Hip-hop artist Yung Swiss has come a long way from being homeless and "hustling" to be heard after his father told him that he could not chase a music career if he stayed under his roof.

Swiss, who was recently voted the best trap artist in South Africa by MTV Base, told TshisaLIVE that he had to leave home because no one believed in his music.

"The hardest decision for me was having to choose music over my dad. My dad did not want me to do music at all because it is the last thing you want your son to do. But I was so passionate about music that at 18 I had to leave my dad's house because he told me that I could not stay in his house if I wanted to keep doing music. So, I made that sacrifice. I left the house. I didn't know where I was going. I just knew that this (being a musician) was something I was destined to be," he said.


He said that during this time he bounced between staying with friends and sleeping on park benches.


"Somedays I didn't even have a place to stay. I would sleep on a park bench or something like that but the one thing that got people to let me in their homes was my music. People who heard my music would go: 'Flip, bro. Something is going to happen with you someday. Come through, live here for a week and then obviously I would have to leave after a week. I didn't have a place to stay so I would bounce from couch to couch," he revealed.


Swiss said his fortunes changed when he met two guys who ran a production company.
They suggested that he join them and try to break into the industry.


Two years later, he was working with the likes of rapper Reason and having his music playlisted on radio.


"I remember not being able to sleep because I was waiting for Reason's verse. I knew that if he heard my music he would jump on a track and that's what he did," he explained.


Swiss went on to dominate charts with hit tracks like David Gennaro and DJ Speedsta's Mayo.


It was after this success that he reconciled with his father. "I don't hold grudges so I made peace with it long ago but it was nice to hear him say that he now understood why I had made the sacrifice," Swiss said.