SWAG

How would you define Swag? Who would you say has swag? What is it to swag up or swag down?

Swag, in generally agreed terms, can be defined as either a mixture or singling out of the following qualities: style, charisma, uniqueness, savoir-faire, class, coolness. It can be the way a person presents themselves. It can be the way a person carries themselves. The common denominator to all these lies in Confidence. In oneself and one’s natural possessions.

There are many people that are generally defined as having swag for the various reasons above: 50 Cent, Snoop Dog, Lil Wayne, Missy Elliot, Beyonce, Mary J. In the acting world, Denzel almost always pops up as a man with swag, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone (In her hey days), Halle Berry and Marilyn Monroe is definitely a topper. This is just a minor Swag scale. Let’s bring the swag scale to our motherland, Ghana. People like, Gyedu Blay Ambulley (who many claim to be the godfather of rap worldwide) are names that come up a lot when looking at the older generation. This is followed by the likes of Reggie Rockstone who has swag in his appearance, in the way he carries himself and what he says. Sarkodie, Trigmatic are a few of the latest ones. What do you say?

In some periods, to swag up means to be gangster in the typical 80s and 90s American rapper way: Big sagging Jeans, huge bling, walking with a limp, a girl on each arm, and money to spend. Even before this, coolness in the 50s was judged by men at times perming their hair to look like the white man’s, wearing colorful, bright zoot suits, and shiny pointed shoes. But these superfluous images have toned down to an image of intense classiness, and dark colors. A man with swag is classy in his outlook inside and out. It may not necessarily be an Armani suit and a Rolls Royce!

For ladies, to say she got swag is to say she’s got a subtle sexiness, not over-the-top to become whorish, or too little to be plain. A serious confidence about her in everything she does. No one, especially of the opposite sex, dictated to her how she should live her life. Ne-yo’s “Miss Independent” is a good description of a lady with swag. Gabrielle Union plays that role really well in the video clip as well as in “Deliver us from Eva”.   

Swag even permeates to the sporting world. Basketball Stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant Dwayne Wade, and of course, the legend himself, Michael Jordan, add some extra swag to the court. The whole sport of Basketball involves swag but these guys “excite you with their athletic abilities, make what they are doing look real easy and smooth when it is not” said an ecstatic Basketball junkie.

The great thing about Swag is that it is everywhere and in everything, even in politics. One cannot deny that it is Obama’s swag that carried his speech, “Yes, I can”, all over the globe. And coming down to our own front, J.J Rawlings is also unquestionably a man of swag where charisma and confidence is concerned. Kwame Nkrumah is beyond doubt a man of swag. He had such buckets of the rare gold that he even pissed off the CIA!

People with swag are people who are externally and internally comfortable in their own skin, can have a charismatic confidence to pull followers, are generally listened to and respected in whatever fields they have the most swag in.

Swag can mean different things to many people. So what does it mean to you? What do you mean when you say that he/ she has got ‘killa swag’? Who, in your eyes, has swag?