric video to YouTube as it does take a few listens to hear every word! However, part of the entertainment in listening to Sway is found in working out his extraordinary wordplay and lyrical genius, so listening to his verses over and over is by far an unpleasant task to undertake.

I am going to predict that Sway is going to do big things for the hip-hop community in 2012, not only here in the UK but across the Atlantic and beyond…

Written by Georgina Chapman – @g_chappers