Born Derek Desafo, Sway is a man with a musical game plan. The 23-year-old MC and producer's music is a truly British cross-pollination of hip-hop and grime, with witty rhymes and a distinctive flow.

It was his self-sold mix tapes which won the Londoner acclaim on the underground scene, but it was his surprise win at last year's MOBO awards, where he was named Best Hip Hop Act, ahead of The Game and 50 Cent, which brought him mainstream recognition.

And this was all without a record deal.

Sway is now taking on the rest of the world with his pro-active approach to the music industry.

He single-handedly set up a totally independent self-run production company and label, Dcypha, to release his first three records: This Is My Promo, Volume 1 & 2, and This Is My Demo.

As well as masterminding and planning all of the above, Sway has toured with Dizzee Rascal, Ghostface Killa, Rodney P and Klashnekoff, and has appeared as guest artist on releases from Terri Walker and The Mitchell Brothers.

Sway has quirky and comedic style and likes his sense of humour to come out through lyrics like: "One day I'm gonna be bigger than Peter Andre" (from Sick World) and: "A little girl with a pen ran up to me and said 'I know who you are'. But when I gave her my autograph she said, 'Mum is this how u spell Lemar?'" (Harvey Nicks).

He says: "I'm a positive person and this positivity comes out in my music. I don't go round holding guns to people's heads, so I won't rap about holding guns to people's heads."

Sway started producing music at 15 and it didn't take long for him to pick up a mic and start rapping.

He was part of a collective called One and went from freestyling in school to battling in Camden Town.

"Back then, battling was a stepping stone for me," he says. "I lost some, I won some, but the ones I lost I didn't really lose, 'cos I still got something out of it.

"I believe I proved a point that you don't need a major, you don't need record execs telling you how to do your music and to promote you.

"As long as you have the buzz on the street and your name in people's mouths, the recognition is inevitable."

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