Bay Swag is living a self-fulfilled prophecy. In the same vein as his 2016 debut mixtape, Leader of the New School, the Queens-bred rhymer is just that. Alongside friends and frequent collaborators like Cash Cobain and Chow Lee, Bay Swag is ushering in a wave of New York City hip-hop commonly known as sexy drill, a subgenre focused on turning up and having a good time rather than glorifying any sort of violence.
Released in February of 2024, Bay’s breakthrough smash “Fisherrr” with Cash Cobain has raked in a staggering 15 million-plus streams across platforms like Spotify and Apple Music while being the subject of millions more creations on TikTok. The early frontrunner for song of the summer has also spawned a remix featuring Ice Spice that has garnered another 4.8 million streams on Spotify alone in the month since its release.
Bay Swag comes through XXL‘s The Break: Live to chop it up about his journey to viral success, the trials and triumphs of being an independent artist in the music industry’s current landscape, receiving cosigns from Lil Baby and the late PnB Rock and much more. Watch the interview below.
Age: 24
Reppin’: Queens, N.Y.
Instagram: @bayswag
TikTok: @bayswagnyc
Notable Releases: Songs: “Fisherrr” with Cash Cobain, “Fisherrr (Remix)” with Ice Spice and Cash Cobain, “All Night Long” with Lil Baby; Mixtapes: Leader of the New School, Ahead of My Time, Ahead of My Time 2.0
Label: Independent
Currently Working On: Yet-to-be titled project due out this summer.
Influenced by: “I gotta go with Meek [Mill], Future, [Young] Thug, Juelz [Santana] and Jim Jones.”
When did you first start rapping?
“I started rapping at like 12, 13. My uncle, Slo, that’s how I got around it. They always had all the rappers and everybody around, and they all loved because I was a young, fly kid. So, I was like, ‘You know what, let me just start rapping. Why not?’“
Which hip-hop album do you always go back to?
“Future’s Dirty Sprite 2. I just love everything about it. I feel like Future was just in his bag. He’s still in his bag right now but around that time, he was… I just did something to me.”
My standout moments to date have been:
“Performing at the [Madison Square] Garden. That was crazy. That’s a dream come true, you feel me? Performing at the Barclays [Center]. We headlining the Apollo [Theater] next month. It’s just s**t like that.”
My goal in hip-hop is:
“I’m starting a label. I want to be a CEO. Just helping others just like others helped me. I want to be able to share my platform with my brothers and be able to help everybody so they can go up too. That’s what I want to do. I want to see my brothers win just like me.”
Watch Bay Swag’s The Break: Live Interview
Follow Bay Swag on Spotify.
Standouts:
“Fisherrr (Remix)” with Cash Cobain and Ice Spice
“All Night Long” with Lil Baby
“Tetris” featuring Rich The Kid
“Quagen” featuring G Herbo
Ahead of My Time
