New York rap has always been a shape-shifter, but the last few years have been especially wild, The post-pandemic momentum, TikTok-driven discovery, and a citywide hunger for something that feels good again. That’s where “sexy drill” slid in, taking drill’s toxic edge, then flipped the mood. Now, there is more dancing, and party energy. One of the records that helped push the sound into the mainstream conversation was Ice Spice, Cash Cobain and Bay Swag’s “Fisherrr,” which took off online and caught fire with a dance.
Bay Swag, a Queens rapper who’s become closely associated with the movement, has kept building with projects like Damaged Thoughts and the Swiggity EP, balancing slick flexes with more personal shadows. And while sexy drill has been pegged as a vibe shift, it’s also become a lane that bigger artists have studied, borrowed from, and tried to bottle for themselves. He checks in with SlopsShotYa at WonWorld Studio.
AllHipHop: I think with your sound, you go a lot of different places with it. One minute… I think the first single off of the last joint with 42 Dugg shocked the hell out of me because it was heavy, heavy trap. But of course everybody was reminded of a sexy drill wave and stuff like that. How do you even formulate your sound? What’s the ingredients? How you know what works for you?
Bay Swag: Honestly, I’m real versatile. So last year I dropped a bunch of different songs. Like I went Jamaican, I went Spanish, I went trap, sexy drill. Last year was just a year to like… because a lot of people were saying, “Oh, y’all can only do this” or “y’all sound like this.” So last year was just… show versatility, you feel me?
AllHipHop: Oh, wow.
Bay Swag: And how I do it is… I’m versatile. So when I go in the studio, I don’t just say, “Oh, I’m going to make this kind of music.” It just flows.
AllHipHop: So it just flows. But you also said you wanted to show people it’s different aspects. Were you nervous trying to do that?
Bay Swag: I was. Because I knew a lot of the fans was more like sexy drill. So I was definitely nervous about it. But you know, got to take risks.
AllHipHop: Yeah, man. Without taking risks.
Bay Swag: You feel me?
AllHipHop: So I remember when there was a little decline in drill and stuff like that, me and my friends were like, “It’s got to be dancing next,” right? We thinking it’s got to be dance next. Then you came through with, nah, it’s going to be about the girls. We gonna get back to the girls and things like that.
Bay Swag: It’s crazy how it happened because obviously nothing’s planned. Things just happen. So it’s just like you said, drill was like… not saying it was going to decline, but it’s like you spreading bad energy. You telling kids to go do this, go do that, and guns and this and that.
Bay Swag: Sexy drill just happened and we just brought good energy back. Made people want to dance. I always say this, we used to have parties and a lot of the drill artists that was beefing with each other was there with us, all together, partying. We just brought the energy back, made it feel good again.
AllHipHop: Did you see it going global? Hip-Hop-wise, everybody now got to have one of these songs on their album. Somebody got to work with you. Somebody got to work with Slizzy.
Bay Swag: Honestly, nah. ’Cause it was just trying something. Like I said, it wasn’t planned. It’s just the things that you think work… it never work. It’ll always be some joint you don’t like, or something you think that’s not even… you know. That’s how that happened. We ain’t think it was going to go so crazy. We was just having fun. Dropping music.
AllHipHop: So you didn’t see “Fisherrr” going where it went?
Bay Swag: Honestly… I didn’t. At first I knew it was a good song, but I didn’t think it was going to change the world the way it did.
Bay Swag: When we posted on TikTok, that’s when I seen it, before it dropped. It went viral on TikTok before it dropped. When I made the first video and I seen it, and I kept making videos and it kept going, every video going, I’m like, “Oh yeah.” This is before the “From the Block” performance.
AllHipHop: Somebody recorded it on a phone?
Bay Swag: Yeah. That went viral, then we started making videos to the sound and then it just went crazy.
AllHipHop: You started garnering buzz around pandemic time. What about being stuck inside got you the buzz? Was it a new sound or you was just promoting?
Bay Swag: I was just learning, man. Learning my sound and just getting better and better. It wasn’t like an in-the-house thing. Things just happened. God, you feel me? Everything started coming together. Things started making sense.
AllHipHop: How your life changed since that moment?
Bay Swag: Tremendously. God is good. God is great, man.
AllHipHop: A lot of people was surprised about the album last year. Not just the versatility, but it was consistently good. Sometimes people try new things and it sound forced. Yours sounded… right. And you had a lot of features. How did you know that was the route? Getting people to send verses is different.
Bay Swag: When it come down to the features, we go back to the drawing board. You have your team with you, everybody listen to the songs. And not only the team, like myself as an artist. When I’m making these songs, I’ll be like, “All right, I hear this person on it.” I go back, ask my bros, ask the team, and they like, “Oh yeah, that sound good.” I hit them up. That’s basically how it went.
Bay Swag: Everybody on there is family.
AllHipHop: What’s your favorite song?
Bay Swag: I can’t. They all my babies, man. I can’t do that.
AllHipHop: You came back with the EP. Was it songs that didn’t make the album?
Bay Swag: It was like both. Half and half.
AllHipHop: Your face is very visible, but you also show up for kids. I seen you in schools. What gives you that philanthropic spirit?
Bay Swag: Just showing them that we… like I was once y’all before, and it’s possible. A lot of us come from the same place. A lot of us come from the hood. When they see young guys like them, or was once them, and they coming and showing love, make them feel good, give them hope.
Bay Swag: Another reason, the kids is everything. They the ones streaming. They matter the most. So around holiday time, make sure I give back. Christmas, back to school, toy drop, everything. I try to make sure I do it every year.
AllHipHop: What’s the goals for you and the Slizzy camp this year?
Bay Swag: Drop. Everybody dropping, man. Everybody dropping. Just consistency.
AllHipHop: We expecting another two-project year?
Bay Swag: More, more, more.
AllHipHop: You had like 6,700 in the phone?
Bay Swag: That’s a fact.
AllHipHop: How you determine the difference between an EP and an album?
Bay Swag: You got to treat them all the same because you got to always market. But albums, when people hear albums, think, “Oh my god, an album.” Like you got rollout and this and that. So it is a difference a little bit.
AllHipHop: The mixtape days… DatPiff, blog days, that used to warm up the album. Now you can’t really rap on anybody beat unless you just drop it on YouTube. Everybody want to make money.
Bay Swag: Come on with it, man.
AllHipHop: Take me back to your childhood. What was Queens like? What part you from?
Bay Swag: I’m kind of like from the south and the north. My pops from north side, my mom from south side. So really both, South Jamaica and the north side like Hollis, Cambria.
Bay Swag: Growing up, it was cool. I ain’t have to worry about none. My pops making sure everything was good. I had everything. I wasn’t struggling.
Bay Swag: Once I got older and the person that gave everything got taken away from me by the system… my dad got locked up. That made me a man. Because I’m just always given, given, given. So now that’s taken away, now what you going to do? And this is who I am today.
AllHipHop: Did it ever affect your music, with blogs and narratives?
Bay Swag: No, ’cause I know what’s really going on. Can’t listen to blogs. He about to come home and everything that was said going to get taken back.
AllHipHop: How do you deal with lies and slander? Internet is a lot.
Bay Swag: You got to be built for it. You can’t let it affect you. It be a lot of people in your comments saying, “Oh this sucks,” but this paying. Somebody like it. So I can’t reflect on you saying this. You got to be strong. It get crazy sometimes, but you got to deal with it. This what it come with.
AllHipHop: Is it worth it?
Bay Swag: To me, yeah. When people talk bad around me, it makes me feel good. Now I’ma show you.
AllHipHop: Was you making music when your dad was out?
Bay Swag: I made my first song when I was like 12 and I played it for him. I wasn’t really on it, just playing around. But I really started for real… he was bringing me to the studio and having songs already written. He come pick me up from school, make me read it and remember it. So when we go to the studio… when he did get locked up, I just put it to use.
AllHipHop: Biggest lesson you took from him?
Bay Swag: Just being myself. Staying true. Sucker-free.
AllHipHop: Tour going on right now.
Bay Swag: Yeah, I just had a show in Boston. We left Boston two days ago. It was lit.
AllHipHop: Seeing faces, headlining, touching the people, how it feel?
Bay Swag: Good, bro. Boston was only girls.
AllHipHop: Congratulations.
Bay Swag: Literally only women. It was fire. It’s a blessing. Got to keep going. Everything going to get greater. God is good. You got to stay patient. Nobody has patience. Everybody got the same 24. You got to wait your turn.
AllHipHop: A lot of people used your sound. Pressure to duplicate 2023?
Bay Swag: When that happens, we switch it up. People still on the beginning stages, we advanced it. It’s the same feel, but people can’t make it though.
AllHipHop: When you hear other artists do it, you impressed?
Bay Swag: Definitely impressed. It feel good. That means you doing something good in life. A lot of big artists, they songs going crazy with the same feel. Drake did it. Chris Brown, Kehlani… more and more. We really started a genre, a new genre.
AllHipHop: Aspirations outside music?
Bay Swag: Yeah, of course. My label, businesses, real estate. I’m trying to get into crypto. I was doing stock. It start with the music, but it’s about taking that money and turning it up.
AllHipHop: Y’all ever think about doing a Slizzy movie? House Party vibes, 13-and-up, streaming era.
Bay Swag: That’s definitely a great idea. I appreciate that.
AllHipHop: Any dates on projects?
Bay Swag: No dates yet. But show this weekend on Saturday. Philly is the 25th. A lot of consistency, a lot of music, level up, more structure. Putting the big-boy suits on and going crazy. This year… it’s up.
AllHipHop: Before I get you out of here, top five that are alive.
Bay Swag: I’ma give you my top five of my generation. Meek. Future. Thug. Drake. Lil Baby.
AllHipHop: Clean one. You can hear the influence in the sound. Let them know visuals and socials.
Bay Swag: Damaged Thoughts album out now. Swiggity the EP out now. This the year, man. We going crazy. Go tune in. Go tap in. Queens get the money. Free my pops. Feel the vibes.
AllHipHop: One behind the camera as usual. We out.