First Listen: To1Swerve 'Son of the Enslaved'

For this First Listen feature we are introducing To1Swerve, the Tottenham rapper establishing himself as a key player in the UK rap scene and beyond – and speak to him about his project Son of the Enslaved.

Tottenham rapper To1Swerve's sophomore EP Son Of The Enslaved is a twelve-track concept album chronicling life in north London, fatherhood, generational trauma and the pressures of inner-city living on Black British men. Swerve’s music has always circulated around being born into struggle. 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.’ His focus on reality is crystal clear and embraces highs and lows. With Son of the Enslaved, storytelling is at the core, tied together by a piano melody running through 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 flashbacks during fireworks, diamond chokers, visitation rights, and police surveillance.

Swerve’s built himself a large underground following over his four years in the business. He’s been mentored by the likes of producer-engineer-artists Wizzy Wow (Wretch 32, Stomzy, Ed Sheeran) and Prince Galalie (D-Block Europe, Chip) and done features with Grime heavyweights Cell 22 and Venom Krew’s Oranje on songs like 'Trap 4 It'.

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 gentle keys. Three other producers also add their contribution to the EP: the scientific melodies 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 4 an Eye’. 'Eye 4 an Eye' was written at a time where Swerve was processing global traumas against Black people and questioning what it means to affect change within a corrupt system.

First Listen

Swerve FKA Swaggz made his name for the directness of his bars, talking about the inner clash he felt around the glorification of trapping while needing to match up fast life with family needs. This shines on Son of the Enslaved. Cycles of choices are held up to the light 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 God and loved ones.

On the EP you find songs like ‘Self Love’ which looks at the factors that tear a relationship apart: from misogynoir in society, to how internalised self-hatred separates lovers, to constant miscommunication, ‘I call and I 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. Outside forces affect the way that lovers look at each other, ‘I can’t even blink twice they’ll take my kids and kill my wife’. This constant feeling of being switched on creates a culture of people scared to form trust and share vulnerability.

An artist that embraces contradictions, he shows both the conflict and the pull of living fast, from girls in the back of a Benz to loves lost to lack of trust. Through the 12-track set which sleekly moves with no features, we see Swerve’s evolution as a trill rap artist who is saying exactly what he wants to say. As he says in ‘Once Upon a Time’, he doesn’t do shrines, he’s focused on his purpose.

Artist's Perception

I'm more grown on this, I can express myself. It's me speaking my truth.

Swerve tells us how when he first started out on music he always had a clear vision in mind and spoke out on how his family and beyond but he has been learning how to get his words sharper. His mixtape Swagger The Finale was mixed and mastered by Prince Galalie, giving it a sleekness you don't usually get so early on in an artist's career, and hinted at the level of consciousness his music would reach –with songs like 'Black Diamond' twisting perspectives, 'mum thinks her boy's cursed, even in the ghost hearse, mum please don't be hurt because your boy's done the same but worse' . . . 'Mum's like black boy where they find you? Black boy who cursed you?' He speaks on how he talks about his journey, 'Coming from where we come from, we know what it is we see every day.' This awareness runs through songs like 'Suicide', Something he has prioritised is finding balance in how he presents himself as an artist, this means that Son of the Enslaved has no features – though he does promise a 'deluxe-edition' that will unite some of the best artists he knows.

When asked what artists in Tottenham he rates the most, he cites innovators like Danzey, 'What you hear people doing now on their trap songs, on their wavey...Danzey has been doing that for a long time' and Knightz, 'his type of flow, you can’t even begin to catch it.' To him, there's something extra special about Tottenham and it is full of talent.

Straight outa Tottenham, it made me rebellious.

His road now is to make his sound clear, he's seen the industry from all angles and now he feels confident in setting his stage. This is one of the reasons why he often works with schoolfriend EM1X, 'If I walk into a room and tell him how I feel and what type of vibe we're on, he’ll cook up something perfect', which gives a bespoke feel to his music. Something that Swerve emphasises a lot when we speak, and in his music, is that the greatest thing about the grind is the come up. He feels optimistic about his Son of the Enslaved EP because he has got to get certain things off his chest. In 'Eye for an Eye' he wanted to look at the way being Black in Tottenham creates prejudice, and what it feels like to stand for change, 'for the first time it was something major, the first thing I stood for and we got in trouble for that'. He wants his music to be known for its ability to uplift, as serious as the topics might be, that their overall effect will be to offer the listener with solutions so that they feel empowered to make good choices. With songs like 'Don't Push Me' he shares how he was harsh with his words on the track, which details how he doesn't feel safe on a Sunday and that the energy of songs like that are a risk to put out – '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.'

First Watch

To1Swerve has built a series of videos with director Biggz (Headie One) – ‘Don’t Push Me’ was 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, looking straight to camera in flame settings, ready to make his stand. The music video to ‘Trap Skiddy’ feels a continuation, paralleling two parts of money's identity – and the way your life can go either way on this side of reality. Two kitchens, two lives. We see a plate of noodles contrasted against a table of good meat and liquor. The last thing we see is Swerve blowing smoke to camera, leaving the viewers with questions over where we should direct our pain. Swerve has a natural way with his message at pointing out two sides of a coin, that there is more to the truth than what meets the eye.

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

Words: Tice Cin @tice.cin

Photos: Richard Dixon @lostintottenham