Sway (Japanese rapper)

Shuhei Nogae (野替愁平, Nogae Shuhei, born June 9, 1986), better known with his stage name "SWAY" is a Japanese rapper, actor, lyricist and producer managed by LDH and signed to Def Jam Recordings. He is a member of the group Doberman Infinity, of EXILE's theater company (Gekidan EXILE) and is also a soloist.

Sway
野替 愁平
Sway from "jam" at Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2018
Born	Shuhei Nogae (1986-06-09) June 9, 1986 (age 38) Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan
Occupation(s)	Rapper, lyricist, actor, producer
Years active	2012 – present
Agent	LDH
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Musical career
Genres	Rap, Hip hop music
Labels	Toy's Factory (2014–2017) Def Jam Recordings (2017–present)
Website	https://sway-official.jp/

Early life

Shuhei Nogae was born on June 9, 1986, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Growing up, Shuhei was a huge fan of basketball, especially the NBA. He would regularly buy the sports magazine Hoop and at one point, he read an article about Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant doing some rapping. Since they were his idols during his junior high school years, he became interested in rap music and hip-hop culture.^[1] For this reason he started singing and DJing as a hobby.^[2] In the 3rd grade of junior high school, he started learning graphic design^[3][4] and break dance besides his other activities.^[5] He also produced a dance track, wrote lyrics and started to rap.

At the age of 16, his mindset changed and he became serious about a career as a rapper after watching the movie 8 Mile.^[6] The impact of the movie led him to choose a stage name by searching through an English-Japanese dictionary. The word 'sway' stuck with him since its sound was close to his birth name and he also liked the meaning. However, he faced a huge problem starting as a rapper: He didn't know what he should write about in his lyrics and felt like his experiences didn't matter since his life had been so different from the American rappers he listened to. He overcame this obstacle by realizing there were also famous rappers who talked about fairly normal things in their lyrics, such as Kanye West for example.^[1]

Sway formed a group called Wild Style with his close friend Shokichi when he was 17^[7][8] and they performed together during their late teens^[9] until Sway moved to Toronto, Canada where he lived and studied for two years from 19 to 21 years old^[3] while doing various part-time jobs including waiting tables at a Japanese restaurant.^[1]

After returning to Hokkaido, he worked at a clothing store while rapping in the evenings. Despite enjoying both jobs, he envisioned his future differently. In his mid-twenties, he decided to move to Tokyo and perform there at clubs. During that time, Shokichi, who was now a member of famous J-Pop boygroup Exile, called him and stated he wanted to make music together again. Therefore they wrote three songs and Shokichi presented them to Exile leader Hiroyuki Igarashi who approved of their work.^[1]

Career

Subsequently, Sway signed with LDH, the company founded by Exile.

In August 2012, he debuted as an actor in the stage play Attack No. 1 and in September, he joined Gekidan Exile (Exile's theater company). Since then he started to work both in music and acting.

In June 2014, he joined the group Doberman Infinity. Two years later in April 2016, he also joined the hip-hop group Honest Boyz.^[10]

On September 16, 2017, he announced his major solo debut with single "Manzana", which was released on November 1 under Universal Music Japan's sub-label Def Jam Recordings. On November 11, Sway formed the creative unit "N0IR (Noir)".^[11]

On August 29, 2018, he released his debut album titled Unchained. On December 12, 2018, he announced that he would use "Sway" also during acting activities that used his real name.^[12]

Participating groups

Group	Period
Gekidan Exile	(September 2012 – present)
Doberman Infinity	(June 2014 – present)
Honest Boyz	(April 2016 – present)
N0IR	(November 2017 – present)

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Release date	Chart positions
			Oricon Albums Chart
2012	The S	June 15	–
2018	Unchained	August 29	11

Singles

Year	Title	Release date	Chart positions		Album
			Oricon Singles Chart	Billboard Japan Hot 100[13]
2017	"Manzana"	November 1	5	16[14]	Unchained

Digital singles

Year	Title	Release date	Album	Ref.
2018	"Perfect Love"	July 18	Unchained
	"Never Say Goodbye"	August 22
2019	"Chocolate" (チョコレート)	February 14		[15]
	"On Fire"	October 10
	"Angels"	December 18		[16]

Participating works

Year	Release date	Song	Artist and Album
2009	December 2	I Like It feat. SWAY	Hiromi "Hot Chocolate"
2013	February 27	Cazal feat. SWAY & YOU THE ROCK☆	DJ Ken Watanabe "Cazal feat. SWAY & YOU THE ROCK☆"
	August 7	Summer Vacation feat. SWAY	Klooz "Summer Vacation feat. SWAY"
2014	March 5	Signal Fire feat. SWAY	Exile The Second "HE II AGE"
	March 5	Movie Star feat. SWAY	Super Sonic "SCRATCH YOUR WORLD"
	March 26	S.A.K.U.R.A.	Sandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE "S.A.K.U.R.A."
	April 9	Amazing Girl feat. SWAY	Koudai Sato "Magic Carpet Ride"
	June 4	BACK TO THE FUTURE / EXILE Shokichi feat. VERBAL (M-Flo) & SWAY	Exile Shokichi "BACK TO THE FUTURE"
		THE ANTHEM / EXILE SHOKICHI, DOBERMAN INC, SWAY, ELLY (Sandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE)
	June 11	LIGHTS	Sway × Hiyadam "LIGHTS"
	June 18	Organ Donor 〜OFF DA HOOK〜 / DJ Makidai feat. Generations from Exile Tribe & SWAY	DJ Makidai from Exile "EXILE TRIBE PERFECT MIX"
	August 6	Pop!! feat. SHUN, SWAY, KLOOZ / KEN THE 390	V.A. "DREAM BOY BEST MIX vol.1- MIXED BY DJ HIRORON"
	October 22	Rock the party feat. SWAY, Staxx T(CREAM), APOLLO, Kotobuki-Kun, KIRA	Shimotaku "Rock the party feat. SWAY, Staxx T(CREAM), APOLLO, Kotobuki-Kun, KIRA"
	December 10	WANNA SAY feat. SWAY & MATT CAB	Jolly-Tip a.k.a DJ Keizi "WANNA SAY feat. SWAY & MATT CAB"
2015	January 14	ONE feat. SWAY & Koudai Sato	Jolly-Tip a.k.a DJ Keizi "JOLLY-TIP STORY"
	May 20	Call Your Name feat. SWAY	Matt Cab "Call Your Name feat. SWAY"
	September 9	Orenojikan (feat. SWAY)	MAD "Orenojikan (feat. SWAY)"
	September 16	REVOLUTION (PKCZ Remix feat. SWAY)	Crystal Kay feat. Namie Amuro "REVOLUTION"
	September 16	Heart Breaker feat. SWAY	Thelma Aoyama "GRAY SMOKE"
2016	April 27	Rock City feat. SWAY & Crystal Kay	Exile Shokichi "THE FUTURE"
	June 15	MIGHTY WARRIORS / PKCZ feat. CRAZYBOY, ANARCHY, SWAY, MIGHTY CROWN (MASTA SIMON & SAMI-T	V.A. "HiGH&LOW ORIGINAL BEST ALBUM"
		FUNK JUNGLE / ANARCHY, SWAY & CRAZYBOY
		BBFL / SWAY & ANARCHY
2017	February 24	CLAPTIME feat. ANARCHY, VERBAL, SWAY, DABO	Crazyboy "NEOTOKYO EP"
	August 2	Beauty Mark feat. Hiroomi Tosaka, SWAY	PKCZ "360° ChamberZ"
		Mighty Warriors (Album Ver) feat. Afrojack, Crazyboy, Anarchy, Sway, Mighty Warriors (MASTA SIMON&SAMI-T)
	August 30	Baby Baby Baby feat. SWAY	Koudai Sato "Baby Baby Baby feat. SWAY"
	October 25	Dream Boys	Mighty Warriors "HiGH&LOW THE MIGHTY WARRIORS"
		Good Life
2018	January 19	Alive feat. SWAY	Crazyboy "NEOTOKYO III EP"
	September 19	Kissing Pt.2 feat. SWAY	Cream "Sounds Good"
2019	January 19	RUN 100 feat. Miliyah Kato & Sway	Run The Floor "RUN 100 feat. Miliyah Kato & Sway"
	November 6	Superstar	V.A. "Another Voice -Full Of Harmony Tribute Album-"

Lyrics

Song	Artist
FUNK JUNGLE	Anarchy, Sway & Crazyboy
Heartbreaker	Thelma Aoyama
REVOLUTION (PKCZ Remix feat. SWAY)	Crystal Kay
24WORLD	Exile Tribe
BACK TO THE FUTURE	EXILE Shokichi
#HOTLINE
Loveholic
Rock City
THE ANTHEM
Signal Fire feat. SWAY	Exile The Second
S.A.K.U.R.A.	Sandaime Jsoul Brothers
Rock The Party feat. SWAY, Staxx T(CREAM), APOLLO, Kotobuki-kun, KIRA	Shimotaku
BBFL	Sway & Anarchy

Live

Period	Title	Ref.
From December 12, 2018 to January 27, 2019	SWAY "LIVE SHOWCASE 2018 UNCHAINED"	[17]

Filmography

Movies

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Director	Ref.
2013	Aragure	Satoshi Yamagachi		Hajime Gonno
2014	Aragure II ROPPONGI v.s. SHIBUYA
	Crows Explode	Kenichi Kadozumi		Toshiaki Toyoda
	Hot Road	Akane		Takahiro Miki
2016	Road to High & Low	Pearl		Sigeaki Kubo
	High & Low The Movie
2017	High&Low The Movie 2 / End of Sky
	High&Low The Movie 3 / Final Mission
2018	Jam	Minatochu		Sabu
2019	Manriki			Yasuhiko Shimizu	[18]
2021	Struggling Man			Toshio Lee	[19]
2024	Silent Love			Eiji Uchida	[20]

TV Dramas

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes	Ref.
2012	Sugarless	Isami Morita	NTV
2013	Kamen Teacher	Jiro Inukami	NTV	(ep.10–12)
2015	Senryokugai Sousakan	Teppei Tokui (Ponzara)	NTV	2 hours special
	Wild Heroes		NTV	Lead role
	High & Low The Story of S.W.O.R.D.	Pearl	NTV
2016	High & Low Season 2	Pearl	NTV
2018	Kiss Shitai Matsuge	Toshimitsu Saijo	Fuji TV	Lead role	[21]

Stage

Year	Title	Ref.
2012	Hounangumi x Gekidan EXILE "Attack No. 1"
	BS – TBS shūkaku-sai
2013	Gekidan EXILE performance "SADAKO ~ birth sad story ~
	GEKIDAN EXILE "Attack No.1"
2014	Karuseoraria
	Gekidan EXILE Attack No. 1 Spin-off reading play
	Gekidan EXILE "THE mensetsu"
2016	Hounangumi presents reading play "Aitakute..."
2020	Gekidan Exile "Yusha no Tame ni Kane wa Naru / The Bell Rings for the Brave"

CM

Year	Title	Ref.
2016	Youfuku no Aoyama "Summer Suits"	[22]

Commercials

Year	Title	Ref.
2017	Vanilla air Hakodate PR poster	[23]
	Reebook	[24]
	AdamHavve by schopfung 2018 Spring / Summer "SUPERNATURAL POWER" Brand Promotion Video	[25]
2019	G-Star Raw Japan "G-Star Raw Elwood × N0IR" Promotion movie series

Voice Acting

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
2017	HiGH&LOW g-sword Animation DVD Special Edition	Pearl

Music Videos

Year	Artist	Title	Ref.
2014	Sandaime J Soul Brothers	S.A.K.U.R.A.
	EXILE Shokichi	BACK TO THE FUTURE
2016	EXILE Shokichi	Rock City feat. SWAY & Crystal Kay
2017	Bigzam	I Got a Dream
2018	EXILE Shokichi	Underdog	[26]
2019	Noritake Kinashi	GG STAND UP!! feat. Takahiro Matsumoto	[27]