Lil Swag

Zechariah Sang-yeon Kwon Soriano (Korean: 권상연 Kwon Sang-yeon; Hanja: 權爽緣 Quán Shuǎngyuán) (born September 16, 2004; age 17), better known as Lil Swag, is a Filipino-born Randomese rapper known for his hyperactive persona and signature loud style of rapping. He rose to popularity in November 2020 with his debut EP "Arrival", which peaked at number 3 on the Random-ness 200 music chart and was certified three-times platinum and two-times gold. He is currently signed to Random Records.

Early life
Zechariah Sang-yeon Soriano Kwon was born on September 16, 2004 in Olongapo, a city located in the Philippines, to Kristoffer John Soriano Ulanday, a Filipino former military soldier, and Kwon Eun-kyung (Korean: 권恩京; Hanja: 權恩京), a professional orchestra floutist who is a member of the ethnic group known as in China Joseonjok. He has one younger sister named Althea Ah-yun Kwon Soriano (Korean: 권아윤; Hanja: 權雅閏 Quán Yǎrùn), who was born on February 19, 2008.

Zechariah spent much of his formative years in Olongapo, where he was regarded as a "class clown" by his friends and teachers. He would frequently get in trouble due to his disruptive antics. Despite this, he consistently received good grades and demonstrated a kind personality toward his peers. According to his mother, he was "always an extremely extroverted, happy kid who always wanted to make people smile and laugh" and "wanted to be friends with everyone". Many fans theorize that Zechariah's public persona is heavily inspired by the rowdy disposition he maintained throughout his childhood.

Soon after he graduated middle school, the Kwon Soriano family moved across the world to the Random Region. At this time, eldest child Zechariah began to show interest in music and making his own rap songs, seeking out any opportunities he can to can hone his skills. Prior to getting formally involved with the music business, Zechariah posted his own freestyles to his now-deleted Soundcloud account, S4DBOYSW4G. In these tracks, he would improvise lyrics over instrumental beats that he made in GarageBand. At some time during his freshman year of high school, Zechariah was encouraged to pursue a serious music career by his mother and his high school music teacher.

Zechariah chose the stage name "Lil Swag" because in his freshman year, he and his friend were looking at memes on Instagram during class -- one of which had the word "swag" in it -- and he considers it his most vivid memory of his freshman year of high school.

2020: Arrival and The Basement!
Zechariah, under the name Lil Swag, made his official debut on November 1, 2020 at the age of 16 with a mixtape titled "Arrival", with the song "Dark Energy" as its title track. Other notable songs from the mixtape include the b-sides “Roll With Us” and "Demonic". The mixtape enjoyed a positive reception from critics and listeners upon release, many of whom cited his "energetic screech-rapping" and catchy instrumentals. "Dark Energy" went on to become certified gold in the Random Region, and also charted high in multiple other countries, including America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Not long after in January 2021, Zechariah announced that he would be releasing a second mixtape, "The Basement!" some time in February. It would soon be released on January 29th - much earlier than anticipated. Accompanied by the title tracks "Six" and "Social Disease", this comeback was also met with a positive reception.

2021: GROWING PAINS! and future projects
On June 27, 2021, Zechariah released his first studio album, "GROWING PAINS!", with the songs "IN VAIN!", "Attention", and "Frenemy" as its three leading singles. "IN VAIN!" peaked at number 3 on the Random-ness Hot 100, while "Attention" and "Frenemy" peaked at 4 and 7 respectively. The GROWING PAINS! album itself peaked at number 2 on the Random-ness 200 chart and was certified two-times platinum in the Random Region.

Musical influences
Zechariah has stated that his musical influences and favorite artists include the likes of shinigami, Lil Peep, Babymetal, Joji, 100 gecs, Lil Mariko, Simple Plan, Sum 41, Machine Gun Kelly, Waterparks, AydenBeAngry and Lil Important. Zechariah is a notable fan of emo rap and has a public playlist of his favorite emo rap songs on his Spotify page, which has over 15,000 likes as of July 2022.

Ancestry
Zechariah is of Asian (Filipino and Korean Chinese) descent. During a March 2022 Instagram livestream, Zechariah discussed the results of a DNA test he took, revealing that he is also 1/8 Taiwanese on his mother's side. His Korean name is Kwon Sang-yeon (Korean: 권상연 Kwon Sang-yeon; Hanja: 權爽緣 Quán Shuǎngyuán).

For a large portion of Zechariah's career, there were rumors that he was trilingual and could speak English, Filipino and Korean fluently. He was quick to debunk these rumors in a May 15, 2021 interview; he stated that he only speaks English, but can speak "basic Filipino" and "can't understand Korean, which embarrasses [his] mom."

Discography
Bold text = single.

Studio albums

 * GROWING PAINS! (2021)
 * Tracklist:
 * "Where You Are" (Intro) (0:59)
 * "KING FOR A DAY" (4:00)
 * "IN VAIN!" (2:53)
 * "Memory" (2:34)
 * "Parking Lot" (3:47)
 * "High" (1:58)
 * "Attention" (2:51)
 * "Frenemy" (4:02)

Mixtapes

 * Arrival (2020)
 * Tracklist:

Comments
Does anyone know what happened to his song with Lil Important? I remember Important previewing the song on his Instagram live and I think it was meant for The Basement mixtape but it never got released.

-- DaManFan23, (talk) 2:15, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Probably a throwaway from that album, if either two still care about it right now, it's likely to appear on DDDM2.

-- bakinboi500, (talk) 06:13, 12 February 2022 (UTC)