Swae Lee is Unstoppable

As Rae Sremmurd, he and his brother were able to capture the zeitgeist with one viral hit after the other. But it was when Swae started to focus on his solo career that his true, calculated genius began to shine through. This wasn't just a string of lucky viral moments—Swae has a God-given knack for writing indestructible melodies and hooks. 

The California native has multiple #1 hits under his belt, including "Sunflower" with Post Malone and "SICKO MODE," arguably the biggest rap song of the past decade. This, in addition to songwriting credits for heavy hitters like Madonna ("Crave") and Beyoncé ("Formation"), has earned him a total of five GRAMMY nominations and an iron-clad reputation as a major force in the music industry. More than just a rapper, Swae is an artist who curates the culture we all consume on a daily basis.

So, we tapped the star for our November digital cover for an icy-meets-fiery editorial in collaboration with G-SHOCK and talked to Swae about his career, dream office, making wishes on 11:11, and monkey licenses.

Hey Swae. How are you?

I'm chilling. How you doing?

I'm good. Thanks for hopping on Zoom with me.

No problem.

So how was the shoot? Did you have fun?

Yeah, that shit was litty.

I know it's a redundant question, but what's your typical day in quarantine like?

Typical day in quarantine, wake up at 5:00 AM, go get some breakfast, smoke a blunt.

Mm-hmm.

Similar to what I'm doing right now.

Yeah.

Wait, jump in the shower, brush my teeth and stuff, feed my dogs, do some pull-ups, go to the studio. Stay up all night at the studio..

Is it pretty much the same as pre quarantine?

Basically yes, except for now I do more workouts.

Oh. Did you get in super good shape during quarantine?

Not exactly, man.

Who are your favorite designers? Are there any people on your radar that you're loving right now?

I like Grateful Dead clothes. I Like Broken Promises, and I like Six Shot. I like Pradas and all types of classy button-downs and stuff like that, and I like YSL.

Good stuff. I noticed you like the jewelry mixed with a simple white tee.

Jewels go with anything, you know?

Exactly.

This shirt I'm wearing got all the flowers on it. This shit crazy.

Oh yeah, what are the shoes?

 

I'm really breaking the code right now. I'm sporting a Chanel belt with some Nikes.

Breaking the code.

Yeah.

Have you taken up any new hobbies or learned any new skills during quarantine? How are you dealing with it?

I learned how to braid my hair. I got a monkey license.

A monkey license?

Yeah, my monkeys are now emotional support animals.

Do they live at your house?

Yeah.

Yeah, in like a cage? What is that like?

They just walk around and do what they want to do.

Oh yeah?

As long as they don't break nothing, I just let them do what they want to do.

Have you had any problems with the monkeys? Have they attacked anyone yet or had any fits?

Nah. They're good. They love people.

That's amazing. What do you feed them?

I feed them like hella vegetables and like fruits and stuff and like all types of different stuff, insects. And small fish.

I've always been fascinated with you. Rae Sremmurd came up within the Vine world, and now you're so big on Tik Tok. How have you navigated that and how do you handle the culture moving from Vine to Instagram, to Snapchat, to TikTok, etc?

I fuck with it all because, shit, I got eight million followers on Instagram. But I just kept making the same good music that people can use in general. So naturally whatever they went to is just like the same music. The music don't go to any one social media, and so it was like the music just naturally gravitated to the next platform.

What's an interesting thing that people would be surprised to learn that you do in your spare time?

I listen to audio books in the sauna.

What audio book are you listening to right now?

50 Cent.

I just listened to Mariah Carey's new audio book, and it was pretty good. She sings a lot in it.

She sings out the words?

She sings out the... Yeah, she does little sections, like when each chapter starts, she sings the song that relates to that chapter of her life. 

[singing in falsetto] Chapter 14.

Literally.

That's crazy, yo, I should do that, yo. I'm about to make an audio book and sing all the words.

You need to write a book for sure.

Oh shit. She a G for putting that book into the world.

Have you thought about writing a book or an autobiography? Or have you been approached about that?

No, I should do it now though.

You should do it because you're known for your smooth falsettos. So imagine a whole book like that, people would download that.

That would be crazy.

I hear you're filming a reality show? 

Yeah. I'm filming it with Snapchat.

Tell me about that.

It's like they follow me around and every time I do something interesting they catch it on camera. So they're constantly catching stuff on camera because I'm always doing stuff interesting.

You're always living your life. There's always something happening.

Yeah.

How are you handling not being able to tour?

I miss the touring, man. I miss the fans. I miss jumping in crowds of people with their hands up that hold you up. Just a lot of stuff, man.

Yeah.

Too much stuff, man. Backstage don't mean nothing anymore.

True. Backstage is just like an idea now, it's a concept.

Yeah.

What is your dream office?

A city view.

City view. Which city?

Miami, overlooking the whole city with a mango on the table, a stapler, like, an electric stapler.

Mm-hmm.

Papers.

Papers, documents?

Lots of papers and documents. And an iPad, with the electric pencil, and a grinder, and a Kool-Aid dispenser, and my cell phone.

Would the monkeys be there?

Yeah, the monkeys would have their own office and table and stuff, the same set up but smaller.

Mm-hmm.

And then, shoot, when you walk in there's like beads on the door that you have to walk through, incense lit. Know what I'm saying? Plush rugs on the floor, you'd have to take your shoes off, everybody has to take their shoes off when they come into the office.

Of course.

Some lights on the wall.

What type of lights?

Like neon lights. An 85-inch TV, and one of those computers with four different screens on it, like the ones with the games on the screens. Are you going to record this interview?

Yeah, I'm recording it.

I need this interview.

It’ll be on our website for sure.

All right, man.

You need to make the office happen. That's like a music video idea, honestly, what you just described.

That's going to be hard.

You said you burn incense. What's your favorite incense smell?

My favorite incense smell is new money.

Where do you buy that?

From the incense man standing on the street.

Do you practice like self care at all? What do you do to relax?

I go in the sauna. Yeah. And I fucking kick back. I bring a pillow in the sauna, kick back, smoke a blunt, get out, stretch, and go play my PS5.

What do you play on the PS5? How are you liking it?

I play Grand Theft Auto. I love it. The graphics are super crisp. It's just crazy, it's like an all new feeling to it. They only changed the letters on the keyboard, like if you type in something, it's like a new feeling. She's right over there on the screen.

Oh, is that it?

Yeah.

What was your favorite gaming console growing up?

PlayStation, but I ain't going to lie, I like the Xbox, too. I ain't no hater. I like the Xbox too. Like they both great consoles, they just do different things. Like the Xbox has Halo. You know what I'm saying?

Right. That's probably my favorite game. Best aesthetics.

Shit crazy, like who don't like that game? You can't hate that game, and you can't hate the Xbox from that game alone.

My friend has a tattoo of the Halo sword, like the clear one. I forget what it's called.

The Infinity Sword.

Right.

That shit probably hard, I ain't going to lie.

Yeah.

I would get it.

What is your most recent tattoo?

I think it's one on my ear or something, behind my ear.

What does it say?

It’s a baby angel, but I don't think you can really see it.

I see it. Are there any tattoos that you regret?

Yeah. My chest tattoos and my coverup on my chest tattoo. So I regret both of them. I'm getting removal surgery. So they taking them off and I'm going to put my dad on there.

That hurts.

Yeah. It's pretty bad.

Have you gotten it before?

Yeah, I did two sessions already.

Okay. Cool.

I have to do eight more.

What is your favorite city to visit?

My favorite city to visit is Miami.

Why, what do you like to do in Miami?

Go on boats, with hoes.

Are you superstitious at all? Do you make a wish on 11:11 or any other stuff like that?

Yeah. I do make wishes at 11:11 just in case.

Just in case, yeah.

I believe in karma, like if you do somebody for real, that sticks with you. Do some shit to people, it's going to come back to you. You do some negative shit to me for no reason, without cause, just with ill intent for no reason, it's definitely going to come back to you somehow, at some point like for real.

Yeah.

If you do some good stuff, you go around doing good shit, it comes back to you, so.

Right. Have you ever seen a ghost, or do you have any like paranormal stories from touring around the world?

[points and yells]

There's one in the room right now?

Nevermind, nevermind. I thought I saw one.

Is the sauna in your house?

Yeah. It's set up in my bathroom. It's pretty good. I can fit about four or five slim girls in there. Slim-medium girls, medium build, like six in there? I ain't never did it, but that's just an estimate, like a calculation. 

What temperature do you put it at?

One hundred-ten.

Damn, that's hot.

For real, but I only stay there for five minutes.

Yeah. What are you working on at the moment? What's the next big project you're gonna drop?

I'm working on my album, and I'm working on SremmLife 4. And I'm working on Human Nature, my debut album as a solo artist.

What do you hope for 2021?

For 2021, I hope we can all just get along. That everybody can get along, that I can get this album out, and that we can go back outside, and that people can just see people for who they are, the good in people. And that people can meet in the middle and be true and that everybody can live their truth and find happiness.

Wow.

And spread joy for years and years, for my kids and their kids, and their grandkids' grandkids.

Thank you so much for talking to me.

Thank you, my dog.