Reviewed Sway for Guardian last week, here's the words. Doesn't mention (cos of lack of space, unfortunately) Biggz and Pyrelli who also put on a fine, fine show. A few snaps of the night below.
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Derek Andrew "Sway" Safo is one of black British music's brightest talents. At a time when many English MCs are concerned only with girls, guns and grime, this Haringey rhymer is much more about humorous hip-hop. He produces and distributes his own material on his D'Cypha label - a gamble that paid off with a Mobo award and some 10,000 combined sales of This Is My Promo, Volumes 1 and 2.
His drive and dry wit are evident throughout his live set: Sway gives an engaging and polished performance. Joined by D'Cypha signees Pyrelli and DJ Turkish, he nimbly navigates his way through the bold beats. His charismatic couplets and sharp sounds work particularly well live as he straddles keeping it conscious with keeping it funny: "Black people don't even have real houses/ They live in their anoraks, apparently the hood," he jabs over Roundabout. He's self-deprecating, too, which is rare for a rapper. "I asked her what she liked about me, she just said I'm funny/ Is that another way of you telling me I'm ugly?" he wonders in Caught Up.
Despite crowd pleasers such as Little Derek and Up Your Speed, it seems that Sway has yet to craft a single strong enough to cross over into the mainstream consciousness. It's a minor quibble, though; there's still much to admire. Small asides such as mimicking Mike Skinner or incorporating audience suggestions such as "Hovis" and "breasts" into a two-minute freestyle set Sway apart from the rest of the rap pack.
Quite rightly, the 23-year-old has high hopes for himself. "I'm going to America like Slick Rick and Floetry/ To show everybody my big bollocks and British poetry," he says on Sick World. His dreams are well within reach.
This review originally appeared in the Guardian Newspaper.
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