Follow 4 Now: Sway & King Tech

Sway & King Tech are the hosts of the most popular Hip Hop radio show in the world: The Wake Up Show, which is based out of California. They have helped birth the careers of some of Hip Hops most prominent artists including Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Eminem, and more. More importantly they gave these and other MC's a chance to shine even when they were nobodies and had no name or fame, so in essence Sway & King Tech are some pretty good talent scouts. They are also an integral part of Hip Hop that keeps the culture expanding and keeps it alive.

Sway & King Tech have been in the "Rap Game" longer than a lot of people know. They have been releasing their own music since about 1987. The duo started out as a group called the Flynamic Force, but changed it to Sway & King Tech in 1990. King Tech was mainly responsible for getting the duo on air. He won a DJ competition in San Francisco which awarded him a 15 minute spot on station KMEL. He worked out real well, so he eventually got a regular spot, however on one condition: that his partner Sway was part of the package, and thus The Wake Up Show was birthed in 1991.

The year 1991 also had other developments for Sway & King Tech. They released their "official" debut album Concrete Jungle on Giant Records. The album is produced, programmed, and arranged by King Tech, and the vocals are done by Sway. The album is produced very solidly for what it was. King Tech proved he was quite an accomplished producer and programmer as the album's soundscape is very slick and polished. The main drawback of the album is that the duo tried to fit in all the current trends and fads in Hip Hop on one album, so it lacked cohesiveness, and of course a lot of it was blatantly commercial. It featured a lot of dance and house type tracks, which sound similar to C+C Music Factory, which by hardcore Hip Hop standards is very lame, but they redeem themselves by using a lot of classic breaks and funk samples throughout, and there are straight forward Hip Hop jams on the album. Despite it not being a hardcore Hip Hop album it was and still is an enjoyable listen that does have me reminiscing on when Hip Hop was more fun and innocent. I have included three MP3's from the album. These are the more straight ahead Hip Hop joints. Also, enjoy a current article on Sway & King Tech on Allhiphop.com which talks about their up and coming projects, and make sure to check out The Low End Theory's Forum.

Sway & King Tech - Concrete Jungle
Sway & King Tech - Follow 4 Now (Remix)
Sway & King Tech - Time 4 Peace