Derek Andrew Safo: British-Ghanaian rapper Sway dies aged 44

The award-winning British-Ghanaian rap artist Sway DaSafo has died at the age of 44.

He was the first unsigned rapper to win a Mobo Award in 2006, and scored a top 10 hit in 2012 with the single Level Up.

The news was first shared online by the Mobo organisation, and confirmed to the BBC by the musician’s friend Kash Ahmad, who said he died at his home in Ghana.

No cause of death has been announced.

Sway was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010 and went into remission later that year.

‘Positive person’

Sway was born Derek Andrew Safo in London, albeit accidentally, while his mother was on a stopover between Amsterdam and her native Ghana.

After a brief period in her homeland, he was raised in north London and honed his craft on private radio. He credited the BBC’s radio station 1Xtra with providing him with his first break in 2002.

Emerging during the first wave of grime, alongside artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Lethal Bizzle, he stood apart for his witty, literate style.

“I’m a positive person. The positivity comes out in my music,” he told the Guardian as his career took off.

“I don’t go round holding guns to people’s heads, so I won’t rap about holding guns to people’s heads.”

Despite widespread interest from the music industry, he remained independent – releasing music on his own label, and selling mixtapes at markets and independent record shops.

He made headlines in September 2005 when he was named best hip-hop act at the MoBo Awards – defeating US heavyweights such as 50 Cent and the Game.

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The following year, he released his debut album This Is My Demo, accompanied by the top 40 single, Little Derek, which celebrated how he had “ended up in HMV instead of HMP”.

Cancer diagnosis

But in 2010, DaSafo was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

“It felt like I had been dropped in the middle of the sea with no lifejacket,” he later recalled.

“I didn’t have time to think about how I was going to get to the other side; I just had to deal with it.”

After chemotherapy and radiotherapy, he went into remission and released his biggest hits, Still Speedin’ (which sampled Black Box’s Ride On Time) and Level Up (featuring a verse from Kano), in 2012.

He enjoyed further critical and commercial success with albums including Deliverance and Verses from the Vault, and collaborated with artists like Mark Ronson, Ed Sheeran, Akon and Childish Gambino.

All three appeared on the 2013 single No Sleep, and KSI went on to become a hugely successful YouTuber, with a sideline in music.

DaSafo also dabbled in an acting career, appearing in two episodes of the crime drama Top Boy and the 2012 film The Grind.

At the time of his death, he was working on new music. His final Instagram post, shared last week, celebrated his 44th birthday.

He is survived by two sons, Jalil and Ammar-Joseph, and twin daughters, Queen-Inaya and Queen-Imara. At the time of his death, he was raising them as a single parent in Ghana, his friend Kash Ahmad told BBC News.

“It was an honour and a pleasure to have known and worked with him, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family,” he added.

Other tributes came from the Mitchell Brothers, who wrote: “We were privileged to have worked with you”, and praised Sway’s “true penmanship level and delivery”.

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So Solid Crew’s Megaman simply posted “RIP”; while The Mobo Awards said they were “proud to have him as part of our history,” adding: “Our love goes out to his family, loved ones and fans.”

Rapper Baby Blue posted on Instagram: “In my heart I worried this day was coming, but I wasn’t prepared for the reality of losing Sway.

“He was my confidante, and he guided me through so much of my life musically and personally… I will miss you forever, my friend. I am lost.”

Breaking the news to her listeners on BBC Radio 1Xtra, broadcaster Remi Burgz said it was a “sad day for British music” and called Sway a “UK Rap pioneer”.

“One of North London’s finest,” she said, “he was mine and many others’ first experience of UK rap [and] hip-hop in mainstream media”.

“He was a literal example of paving the way and showing that UK rap can take up space in music.

“Rest in perfect peace, Sway.”

BBC