Rapper and Producer Shwayze joins Cheddar News to talk about his new album 'Shway SZN.'

Between Bells

Rapper and Producer Shwayze Talks New Album 'Shway SZN'

Welcome back Between Bells. Our next guest is known for his music that keeps you moving with lyrics that gets you thinking has been on people's radar since his first single, Buzzing, Hit the billboard Hot 100. Now, the Malibu native has a new album that's out today to bring feel good music to his family and we need some feel good music ways. Season is the Art of seven studio album and it features a series of reggae inspired tracks, including his latest single Tides, which by the way out now, take a listen, My love keeps drowning in your ties just a minute. Red flag on the toe. My Love keeps drowning in. That's a good one for summer to keep going. Yes, indeed joining us now, rapper, actor and producer Shwe's ish way. Good to have you here man man, Good to be here. Thank you guys so much for having me. Okay, so the album out today, Congratulations. What's it mean to finally have this project out for everybody, man, it feels so good. I mean I hesitate to even bring up the pandemic, but this was made during the pandemic towards the tail end of it. So the fact that we're all back out in the world and I'm able to play this live, it just feels so good and like I've had this in a private soundCloud link for so long and it's like now it's finally out for everyone to hear. Well fans can't get enough of this latest single that we just heard Tides. You've worked with artists Pepper and slightly stupid on this. What was the creative process? Like, working with them, man, It was it was really a blessing. It's funny because Pepper and slightly stupid, like, it's full circle for me because the the second tour I ever went on was with both of those guys. So it's full circle, you know, um with that, like, my my friend Brett who sang the hook on that. He sent it over to me and I vibe with it and right away I sent it back again. It was during Covid. So it was a lot of emails sending back and forth, but the vibe is still there. Yeah, your last album, surf trap was released back in 2020 so it's been a few years now, you're back with Sue's season. What did you learn about yourself on this journey making this project, man? Well, again, like, this is the first project I ever like, pretty much did it all by myself, as far as the recording process, like, usually I'm in the room collaborating with people, but you know, I was kind of like detached and it was kind of amazing because I got to dig down and just kind of focus on myself and pull some different things out, but on this album, which is really cool. It's a little reggae vibes, you know, I grew up on reggae and my music is kind of in the middle of hip hop reggae hip hop, but on this one, I kind of focused on that reggae feel and I'm really excited for everyone because you did almost all of this yourself, does this almost have a special feel to you because of that. Like, it has a special purpose. Yes. 1000%. 1000%. You know, um every song on this, like, I really feel like every song is someone's favorite song, you know? So, you know, I'm excited to hear the feedback. So, let's talk about that, you know, people are very excited about Tides. Any other songs you're very excited for your fans to hear? Oh man, slice of Sunshine is the song that I did with Claire right, has like a little country feel to it. That's one of my favorite records on there, um planes with my friends Hip abduction, incredible, literally. I'm not trying to toot my own horn. Every song is a hit. Every song has a vibe to it. That's why, I mean, look, this is why parents say they always love, they love all their kids for the same reason. She You've been at this for quite some time now, everybody remembers that single, you had buzzing back in 2008, but as you grow up as an artist, you almost feel, do you feel pressure at all to live up to those early days of your music? Or do you sort of like this stage that you're at as an artist right now, you gotta do what you want to do and you're sort of in control of all of this, you know, I think initially sometimes you think that you feel pressure when you have a hit like that. Um, but as I've grown as an artist, I just realized you know, it's just about making, creating and just continue to create. You know, don't try to like make a hit or make just make music that makes you happy and that's what I'm doing, you know, and after all these years of making music, I see a lot of the same fans and they followed my career from the beginning all the way to now. So, you know, it's almost like a big family at this point, you know, and when I make music, I just can't wait to see those old school one to be like, I love it. Or I don't, hopefully they say, I love it. They will. They will. Yeah, I'm sure they will. You're with an independent label. We're seeing so many artists choosing that route. Why do you think so many artists are ditching those major labels to be independent? Well, I mean there's so many ways to blow up on your own. I mean, even the major labels are trying to make all the artists do Tiktok. I mean, you can do Tiktok yourself and make it blow up now. I'm not trying to act like I'm the guru of Tiktok, I'm still trying to learn and trying to get into that. But I just think that it's the time of you being able to promote yourself and you know, you can make your own music videos, you can make your own commercials, you know, you can book your own tours. So, you know, I'm very happy that this is all independent, I own my masters, it's so important to me and um, yeah, you know, I think it's, it's the time for the artist to, you know, take their own power back. Do you think of how a song will do on a social platform, like a Tiktok when you make a lot of this music, because we know how much songs like Liz owes music, really sort of become popular because of Tiktok. So do you sort of think about social media first when you make some of these rhymes? I don't, I probably should, I'm old school. I just like, I just go in there and I just vibe and make a record. But you know, I think that it is very important. It's an incredible platform for artists to blow up. So I am trying to make my presence more known on the Tiktok spaces and on the reels and you know, staying up with the times on that. But for me it's always music first. Well either way, Congratulations. Really amazing stuff that's rapper, actor, producer sways, you can get the new album sway season anywhere of course, for streaming your music. Thanks so much for joining us.