How UAE hip-hop artist Swerte found his voice again after losing his father

Anak Papa / Father’s Son finds the rapper, who has worked with Kanye West in Dubai, confronting grief and reclaiming his past

Swerte moved to Dubai in 2006 and become one of the stalwarts of the city's fledgling hip-hop scene. Photo: Swerte

When Swerte speaks to himself on Every Time, an intimate track from new album Anak Papa / Father's Son, it's not just an artistic device. The conversation is literal – a pitched-up version of his voice plays the role of interviewer, probing him about memories he's long refused to share.

“Whenever people ask me about Indonesia, I'm very happy to talk about the music side of things and stuff like that,” Swerte (real name Lucky Schild) tells The National. “But as soon as people start asking me about my personal life in Indonesia, I've been very reluctant to talk about it.”

The reasons are now laid bare in the lyrics. Born in the conflict-ridden province of Aceh, Swerte lived through Indonesia's 1998 political revolution – events he has deliberately kept out of his public persona, even as he became one of the stalwarts of the independent hip-hop scene in Dubai, moving here in 2006.

Every Time is part of an affecting album where Swerte, 42, is not only reckoning with his past, but also paying tribute to his father, who passed away in 2023. In the process, Anak Papa / Father's Son is a record that processes grief as well as documents the life of a son who never quite told his own story.

Its release marks a new chapter for the rapper, producer and sound engineer who co-founded The Recipe, a veteran independent hip-hop collective.

Swerte is a seasoned sound engineer and rap artist. Photo: Swerte

It also continues a momentum, in which Swerte reconnected with his Indonesian heritage on record and tours, which nearly halted in the wake of his father’s death.

“I was very close to hanging up making music completely after my father passed away,” he says. “The fire inside of me just went off, and I took the whole year of 2023 to process this big change in my life.”

Swerte did not return to the studios with fully formed lyrical insights. Instead, it was the beats he was creating – with warm textures and nostalgic melodies – that led the way.

“I started remembering things my father taught me that I'll carry with me for life. And I started putting this down on paper and started recording it. And one by one, the records started making themselves,” he says.

The resulting 10-track album is sparse and soulful.

Where earlier works with The Recipe collective were rooted in fierce posse cuts, the music here is more inert and reflective. But the collaborative instinct central to Swerte's approach remains through works with artists such as singer and guitarist Jerome Deligero, producer Bangzy and The Recipe member Kaz Money all making guest appearances.

The process also affirms Swerte's belief that grief, for all its gnawing hurt, is ultimately a universal experience. This is particularly heard on Closed Caskets with Money, one of the album's most reflective tracks.

“I know a few of them had gone through something similar with me and had gone through loss recently,” Swerte says. “Kaz lost his father not long after my father passed, so I knew he would be talking about that, and I think it really took the song somewhere else.”

Anak Papa / Father’s Son is informed by the life-long lessons imparted by Swerte's late father. Photo: Swerte

As a self-described “control freak”, Swerte has the ability to let others into what is a deeply personal project. This stems from his time working as a sound engineer on Vultures, the 2024 album by Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign, which was partially recorded in two luxury villas in the Palm Dubai.

For all of West’s unbridled ego, Swerte recalls how the sessions were communal and free-flowing.

“I got to see and experience on a high level that it really does take a village to create sometimes,” he says. “Everyone had a role – someone working on drums, someone focused just on texture, someone refining a chorus idea. It was layered, but it all came together because everyone trusted each other.”

The approach reminded Swerte of his early days in Dubai. The music scene was still emerging but fragmented, a situation that led him to organise local jam sessions and produce a compilation called The Recipe: Volume 1 in 2007, which brought together members of the group before its official formation a year later.

“It was not the same as the local rock and metal scene in the UAE who were really working together,” he says. “So I took what I learnt in Indonesia, in that everything was DIY, and set about bringing people together. Because there was nothing established, there was no right or wrong way.”

As for his next project, Swerte says it will carry newfound clarity and the wisdom that comes with the passing of grief.

“It will be an evolution,” he notes. “I never intend to make music to tell or teach others anything. I make it for this need to tell my story and I am OK with that.”