1Xtra today announced Sway as the winner of the ‘Best UK Act’ category of the inaugural BET Hip-Hop Awards taking place in Atlanta on November 12th.  1Xtra hosted the voting for the awards alongside MTV Base, which gave UK music fans a unique opportunity to vote for their favourite British act at a major US Awards ceremony.

Sway, who was voted winner ahead of fellow British rappers Kano, Dizzee Rascal, Blak Twang and Plan B, will travel to Atlanta later this month to collect his award. 1Xtra listeners will be given the chance to win the trip of a lifetime, as the station will be running a competition to send two lucky winners to the ceremony.

Sway said "I'm crazy excited, I’m over the moon. This is a massive opportunity not just for me but hip-hop in the UK generally… I wanna sell some units in that place (USA)… I'm over the moon, I'm ready to do whatever… Big-up to the 1Xtra listeners who voted for me.  I got a crazy response from 1Xtra."

British hip-hop fans began voting on 13 October through ground breaking association between BET (Black Entertainment Television), MTV Base and BBC 1Xtra.

Fans were able to select their favourite UK hip- hop Act via websites of MTV Base and 1Xtra BBC. With nearly 20,000* votes cast in under two weeks music industry insiders acknowledge that this represents a phenomenal appetite for the growth of British Hip- Hop and the power of the BET brand.

Sway will play a feature role in the BET Hip-Hop Awards with other heavyweights such as Ludacris, TI, Snoop and Young Jeezy. The opportunity provides Sway with an International platform where 83 million households in North America and the Caribbean can access the best of British hip-hop.

Executive Producer for Live Events and Specialist Programmes Ray Paul added: "1Xtra are proud to be associated with this prestigious award – congratulations to Sway, who we have supported from the beginning of his career – we wish him all the best and will be out there to document his big day in Atlanta – stay tuned for that…"

Stephen Hill, BET Executive Vice President for Entertainment and Music and BET hip hop Awards Executive Producer commented, “Sway is an amazingly talented cat with standout flow and crazy word play. BET has a long standing history of introducing new music and artists to the US collective consciousness. UK hip-hop has been bubbling for a minute and with the exposure Sway will receive from the show and his win in his category; we're excited to expose dope new sounds to our audience once again”.

1Xtra will be running reports from the Awards on November 13th, and Semtex hosts a BET Hip Hop Awards special, 7-10pm on Friday 17th November.   

For further information, keep listening to 1Xtra and check the website.
Listen live to 1Xtra via Digital DAB Radio, or by logging on to http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra and via Digital Cable on Channels Sky Digital 0137, Telewest & Broadband 907, NTL Digital 907 and Freeview 701.

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