Shuhei Nogae (野替愁平, Nogae Shuhei; born June 9, 1986), better known with his stage name SWAY (stylized in all capitals) is a Japanese rapper and actor. He is signed to Def Jam Recordings and is a member of the group Doberman Infinity, of EXILE's theater company (Gekidan EXILE).
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. For this reason he started singing and DJing as a hobby. In the 3rd grade of junior high school, he started learning graphic design and break dance besides his other activities. 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. 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.
