Swollen Members are a Canadian
hip hop group from
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada consisting principally of the duo
Mad
Child and Prevail. They have been called "two of the most
innovative people in hip-hop". Frequent collaborators include
vocalist
Moka Only and producer Rob The
Viking, an official group member since 2002. Since the group's
formation in 1999, Swollen Members has released five studio albums
and one compilation, which consists mainly of B-sides as well as
three new songs.
History
Swollen
Members was founded in the mid-1990s by Vancouverites
Mad Child (Shane Bunting), Prevail (Kiley
Hendriks), and Moka Only (Daniel Denton). Having begun a solo
career while living in San Francisco, California
, Mad Child returned to Vancouver to work.
There he met Prevail and Moka Only, who had been working together.
They joined together under the name Swollen Members. Soon after,
however, Moka Only decided he wanted to pursue a solo career and
left the group.
In 1996,
Mad Child and Prevail went to the B-Boy Summit in San Diego,
California
, where Mad Child won several rap battles and was initiated into the
Rock Steady Crew. The crew
is held in great respect as hip hop's highest collective - to join
one must win a contest of skill against one of the highest ranked
members. Swollen Members is one of only three rap groups affiliated
with Rock Steady, Others include Dilated Peoples and The
Arsonists.
That same year, the duo began recording their first tracks, with
help from many of their friends from the scene -
MC,
DJs, and
producer, including Rob the Viking. Rob
would continue to work with the group through the years, eventually
joining them officially. Their first releases were three 12"
singles on Mad Child's record label
Battleaxe Records, then came the debut
album
Balance in 1999.
Balance received wide critical acclaim and has been
claimed by the band to have sold in excess of 50,000 copies.
Featuring collaborations with artists such as
Everlast,
Divine
Styler, and
Dilated Peoples, the
album received the
2001 Juno
Award for Best Rap Recording.
Following
Balance, Swollen Members recorded and released
Bad Dreams, released on
November 13,
2001,
and featuring guests such as
Chali 2na of
Jurassic 5,
Son
Doobie,
Joey Chavez, and former
member
Moka Only. It appealed to both
underground and
mainstream audiences,
with several singles reaching
platinum
status in Canada. The album earned Swollen Members their second
Juno Award and four
MuchMusic
Video Awards.
2002's
Monsters In The
Closet, their third release, brought official group
membership for
Moka Only and Rob The
Viking to Swollen Members. Monsters In The Closet was a collection
of B-sides and outtakes along with three new songs, "Breath" which
featured British Columbian
Nelly
Furtado. Production credits include
Evidence from Dilated Peoples.
2003 brought
Heavy, again released to
critical acclaim and good sales, though many fans felt that Swollen
Members had removed many elements of the style which had been so
rewarding in the past. In the same year the songs "All Night" and
"Deep End (Utah Saints Remix)" were featured in the videogame
SSX3. In 2004, the Swollen Members song "Bottom
Line" was featured in the videogames
WWE Day of Reckoning and
WWE SmackDown! vs.
Raw.
In 2005,
Moka Only decided to break off
from the group for a second time and continue work on his solo
career. The following year, Swollen Members released their fifth
full album,
Black Magic. It is
understood that Mad Child and Prevail made an attempt to return to
their previously critically acclaimed style and method. Their
previous album
Heavy was unlisted on their official site
discography. A single from the album, "Put Me On (feat.
Everlast)", was released in August, 2006.
Swollen Members are currently touring with Tre Nyce by the name of
Battle Axe Warriors. They are about to begin an American summer
tour headlining with Kottonmouth Kings. They have released three
new songs via Swollen Member's MySpace page, entitled "Bang Bang",
"U Not 1", and "Reclaim the Throne".
Armed to
the Teeth was released October 27 through Swollen's new
label Suburban Noize Records. Featured artists on the album include
La Coka Nostra, Talib Kweli, Tech N9ne, Tre Nyce, and a return of
Moka Only on the previously-released track, "Red Dragon".
In addition, the group has been rumored to release "Beautiful Death
Machine" in 2010 which should be a best of, containing mostly all
old tracks, and maybe some new ones, as a Swollen Members-only
project. Mad Child and Prevail both also released solo digital-only
EPs in 2009, and plan to continue releasing solo material in
addition to the group projects.
Group members
- Current members
- Mad Child – (1996-present)
- Prevail – (1996-present)
- Rob the Viking – (2002-present)
- Former members
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Solo albums
- 2009: Baseball Bat and Nails (Prevail solo EP)
- 2009: The Mad Child EP (Mad
Child solo EP)
Collaborations
Music Videos
- Lady Venom (2001)
- Take It Back (2002)
- Bring It Home (2002)
- Breathe w/ Nelly Furtado (2003)
- Watch This (2004)
- Put Me On feat. Everlast (2006)
- Pressure (2009)
- Warrior feat. Tre Nyce & Young Kazh (2009)
- Bollywood Chick feat. Tech N9ne & Tre Nyce (2009)
- fuel injected (2003)
Awards and Recognition
Juno Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
- 2002 - MuchVIBE Best Rap Video ("Fuel Injected" feat. Moka Only and directed by Wendy Morgan)
- 2002 - MuchMusic Best Director ("Fuel Injected" feat. Moka Only
and directed by Wendy Morgan)
- 2002 - MuchMusic VideoFACT Award ("Fuel Injected" feat. Moka
Only and directed by Wendy Morgan)
- 2002 - MuchMusic Best Independent Video ("Fuel Injected" feat.
Moka Only and directed by Wendy Morgan)
- 2003 - MuchVIBE Best Rap Video ("Breathe" feat. Nelly Furtado and directed by Todd McFarlane)
Additional Awards
- 2002 - Canadian Radio Music Awards Breakthrough Artist ("Fuel
Injected" feat. Moka Only)
- 2002 - West Coast Music Awards Best Urban Release (Bad
Dreams)
- 2002 - The Georgia
Straight Readers Choice Best Urban Act
- 2003 - COCA Campus Entertainment Awards Entertainer of the
Year
- 2003 - Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop
Recording ("Monsters In The Closet")
- 2003 - Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Video
("Breathe" feat. Nelly Furtado)
- 2004 - Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop
Recording ("Heavy")
See also
External links
Notes
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