Sweet Corey-Bey is Producing Shugsline

Sweet Corey-Bey is Producing Shugsline

photo by Angel Edwards

Shugsline is the production moniker of Sweet Corey-Bey, a musician, cultural organizer, and communications professional based in Philadelphia.

Across mediums of content creation, design, sound, and filmmaking, Sweet’s work applies a storytelling lens to shift cultural narratives and build more liberatory worlds in the legacy of other Gender-Variant cultural workers.  In addition to working as a social media and Marketing Coordinator for Journey Arts, Sweet supports the Southwest Philly food distribution program, Free Brunch Program by Wholistic Art. 

In 2026, Sweet will continue to broadcast Shugsline radio with the Inside Out Collective on WPFW Washington on 4th Mondays from 6-7pm. They will release their debut mixtape “On the Line”.

Sweet spent a third of 2025 on the road with Yaya Bey, touring Australia, Brazil, and North America. They lead the release of the Black Folks Don’t Swim? the album “Dangerous Currents” which was an honorable mention for Capital Bop’s top 5 albums of the year.

In 2024, they were awarded a Black Music City grant to support their project Black Blues Culture recognizing and honoring the influence of Philadelphia's Black music heritage, a collaboration between Philadelphia public music radio stations WXPN, WRTI, and REC Philly. they appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk supporting YaYa Bey, additionally accompanying YaYa on a headlining tour across North America. At the end of the year, they partnered with the Black Historians’ Department to headline the genre-exploration convening Downtempo Lover’s Ball.

In 2023, they were an Artist Fellow of the Marsha P Johnson Institute in the inaugural Starship Artist fellowship Program. They completed a Residency Pink Noise Projects where they presented an evolving community visioning and performance work “Soundtracking Freedom” supported by a Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant. They organized the event “Jazz Genealogies: Spring Sounds and Vinyl Swap” in Clark Park with the Support of the Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy for Jazz History Month. Sweet additionally scored the film “The Aunties” from the North Star to the Poplars that shares the stories of land stewards and elders Dear Donna J and Paulette Greene, that toured and was screened at Blackstar film festival.

In 2022, they were a Fall Artist in Residence at the University of the Arts Inspiration lab

They are a founding member and bandleader of the genre bending artist collaborative Black Folks Don’t Swim?, noted by DC-ist  for “it’s formula of fearless experimentation.” As a performer, Sweet’s practice is based in the fundamental Black music traditions of Blues, Jazz, Funk, Gospel and Soul.