It doesn’t matter how many trips he made to the White House to sit with Barack Obama, or if Kanye West’s rant of “How Sway?” is still used in pop culture, legendary media personality/ journalist Sway is always going to add on to hip-hop. His “Sway In the Morning” Shade 45 Sirius Satellite Radio show will always feature some of the hungriest lyricists from across the country in action. He has a segment called “The Five Fingers of Death” when he makes people high light their off-the-head freestyle skills, then he gathers some of the most bone chilling bar assassins for a verbal Royal Rumble called “The Doomsday Cypher.” As Sway tells it, it’s not a battle, but it’s more of way to put the spotlight on a cultural hallmark.
“The Doomsday Cypher” was created — as were a lot of things that we’re done, benchmarks — for the preservation of rap culture. Because it’s being attacked, it’s being diluted, it’s being dismissed,” Sway explained to REVOLT. The “Doomsday Cypher” aired on REVOLT last night (February 15) and re-airs this weekend. “It’s easy to say ‘ah man, this dude is rapping like he’s outta space.’ ‘I don’t want to hear this in the club.’ ‘Ah man he’s over killing it. It’s too many words, I can’t follow it.’ But those very things some people complain about is what helped create what we know now as rap music as a part of hip hop culture.”
Sway would add, that platforms such as the “Doomsday Cypher” show a difference between real MCs, who are trying to push culture and rappers that may just be in it for financial gains or just having “fun.” Sway takes pride in showcasing MCs who don’t have household names.
“We’re going to feature people in this ‘Doomsday Cypher,’ people you might not have even heard of. Don Mykel, Axe Leon,” he added. “Some people don’t even know who Mickey Factz is. Taylor Bennett. People such as Token that are new and up and up and coming that I found have a lot of love for the artwork, have a high skill level, and rap better than some of the [artists] selling the music today. But those [artists] are being considered the only representatives of the culture. This platform is to show you, ‘nah, the culture runs deeper.’ If you really wanna get the credibility that this culture carried, you’re really gonna have to show and prove. Come to the ‘Doomsday Cypher,’ let us see if you really about this culture. If you bullshittin’ or you’re really spittin’.”
Also featured in Sway’s “Doomsday Cypher” are Don Flamingo, R-Mean, Ren Thomas and former Bad Boy recording artist Babs Bunny. Pete Rock and Big K.R.I.T. provided the musical canvases for the MCs to paint their verbal portraits on.