Munene 'Swae'

This week on #Smiley’sWorld, like I promised, we feature some fresh young talent. This kid right here has some serious steam for someone who’s still in High school. He raps and he sings. Correct me if I’m wrong. He was part of a premature group called Jay Rocks, straight out of Sybrand van Niekerk, but unfortunately they ran outta momentum after only being together a few good months.

For those who don’t know him, he goes by the stage name ‘Young Swae’. Real name Munene Mbhalati, born and raised in the neighborhood of Mkhuhlu. He’s been writing lyrics since he was 13 and that influence came from non-other than Mr Kiernan Forbes himself, better known as ‘AKA’. Fast forward a year later and lil nigga started getting on the mic to put his skills on the stand. So he’s been in the game for a good 3 years now and he seems like someone who wants to go commercial in no time. Before he broke up with his group members, I had the opportunity to listen to their collective work, and I must say, this kid can kill a hook any day. But his latest offering comes as a feature with another rapper from Hazyview who goes by the name of K-dash with their song titled “Time to shine”. Which is available on Datafilehost http://www.datafilehost.com/d/8936f35a. 5 years ago he was listening to influential rappers such as Lil Wayne, and 5 years from now he sees himself opening shows for local artists such as AKA and eventually influencing other young, up and coming rappers just like him to adopt the art.

Young Swae hasn't had the chance to earn his stripes yet, but dude is looking forward to working with other local artists such as Mal-G, Triff-H, Smaak, Zarow Pee and a whole lot more local talents. Since our music industry has evolved by a huge margin, the hip hop culture still remains the same internationally. What makes Young Swae stand out from the crowd is how he deals with the competition. He’s been a victim to a few good beef situations, one which I can recall was internally with Jay Rockers. But that’s for another day. “Well, I've had beef with guys man! I've also had haters” he says. He lets what the haters throw at him motivate him. And that’s by entertaining and responding to them and making them sweat a little. "Just like when you fool everyone by trying to put out a fire, but instead you’re fueling it to ignite the fire".

He’s currently listening to Chance The Rapper. and his favorite song by Chance is from his previous album titled Acid Rain called ‘Good Ass Intro’. He knows that real achievements are on the way and is patiently waiting for them. His advice to other rappers wanting to get into the game would firstly be to listen to good music, as that opens up your music library and taste. “Believe in yourself and don’t have too much pride because you might fall hard in the end”. And again, he believes that you should never forget yourself and where you come from. And lastly, “Give the audience something that will motivate them and other people too”. I personally believe this kid is onto something, and the day he gets established, a lot of people’s true colors will be revealed. As this game is not for the faint hearted and young talent is serving us with a different type of sound instead. Compared to recycled material from mainstream artists.