Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang
Chiddy Bang performing in 2010
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Hip hop, alternative hip hop, indie hip hop, hipster hop,[1] electro, electronica, indietronica, synthpop
Years active	2009–present
Labels	I.R.S, Parlophone, EMI, Regal [2]
Associated acts	MGMT, Mac Miller, Casey Veggies, Passion Pit
Website	chiddybang.net
Members	Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege
Past members	Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin

Chidera Anamege, better known by his stage name Chiddy Bang is an American hip hop recording artist. Prior to their break up, Chiddy Bang was an American pop-rap group consisting of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege & Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 while they were studying at Drexel University,^[3] in Noah's hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Their sound is based on the fusion of hip hop and alternative using samples from artists such as Ellie Goulding, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Passion Pit, MGMT, and Yelle. In 2013, Noah Beresin left the group to focus on producing and Chiddy Bang became a solo artist with Noah still playing a role as frequent collaborator.

Career

In late February 2009, the popular music blog Pretty Much Amazing showcased five songs by Chiddy Bang that were on their Myspace account. Because of this, the group gained some following in the underground among music blogs and local colleges playing a notably packed show at Swarthmore College in April 2009. Pretty Much Amazing continued to occasionally release new Chiddy Bang songs, and in November 2009, debuted the group's first free mixtape entitled "The Swelly Express."^[4] During Thursday night’s first-ever MTV O Music Awards, Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege of Chiddy Bang broke the Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap as well as the Longest Marathon Rapping Record. Chiddy stole the throne from M-Eighty, who originally broke the record in 2009 by rapping for 9 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds, by freestyling for 9 hours, 18 minutes, and 22 seconds.^[5] He also beat out D.O. (a.k.a. Duane Gibson, Canada) for Longest Marathon Rapping session. D.O. rapped for eight hours and 45 minutes. They had an appearance in the hit video game NBA 2K12 with their song "Here We Go" featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, and also made an appearance in Madden 12 with their song "Mind Your Manners" featuring Icona Pop. The hit song "Opposite of Adults" was also featured in the Need for Speed games when it was included in "Need For Speed:Hot Pursuit"

The Swelly Express

The Swelly Express was the debut mixtape from hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang and Andrew Chidwick. The mixtape quickly gained a music following from its online hit "Opposite of Adults" (which features a sample from MGMT's song "Kids"). The Swelly Express tells the story of Chiddy Bang's rise in the music business and their experiences with record labels, it was first released and promoted through the music blog Pretty Much Amazing. The mixtape was praised by fans for the production style, including samples from Passion Pit (Truth), Tinie Tempah and Pogo (Expialidocious). It also contains a guest appearance from Black Thought of The Roots. The songs "Truth", "Opposite of Adults", "Fresh Like Us", "All Things Go" (featuring a sample from Sufjan Steven's "Chicago"), and "Dream Chasin'" have been re-released for download via iTunes since the release of the mixtape .^[4]

Air Swell

On 8 April 2010, Chiddy Bang followed up The Swelly Express with the mini-mixtape Air Swell. As the hip-hop duo had a strong following in the UK, many popular UK artists were featured on the mixtape including La Roux, Kate Nash, Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah and Gorillaz.

Sign to EMI/Parlophone

The UK-based EMI subsidiary Parlophone had heard about the group through their online following.^[6] According to president Miles Leonard, they had been listening to the song "Opposite of Adults" in the office all summer when A&R manager Ollie Slaney said: “As we keep on listening to this maybe we should do something with it.”^[6] The duo signed to Parlophone/EMI with plans to release a full-length album in 2011.

Chiddy Bang performing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on December 4, 2010

Sign to NUE Agency

Chiddy Bang signed exclusively with Jesse Kirshbaum of NUE Agency 29 April 2010 for booking representation.^[7] That same year the band headlined their first tour, The Swelly Life Tour^[8] featuring Donnis^[9] and XV (rapper).^[10][11] The duo also opened up for Tinie Tempah on his UK Disc-overy tour.^[12] Chiddy Bang has toured extensively throughout colleges nationwide and hit numerous festivals such as Lollapolooza,^[13] Austin City Limits, Bamboozle,^[14] Bonnaroo,^[15] Wireless Festival, Glastonbury and Electric Forest Festival.^[16]

Peanut Butter and Swelly (2011)

Peanut Butter and Swelly is a mixtape by the Philadelphia hip hop music duo Chiddy Bang. It was released in May 2011 as a prequel to their upcoming debut album Breakfast. The third mixtape released by the group, it consists of 15 tracks featuring several other rappers including Trae. The mixtape contains many references to the Guinness World Record for longest freestyle rap set by the group's rapper Chidera Anamege.

Breakfast (2012)

Chiddy Bang initially planned a late summer release for their debut studio album Breakfast in 2011. This was later changed to November 2011 and again to the following year in February 2012 when they opted to release a single from the album, "Ray Charles," instead. The album was released ahead of schedule on February 22, 2012 at midnight via iTunes and is available in the Google Play Music Store, iTunes, and Walmart. The first single "Mind Your Manners" premiered on June 29, 2011 and features samples from Swedish pop band Icona Pop. The single is also featured in the soundtrack for the EA Sports video game Madden NFL 12. It was also included on Now That's What I Call Music! 39, a collection of popular music with periodic releases. On February 8, Chiddy Bang released a snippet of the song "Breakfast" as a teaser for the album.

Baggage Claim (2014)

On June 18, it was announced that Xaphoon Jones would be stepping back as an artist and focus on his love of producing.^[17] Chiddy announced that he would be releasing a mixtape in late September called Baggage Claim, and released the first single, Breathe, Monday August 19, 2013. Chiddy released a second single on September 12, 2013 titled HeartBeat (feat. Two Guyz). On October 9 Chiddy announced via twitter that Baggage Claim would be released October the 11th, "Dropping baggage claim on friday!".^[18] It was subsequently pushed back to October 16, 2013,^[19] and the release date is now unknown.

World Freestyle Record

On April 29, 2011, after rapping for nine hours, 18 minutes, and 22 seconds at MTV’s inaugural O Music Awards in Las Vegas, Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for Longest Freestyle and Longest Continuous Rap. He told XXLmag.com that it was “definitely a surreal experience.” He also mentioned that to earn the record he had to keep rapping even during the two bathroom breaks he took.

Discography

Studio Albums

• 2012: Breakfast

EPs

• 2010: The Opposite of Adults EP
• 2010: The Preview
• 2012: Mind Your Manners EP

Mixtapes

• 2009: The Swelly Express
• 2010: Air Swell
• 2011: Peanut Butter and Swelly
• 2013: Baggage Claim

References

Further reading

• "Chiddy Bang: From college freshmen to the new cool kids of hip-hop". Los Angeles Times. July 2, 2010.