Present & Show: Bay Swag
Phrases: Georgette Cline
Editor’s Notice: This story seems within the Fall 2025 situation of XXL Journal, on newsstands now and obtainable on the market on the XXL web site.
It’s a daring option to convey Harriet Tubman into rap conversations, however Bay Swag is up for the problem. Contained in the workplaces of his label residence, Customary Information in midtown Manhattan, he’s watching the music video for his track named after the good freedom fighter who defied slavery through the use of the Underground Railroad to flee in 1849.
“Each time I make a ten, put six to the facet and tuck it/They should free all of the bros, the place the f**ok is Harriet Tubman?” the 24-year-old rapper asks within the video, flanked by his pals. Anybody who respects her plight might simply reply that query. Because the cloudy sky erupts right into a downpour outdoors the workplace home windows, the unhealthy climate on this muggy summer season day in early August does nothing to rain on Bay’s parade. He’s desperate to drop the visible in per week to maintain his identify and music prime of thoughts with followers, following the discharge of his debut album, Broken Ideas, in July.
The Queens native, who proudly reps the New York Metropolis borough with QGTM (initials for Queens Get The Cash) tattooed throughout his neck, has been making ready for moments like this ever since he began grinding 10 years in the past. “You simply gotta wait your flip and be affected person,” Bay insists. He did simply that when “Fisherrr,” a flirty, horny drill observe he collaborated on with Money Cobain final February, took off within the Massive Apple and past.
Over 40 million Spotify streams later, a remix with Ice Spice serving to usher in 17 million YouTube views, and his lyrics soundtracking social media posts for loads of baddies throughout platforms have allowed Bay Swag’s slick-talking life-style raps and sticky melodies to fall on extra ears. The rising rhymer is a part of a rap renaissance in New York Metropolis that pushes positivity slightly than popping off.
Earlier than he was outdoors bringing his music to the lots, Bay Swag, born Lloyd McKenzie Jr., was a fun-loving child who was actually outdoors again in Jamaica, Queens, operating round, taking part in tag and Manhunt along with his pals on the block. Music was at all times heard in his family, the place he lived as an solely baby along with his mother, who labored at Geico promoting insurance coverage for over 20 years. At 5, due to automotive rides along with his dad, little Lloyd was listening to Jay-Z’s hustler mentality by his rhymes. As Bay acquired older, Juelz Santana and Dipset’s swag drew him into the Harlem rap scene. He additionally latched onto Trey Songz’s R&B melodies.
By 12, Bay was witnessing the rap life-style unfold proper earlier than his eyes. His uncle, Windsor “Gradual” Lubin, who launched the favored New York clothes line SlowBucks, had a warehouse in Queens for the model, the place rappers, actors and athletes typically got here by. “All of them cherished me ’trigger I used to be simply forward of my time,” Bay remembers. “I used to be fly. So, I’m like, you recognize what, why not simply begin making music? I’m round it, so why not benefit from it?”
He made his first track in a good friend’s basement studio. With the assistance of his father, Lloyd “Bay Lloyd” McKenzie, a former occasion promoter who labored with artists like A Tribe Referred to as Quest, Junior began hitting the studio constantly. At first, his dad would have the beat and songs already written. “The whole lot was already prepared for me,” shares Bay, who graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo Excessive College. “All I needed to do was present up. So, now when he goes to jail, I don’t have that no extra. So, I’m sort of like misplaced a bit of bit, you recognize?” Bay started writing his personal bars out of necessity.
For the following few years, the self-described “younger OG” was placing in work. In 2017, his father was convicted for allegedly ordering the 2012 hit on legislation pupil Brandon Woodward, who was moonlighting as a drug courier. McKenzie Sr. was sentenced to 85 years to life for second-degree homicide and working as a drug trafficker. Bay Swag put his ache into his music. “Daddy acquired locked ’trigger my daddy was trappin’/They tried to say he killed a ni**a in Manhattan/Jury believed the ni**a that was rattin’/I’ma get you out, Pops, swear I ain’t cappin’,” he raps on the 2017 observe “Saucin.” “Music is my remedy,” he explains.
By that time, he was locked in on his profession. There have been native performances, connecting with Diddy’s son King Combs as a part of the CYN collective in 2015, Bay’s observe “Rumors” getting him some early buzz on-line in 2016, and his mixtape, Chief of the New College, the identical yr, incomes him a short-lived Interscope Information publishing deal, which all elevated his potential. He continued dropping extra loosies and connecting with the suitable folks, like rapper-producer Money Cobain, in 2020. After Bay launched his Forward of My Time mission in 2022, a mixture of completely different sounds to see what would stick, the Auto-Tune-drenched “Quagen” did the job. “That introduced me again to life,” Bay admits.
Tracks just like the emotionally-driven “Remedy” in 2023, and the gold-certified hit “Fisherrr” adopted a yr later. “Not solely is it optimistic, however we bringing all people collectively,” he tells of the latter track’s success. “Good emotions and optimistic vibes.” To capitalize on the observe’s influence, Bay joined Money because the opening act on Ice Spice’s Y2K! World Tour within the U.S. final summer season.
It’s clear Bay Swag has by no means stopped working—rapping is the one job he’s ever had. There’s a deeper which means to his motivation. “My dad being incarcerated, and likewise my mom simply beat most cancers,” he reveals. “How can I quit? I acquired folks relying on me.” His work ethic is what Deon Douglas, cofounder of Customary Information, seen when he signed the rapper in 2024. “He sticks to what he’s doing,” says Douglas, who’s additionally the cofounder of 11AM administration, the place he helps information the careers of artists like Lil Tjay. “[Bay Swag] does the work. He retains getting higher, he retains studying. You at all times meet him within the studio or a video shoot, at an interview. So instantly, that’s what I appreciated about him.”
That dedication carries over into every part Bay Swag does. He delivered his debut album, Broken Ideas, this previous July, that includes Money, Younger Thug, Meek Mill and Quavo, amongst others. Songs like “Wealthy Junkies” with Kyle Wealthy and “Billie Jean” with Sheff G are going up. Bay completed his Broken Ideas Tour in November and unleashed the brand new album Swiggity in the identical month. “Cafe Regal” and “Proceed” with Zeddy Will are just a few of the tracks getting play from the mission. Plans for the longer term embody releasing extra movies and specializing in his personal label. Bay Swag launched Nothing Bout Us Common, in 2024, and has 4 artists signed to him. “It’s simply younger CEO time, man,” he affirms.
For certain.
Take heed to Bay Swag’s Broken Ideas Album
Take heed to Bay Swag’s Swiggity Album
The autumn 2025 situation of XXL journal that includes Bay Swag‘s interview is out there to buy right here. The difficulty additionally contains Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s cowl story interviews, conversations with Likelihood The Rapper, Curren$y, Hit-Boy, Rob49, KenTheMan, Wallo267, Hurricane Knowledge, Hanumankind, Babyfxce E, Ghostface Killah, Conway The Machine, Pluto, TiaCorine, Isaiah Falls, comic Josh Joshson, Vice President of Music at SiriusXM and Pandora Joshua “J1” Raiford, a take a look at the change in album rollouts through the years highlighted by Clipse’s Let God Kind Em Out album and extra.
See Pictures From Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s XXL Journal Fall 2025 Cowl Shoot
