Artist Spotlight: To1Swerve

Meet the Tottenham rapper establishing himself as a key player in the UK rap scene and beyond.

Tottenham rapper To1Swerve has just released his sophomore EP Son of The Enslaved, a twelve-track concept album chronicling life in north London, fatherhood, systemic trauma and the pressures of inner-city living on Black British men. Swerve’s music has always circulated around the grind in the come up. Earlier songs like ‘Feel It’ show the start of his journey from young, ‘how can I glory the trap when pop still traps? I remember mother’s faith that was all we had. I just spoken to my nan she said she lost weight.’ The spiritually directed quality of his bars has heightened over the years, to songs like ‘Suicide’ that veer off into sung prayer, ‘I’m having dreams of owning mansions in Beverley Hills / I’m sure I will succeed in everything, determined, I’m sure I will’. His focus on reality is gut-sharp and emphasizes two sides of a coin in a time where media coverage around drugs culture and societal pressures can often become poverty porn. With Son of the Enslaved, storytelling is at the forefront, rippled together by a piano refrain that curls around the entire project. Artists like Swerve are archives of stories around the long history of community resistance to institutional racism and UK policing amongst Black British people in Tottenham. Son Of The Enslaved bring local stories to the forefront with lucid tales of PTSD gunshot flashbacks, ice insurance, catching pay in sleep, and police surveillance.

In the four years that Swerve’s been in the music industry he has built himself a large underground following, widely respected in the Tottenham rap scene and beyond. He’s been mentored by producer-engineer-artists Wizzy Wow (Wretch 32, Stomzy, Ed Sheeran) and Prince Galalie (D-Block Europe, Chip) and done features with Grime stalwarts Cell 22 and Venom Krew’s Oranje. This tendency to work with generations above and below him in the area, gives Swerve another angle ‘young boy they think I’m older’.

Production by his childhood friend and long-time producer EM1X threads together the EP with a fusion of US Trap inflections, distorted Grime scales, and classic 90s rap rhythms. Songs like ‘G PARTY’ have a West Coast bounce to their production, detailing scenes of bitter spectators and people easily bought, while ‘Suicide’ brings darkness through scraping melodies and filmic samples. Three other producers also add their spark to the EP: the eerie industrial edge of ‘Trap Skiddy’ is produced by ID CRYSIS (Rich the Kid, Nafe Smallz, Paigey Cakey), while Raz brings his intricacy to a few songs. Prince Galalie collaborated with EM1X on the emotional classic ‘Eye For an Eye’. The sound staging in the track has a hypnotic poignancy to it that stays with you.

Swerve FKA Swaggz made his name for the rawness of his bars, talking about the conflict he felt over the deification of trapping while needing to match up lifestyle demands and family responsibilities. Cyclical decision making is held up to heat in tracks like ‘Suicide’, as he raps, ‘I’m so hungry when I get a brick I dish it out a gram a piece’. Amidst this, his conscious flow takes us on a journey through systemic injustice, the weaponisation of drugs and the cycle of violence against Black people in songs such as ‘Bronze and Gold’– with an ultimate message of protection through prayer and community. Songs like ‘Self Love’ look at the factors that tear a relationship apart: from inheriting dysfunctional patterns from parents, to how internalised self-hatred separates lovers. Miscommunication is rife within, ‘I call to talk to my child, I just can’t get through’. Swerve’s words express how love is fragile and needs protection in a reality that means you can never switch off. The threat of danger gets in the way of vulnerability, ‘I can’t even blink twice they’ll take my kids and kill my wife’. It’s hard to love where you’re constantly needing to be switched on.

When we reach ‘Interlude’, EM1X’s piano reaches new points of beauty, wrapping around Swerve’s words, ‘them years in jail give us pale face / didn’t grow up with no other way’. Brighter days are to come, and with this, we are eased into a prayer before the songs carry on. Son of the Enslaved ends on 'Eye For an Eye', written at a time where Swerve was hurting, his words on global traumas against Black people and how it feels to exist within a broken system.

The lead up to his EP release made waves in Tottenham and the UK rap scene, including ‘Don’t Push Me’ – the conversation starter that looks at government infringement upon Black people in Britain, mapping a life under the eye of Section 60 and more. In the accompanying visuals directed by Biggz, we get the essence of Swerve, standing alone and looking straight to camera, ready to spread his message. The music video to ‘Trap’s Skiddy’ feels a continuation, paralleling two parts of money's identity – and the way your life can go either way depending on what you fight for. When a gun is eventually pulled, you don’t know who to root for.

An artist that details his highs and lows, he shows both the conflict and the pull of living fast, from diamond chokers on girls to worrying about your son’s future. Through the 12-track set which confidently moves with no features, we see Swerve’s evolution as a trill rap artist who is focused on laying out his morals for us to see, as he says, ‘dad taught me well because morals never get old’.

Swerve’s instructive flows, strong talent and bold creative plans are set to see him establish himself even further as a key player in the UK rap scene and beyond, this year an important one in his rise.

He speaks with Tice Cin about the risk you take by sharing your message, jumping out from hardship, and the community around music in Tottenham.

How do you feel about the consciousness within your music developing over the years from songs like ‘Cash Ting’ and 'Black Diamond'

I’ve been like this from the beginning, from my early music you can hear the consciousness to it but I wasn’t getting the words out properly. Those times I use to write music, listen to the beat over and over again. Write write write! Practice. Then, about 3 years ago I was updating my iPhone and I got a temporary replacement but I’d been signed out of iCloud and lost access to my notes. I had to wait 21 days to get all my notes back. That night I was in the studio and the beat I was hearing was just crazy. Around then I was unwell with a stomach problem so I couldn’t smoke or drink, so I was very in tune with myself. My bredrin told me to just go for it, I asked him to bring the mic out and I sat down to record in studio. From that day on, I didn’t write for a session. Now I just listen back to my songs after I record to note down the lyrics so that I can publish them alongside my tracks. The energy is a bit more grown-up now I’d say. ‘Cash Ting’ even though it comes across as grown, you can hear I’m still trying to say something. With newer singles like ‘Man Down’, I’m not fighting to say what I’m trying to say, I can express myself.

Who have been your mentors in your music career?

Wizzy Wow and Prince Galalie. Both artist-engineer-producers. They impacted my process. The studio I was going to before, people were taking my money. I have that spirit of trying - ‘I’m still going I’m still going’ - starting there and continuing to express myself led to people who recommended me to another studio – NRG’s studio. NRG has passed away now but I was there with him a little bit. But Prince and Wizzy are the people who I have built a relationship with and that’s where I learnt how to write music off the top of your head, incorporate certain melodies, open up my vocals and a whole load of other music stuff. They have worked with a lot of people. Wizz has worked with Wretch 32, Ed Sheeran and Stormzy. Prince has worked with people like Chip and he’s D-Block Europe’s engineer – he knows things and so he tells me stuff. He also knows I have my own vision so as much as he shows me things, he likes me how I am because I’m very unorthodox even though I’m raw. When I first started out and met Prince I was about 22/23, I first saw him in AR studio then NRG’s and my mixtape Swagger The Finale, that’s the first piece of work he ever touched of mine, I didn’t record it there but he mixed and mastered that, he made it sound like what it was, Prince. Since then I’ve done all types of tricks with them, I’ve gone LA with them and met all types of producers with them. I’ve basically seen it from all aspects and gone on to realise that my road is to develop something closely, and make my sound clear to everyone.

You’ve got a long history of features and collaborations too, with a range of artists from people like Walthamstow’s Blittz to Richy2Trill. How do you find balance?

I love the creative side of them. I’ve also learnt from features but they weren’t the main way for me to maximise my time. I need to build a foundation so I can enjoy the foundation with others, rather than getting swept up and then when it’s time for my energy to be used for my projects, it’s already drained away. Artists need to balance. I need to focus my energy and innovating skills on myself and what I’m doing. The first side of this tape [Son of The Enslaved], is me alone, saying what I need to get off my chest. I’m going to drop a deluxe second side full of features. I’ve been mostly picking artists who are up and coming locally to me, and incorporating them within the sound. Beats being made on the spot, with vibes being built and making it clear and important what we want to get out of a session. I’m there to help them too, even though it’s their thing, at the same time if I hear something I will share with them, otherwise my spirit won’t be content.

Sometimes with group features people don’t draw lines with where they stand with something and the end-product comes out very good, but the distribution can be frustrating. It’s a lot of personalities. With ‘Feel It’ I was on there with Smila, Shaqy Dread, Richy and VB, that song came from a studio session where I was playing one of my songs and everyone came through, then they just rushed my song – that was cool though!

[at this point we both pause to laugh for a long time]

It was nice to see people like it but there wasn’t a lot of structure around the responsibilities for the track. Nowadays I set more things in place around who’s doing what, I love the recording process and I just want to make sure that when it gets to the finishing line, it’s all smooth.

You’ve also worked with artists in America. How does it feel doing international features when your music is so localised?

It feels good. You can do something across the world with someone and they don’t know you, they don’t know your scene but they like your music. It’s an indication that your sound has wider potential.

On the other side, did you enjoy going on group cuts like ‘Trap 4 It’ with local heavyweights like Cell 22?

With Cell 22 it was a good experience. Working with Prince again, he called me into the studio. I’ve always heard and known about him but this was the first time I met him. Both Tottenham artists. It was like I already knew what was going on, when I get into the studio and I’m making songs with people I don’t play around, I play after. I went in, heard the beat and people said they wanted to get me on the song, so I just looked around and went to it. Prince already knows what I’m like. I went in, line for line, did it, and come out. He just looked at me and said ‘bruda…cold. I’ve gotta get my A game right now’. It was good vibes.

We discuss the shift between the older and younger generation of rap in Tottenham.

I like the older lot because I like drill but I don’t really make that. The older lot are not really drill people either, they’re more 90s Old School rap, kinda bar-y, even though they used to do Grime. With me, I can do Grime but I’m more suited to that old school classic sound with a trap beat, usually quite an American type production.

In ‘Eye For an Eye’ you discuss life in Tottenham, mention going parties with Mark [Duggan], and the way generational trauma affects the Black British community. It ends on an elder talking about the essence of revolution being within the change in people’s minds and the structure that can come about from that. Do you feel a responsibility to preserve memories in your music?

I’ve always been in Tottenham. ‘Eye For an Eye’ readies you for Son of the Enslaved. It comes from my Caribbean background to being from Tottenham and experiencing prejudiced. I’m speaking not just for my people but also for myself because you need to start at home. There are certain traits we might have or certain things we might do, or certain things that might not go our way. Certain things don’t make sense. We may repeat choices generation after generation, but that’s an enslaved kind of thinking and upbringing that we don’t actually notice, to our detriment. Generational trauma creates a violent cycle that needs to be broken. We are the people now to make the change. It’s me speaking my truth. These things need to be heard. In ‘Eye 4 an Eye’ it was my memories, my truth, because for the first time it was something major, the first thing I stood for and we got in trouble for that. We went out there, we didn’t give a shit, we didn’t care, at the time we all felt the vibes of the place and how it was going and it’s a memory that will stick with me. These injustices were happening on a global scale so I had to get that song off my chest.

What was your production journey like for the EP? A lot of the songs are framed by these beautifully meditative mixdowns.

I went school with EM1x. He’s my personal producer. My sound guy. If I walk into a room and tell him how I feel and what type of vibe I’m on is that he’ll cook up something straight away. You’re hearing the lyrics taking you to one place of meditation, and then his instrumentation takes you to another place that makes you think even more. When I was listening back to the tape I wanted to listen to it in parts, for example, the first time I listen piano only, the second time words only and so on. I can’t take it in as a body because there are so many elements.

How do you time your releases?

It just so happens that ‘Man Down’ fits the climate of what I’m doing right now, from when I recorded it. When I recorded it, I was thinking that I needed to catch a different vibe to what I was used to. When I heard it I realised that it sounded charged but calm, in ‘Eye 4 an Eye’ and ‘Don’t Push Me’ I sound charged up but I needed to not let myself ride out on that, I wanted listeners to stay on their toes and that’s why the chorus is in that other element. My producer wanted to keep ‘Man Down’ for the deluxe edition of the tape but I realised I knew what the mood of the rest of the EP would feel like and so I wanted to release a single that would throw listeners off a little before I bring them back in to songs more in line with the first two.

You released these EPs of girl tunes called Love and Lxve 2.0. What does it feel like doing capsule projects?

All of those songs sound the way they do because I just went into the studio, enjoyed myself and captured vibes – I didn’t write any of it in advance. It was kind of a one-off, capsule projects work best like that to me.

What do you want to be known for?

For upliftment. Empowerment. Whatever I make, if it uplifts you and you feel a good way when you listen to it then that’s all I want. My style is my style, I’ve got a definable sound but I respond to people. If I put out love music and girl music and people were completely in sync with it, I’d probably consider being an RnB artist full-time. I am going to get back to RnB eventually but people want to hear me in the capacity that they know me – me being real and the way I have these meditative and powerful conversations with them. I’m catering for different sets of people. They all like the version of me that they see generally, that is me, and the RnB is one part that we see less often. These parts come together on the tape, ‘Self Love’ has that quality.

Who in Tottenham do you rate most musically at the moment?

Loads of people. Wretch is hard. Avelino. Danzey. Music coming with him. He’s an innovator. What you hear people doing now on their trap songs, on their wavey...Danzey has been doing that for a long time. Knightz. His type of flow, you can’t even begin to catch it. He makes beats as well that control the narrative of what’s going on. His sound is different. Richy2Trill (Skimzee), Frenzi. ID CRYSIS. Raz. Hunt. I think Tottenham is full of talent.

Your voice chameleon changes between songs. What are your intentions behind those shifts?

‘Don’t Push Me’ is like my natural flow. It’s going to change all the time. When I make music with Prince [Galalie], I make music that’s EQ’d a lot, I exercise my voice more and go into different tones. If I was doing a song with EM1x I will do it in my normal tone. Depending on the beats that I get, you’ll get different results. But I can go back to using my other tone with EM1x but it will be for one song on a project, like the chorus in ‘Man Down’. I have two accents, Patois/ Trinidadian and English. It depends on the words I use. I could rap and sing and it might sound American, or use my English one like how I’m talking now and the song will have more of a British feel. I’ve got my mind full of references, from listening to American music and other stuff like that. With my Trini accent, I am still figuring it out, I don’t sound back-o’-yard Trini but you’ll hear that twang like when I say ‘let the fire bun’.

You’ve previously had RnB songs, along with more wavy type tunes. You’re coming into more politically conscious body of work with ‘Son of the Enslaved’. How do you combine having both a soft and hard image.

It’s natural. Two sides to everything. Some people want to keep it pure. I won’t lie to you, I love hard, die hard, simple as. But the same people that love hard are also emotional people. That’s how I am. Even though I’m awake and willing to stand for something, that doesn’t mean I won’t also be caring and generous – a ‘let me extend a hand’ type-person. Ying and yang.

I’ve been doing this for a little while but I never really wanted my sound to become over-saturated in one or the other. I just like music. I like singing. When I get in the shower I sing. It will only be a matter of time before I sing something and move to express myself.

You rap from a place of struggle, there’s this line of yours where you say ‘How can I glory the trap when pop still traps/ I remember mother’s faith was all we had’. Would you say that you are interested about talking about rewriting destinies?

My mum would say that I should be going down a different path to the one I am on but I feel like I’m rewriting something. Even when I try not to make the same decisions, I do see some of my ways and some of my results come out and it’s like it’s repeating itself. Echoes. You have to kind of have some kind of change. We can’t be doing the same thing again. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice. Then with children it would just carry on, you can’t make the same mistakes that were made to you and give them the same walk.

You seem to rap from the perspective of someone on the cusp of jumping out, into a new lifestyle.

Yes and you have to be solid on your morals to do that. I’ve always thought that when you have to jump out, everything happens when it’s gonna happen because there’s no way that you’ll be able to jump out there if you haven’t got all your gear ready. Let’s say you’re gonna jump and swim to a place where the water is deep, if you’re not prepared to swim that then you’re just going to die.

The universe works in such a way, God loves us, the universe loves us. If you’re not ready, they’re not going to throw you out there. It’s only if you purposely force yourself out there when you’re not ready that you’d have that. The universe won’t allow you out there till they know you’re on firm ground and that you’ll definitely get through.

There are risks associated with putting out music that has socio-political weight while also remaining within the community that you write from.

There is risk. At one point in life we thought it was cool to be known for the wrong thing, but right now we’re going to make it cool to be known for the right thing. I think that’s saying what I need to say.

I don’t sleep at all. I sit down and take in everything. If I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t talk too much about this EP before it went out. There’s nothing to talk about. Even with the prior single releases, I’m not sending the songs to my friends asking them what they think of it. No. There’s nothing to talk about, it’s going out. We’ll talk after it goes out. I knew ‘Don’t Push Me’ was a very controversial song but with the way I worded it, it can be seen more as truth than offensive. But to someone who doesn’t want people to hear that, it’s going to be received as offensive. I was really prepared for any response. That’s why I released it by gearing people up and sharing it like a bomb. But there is risk behind this all. There’s risk in everything.

There's something in the way that the city locks us into a certain mentality, and for To1Swerve his journey focuses on documenting what people normally shy away from saying out loud.

These thoughts run through our minds all the time. We say these things to ourselves. I’m just coming out with it all now. Coming from where we come from, we know what it is we see every day. People know what they hear.

Listen to Son of the Enslaved, out now on all platforms | @To1Swerve

SON OF THE ENSLAVED TRACKLIST

1 Bronze and Gold [prod EM1X] 

2 Trap Skiddy [prod ID Crysis] 

3 Self Love [prod EM1X] 

4 Don’t Push Me [EM1X] 

5 Suicide [EM1X] 

6 Tricks of the Trade [prod Raz] 

7 Interlude [prod Raz and EM1X] 

8 Prayer | Intermission 

9 Let Go [prod EM1X] 

10 G Party [prod EM1X] 

11 Once Upon a Time [prod Raz and EM1X]

12 Eye For An Eye [prod EM1X and Prince Galalie]

Artist SpotlightTice Cin6 August 2021To1Swerve, UK Rap, UK Drill, UK hip hopComment