Sway teams up with football star

By Nesta McGregor
1Xtra entertainment reporter

UK hip hop artist Sway says work on his upcoming album is nearly complete and reveals that he's teamed up with Liverpool footballer Ryan Babel on one track. He also talks about being an 'outcast' from the UK hip hop scene and says he turned down the chance to work in America because he still has something to prove in the UK.

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How's work going on your new release, The Signature LP 2?

I'm nearly there man, I've got some really nice guests on there. Obviously there's another feature from Akon on there, we have Neutrino on there - he's making a comeback - I've got Craig David on there as well. I've just done a track with Tinchy Stryder. We've done a re-make of Silver and Gold with Tinchy, and just working with all different kinds of people, different producers. The album's shaping up really well, I'm really excited about it. I wish I could release it tomorrow but everything has to be done through the proper channels.

And what about rumours of working with Liverpool player Ryan Babel?

There's a lot of truth in that. He's actually on the song with me and Neutrino. That was something I wanted to keep in the bag for a minute but obviously you just revealed it. Somebody's on my Twitter. Yeah, Ryan Babel's a good mate of mine. He's a nice guy, he's a sick rapper. The way he flips his flow is marvellous man, so I wanted him to do a bit - half Dutch, half British, and he really pulled it off man. I think it's a track that people are gonna like.

Sway says he wasn't happy with the repsonse to his last album

Obviously Rafa Benitez is happy with him doing it and it's gonna be on the album. Are you going to release it?

He's his own man, he wanted to do the track so we got together and made it happen. We linked up in New York as well. He's a nice guy and I have a lot of fun with him.

Making this album you've obviously got more money, more production, more contacts. Is it still as UK sounding as you previous stuff?

The Signature LP was going to be my last independent, but I didn't like the response that it got. I felt that album was really slept on with the response that it got. I always came up against some kind of barrier. I couldn't promote this track properly because Lemar had his album coming out and I couldn't step on his toes. And then when it was time to bring the Akon track to the forefront Akon was already on eight other tracks that were already on the A, B and C list on every single playlist.

So there was no room for Sway. I faced a lot of difficulties while releasing that album, so Akon and them lot said, 'Come out to the States and make it happen' and I was like, 'No, I want another shot in the UK'. So I decided to call it the Signature 2, because that's what it is. This is me coming at the game again. I'm someone that if I feel like I didn't get the result then I go harder again.

Dizzee, Tinchy, Chipmunk and Ironik have all had a phenomenal year. Have you had to change the music you make to try to pip those guys?

Not necessarily. The thing about me is that I was always outcast by the UK hip hop scene because I wasn't rap enough in terms of the flow. It wasn't straight up hip hop 98 tempo and all that. And I was always outcast from the Grime scene because I wasn't about clashing it, always going at people. So I made up a little lane in the middle and as I watched the game a lot of people have joined me in that lane, where you can rap over Grime and be cool.

People don't question Sway when he's on a Grime beat and people don't question Sway when he's on a hip hop beat. Sway just does Sway. If you hear me on a dance record or an electro record it's because I've been doing that for a long time.

Are you hopeful for a Mobo nomination when they're released next week (26 August)?

If it happens it happens. At the end of the day there's a lot of people who've released a lot of stuff in the last year. Like I said, the Signature LP didn't go the direction I wanted it to go but if I did get a nomination it'd be all good man.

Sway was talking to 1Xtra's Nesta McGregor