Swollen Members

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Swollen Members
Origin Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre(s) Hip hop
Years active Mid-1990s–present
Label(s) Battle Axe Records
Website http://www.swollenmembers.com/
Members
Mad Child
Prevail
Rob The Viking
Former members
Moka Only

Swollen Members are a Canadian hip hop group hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting principally of the duo Mad Child and Prevail. They have been called "two of the most innovative people in hip-hop".[1] Moka Only and Rob the Viking have been frequent collaborators, the latter being an official member since 2002. From 1999 to the present, the group have released four studio albums and one compilation of b-sides.

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[edit] Band 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.

That same year, the duo began recording their first tracks, with help from many of their friends from the scene - MCs, DJs, and producers, 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 gained for Swollen Members 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 also 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. Monsters was a collection of b-sides and outtakes along with three new songs, one of which featured British Columbian Nelly Furtado. Production credits included 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" were featured in the videogame SSX3. In 2004, the Swollen Members song "Bottom Line" was featured in 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 is unlisted on their official site discography. A single from the album, "Put Me On (feat. Everlast)", was released in August, 2006.

They are currently in the studio with the Dust Brothers, working on their latest album Beautiful Death Machine. It is scheduled to be released in 2008. According to the band's website, Mad Child will soon release a solo album.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Collaborations

[edit] Awards and Recognition

[edit] Juno Awards

[edit] 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 ("Breath" feat. Nelly Furtado and directed by Todd McFarlane)

[edit] 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/HipHop Recording ("Monsters in the Closet")
  • 2003 Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Video ("Breath" feat. Nelly Furtado)
  • 2004 Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap / Hip Hop Recording ("Heavy")


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Shapiro, P: The Rough Guide To Hip-Hop, page 53. Rough Guides, 2005
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