thaFormula.com - You were really anti MTV before you made the move over there.  What made you change your feelings on that and make that move to MTV?

Sway - I was anti-establishment and MTV was a part of the establishment.  It didn't matter to me what they did, when they did Rock & Roll or Pop, because that that wasn't what I was passionate about.  But once Yo! MTV Raps came off the air, I felt that MTV along with other stations didn't represent the spectrum of hip hop well.  Also, at that time I was younger and I was a renegade against the establishment.  As I got older and wiser, I realized that in order to make change I need to be within that establishment.  So it made sense to me when they came to me and asked me to come work with them.  They wanted me to bring that authenticity to the station.  So I was like, alright.  I been able to personally bring alot of good programming to MTV and I think that helps a greater cause.  Alot of us when we are younger, we have alot of complaints and we have alot of things that disturb us.  But we are never in position to do anything about it, except complain and be disturbed.  Being inside now, I see how the system works and I can work within those veins and try to make alot of things happen.  Not everything happen, but alot of things happen.  

thaFormula.com - I know it must have been hard for you to decide whether or not to make that move to MTV?

Sway - Yeah, it was very hard.  Honestly, I told them no about 2 or 3 times.  Then I talked to KRS-One.  He said to me, "when your 18 and your not a part of a movement or a system or something that's against the establishment, you have no heart."  "By the time your 27, if your not a part of that establishment, then you have no brain."  So that's basic math.  I mean we can throw pebbles at a brick wall and never make it through, but if we are behind that brick wall, we can make things change.  So that to me was what convinced me to do it.  I got in there and started doing alot of good stuff.  It's checks and balances man, because their priority ain't mine and mine isn't theirs. So you know some battles I win and some battles I lose.  I think just to get some of that good balance in their helps.

thaFormula.com - Now you brought The Wake Up Show to MTV and alot of people seemed to have been disappointed with the guests you brought in.  Now I know that we are talking about a small percentage of disappointed people, but it is your original fan base that I am speaking on.  Is that something that bugged you guys at all?

Sway - Of course man.  Our original fan base are hip hop purists man.  If we say the wrong slang, they will be disappointed and I get that.  I mean we helped create that fan base.  When we put the show on the air, people had to understand that we were dealing with an audience that isn't our audience, that doesn't represent our core.  So how do you bring them along?  Do you splash them with cold water, hit them with warm water, or you hit them with hot water.  You have to hit that MTV audience with warm water.  We couldn't just put Ras Kass, Chino and Juice on MTV.  We had to do what we wanted to do and help accommodate what they needed to do because it is their airwaves.  So when we had the show with Common, Mekhi Pfiffer and someone else, do you think we wanted to put actors on it?  No, but in order to get the show on the air, we had to compromise with them and give them something that was gonna reach their audience.  So I said alright, let me find an actor that might work.  Mekhi Pfiffer was in 8 mile with Eminem, he is from Harlem and I know he raps.  I can tolerate that, so we get Mekhi Pfiffer on and we hook him up with Kanye West and I don't remember who the other person was on the first show.  Then they wanted us to appeal to their female audience.  I thought, shit how do we do that.  We got to get somebody young.  So we got a girl form the 50 Cent video.  50 at that time was the hottest artist.  I know I can talk to this girl about something that's dealing with 50 and make it into a rap video, and still please MTV as an organization.  Then I can put Common on that show and Raekwon or something like that.  So you have to be smart if you wanna survive in it.  If you don't, then you go fuck it, no!  I can't do none of that and then the show never makes the air.  If the show makes the air and does well, then we could do other shows and then start slowly taking it to where we want.  

thaFormula.com - Did it do good for you guys?

Sway - It did well.  The problem was at that time Janet Jackson did the whole titty thing and then the FCC came down on MTV.  So all risky, edgy shows got put on the shelf, including ours.

thaFormula.com - Do you think The Wake Up Show would still exist today if you would have turned the MTV thing down?  Would Wake Up Show be on Power 106 like it is now?

Sway- Unfortunately it's hard to say dog.  I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you and this is what I want our core to understand.  We love what we do man.  Nothing has changed about us, even though you see us in different outfits.  Underneath the clothes it is still Sway & Tech.  We left 92.3 The Beat because they wanted us to change the Wake Up Show.  We asked Wake Up Show listeners to come help us protest.  A few came, but not enough to make enough noise.  We were out of Los Angeles.  When the show wasn't in L.A., the phone calls stopped, muthafuckas wasn't hittin' the web site, people weren't coming to the concerts.  So I was just like, damn! What do me & Tech do from here.  We gettin' a little older.  I got a daughter and he's got a kid.  So that's when I made the move to MTV to see what would happen.  We get on MTV, of course that's a good look for Power.  We got back on KMEL, of course that's a good look for KMEL.  Because for them, they wanna broaden their audience and if I can bring that appeal to them, let's give them the Wake Up Show.  It's a catch 22 dog and it's kind of fucked up because in the end I'm the one that takes the bullets, but I can take the bullets.  I'm not worried about it because I know that what me and Tech always planned on doing and ended up doing is bringing alot of greatness to the hip hop culture.  We brought alot of tremendous memories and moments that's bigger then him and me.  It's really about that Wake Up Show.  I can have you come up a few times and say to you this is how we do it.  Once you learn it, boom it's yours and the Wake Up Show is gonna run itself.  Of course,  as long as DJ Revolution is a part of it too.

thaFormula.com - So has the new Wake Up Show on Power been doing well for you guys?

Sway - Yeah, it's been doing incredible.  We went into something called The Next Chapter because all the radio stations wanted to stop wanting to play underground hip hop.  The underground is extremely small now and people aren't proactive like they used to be.  We went to a place last night where they had a hip hop room and they had the big room.  We walked into the big room where they were playing Lil Jon or whatever and it was packed.  We walked into the hip hop room dog where they playin' Gangstarr and old school shit.  There was literally four people in the hip hop room, a big ass room.  What can you do.  Muthafuckas don't be proactive, they don't come out.  The purists alot of times spend too much time complaining about what's wrong with hip hop and not enough time being proactive and helping to reshape it.  That's one thing we have always done.  In the past people have come up to us and criticized, which is cool as your entitled to your opinion.  But what have you brought to the culture.  What have you contributed to the culture.  Don't judge us until you have walked in our shoes and done the shit that me & King Tech have done.  

thaFormula.com - When did you come up with the idea for the new album "Sway & King Tech Presents Back 2 Basics?"

Sway - We been working on this album for about a year and a half and it's really kind of what it says.  We went Back 2 Basics in terms of the mentality, energy and the passion we put into making this album.  It wasn't about trying to soar for platinum sales.  Were not looking for that.  Otherwise I would have called Jay-Z for a verse.  We wanted to bring in people who have basic fundamental skills that they bring to the game.  Artists that don't have the resources, but need to shine.  Artists that have more then enough skills to be stars.  The music, the production, the concepts is from the heart.  We back to Basics in the mentality and approach that we take to making music.  It drops May 24th and you could go to www.swayandkingtech.net or www.wakeupshow.com for more info.

feedback: info@thaformula.com

Be  sure to join the over 600,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name, email address, city, state, and country) at info@thaformula.com.