Chidera Anamege, now known by his stage name Chiddy Bang, is an American rapper from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Prior to its breakup, Chiddy Bang was an American hip hop duo consisting of Anamege, under the stage name Chiddy, and Noah Beresin, under the stage name Xaphoon Jones. The duo was introduced by former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 while the two were studying at
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...
, in Beresin's hometown of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Anamege's sound is based on the fusion of hip hop and alternative using samples from artists such as
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...
,
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
,
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...
,
Passion Pit,
MGMT
MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...
,
Matt and Kim
Matt and Kim (sometimes stylized MATT and KIM) are an American indie electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York City. The group formed in 2004 and consist of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums). The duo is known for its upbeat d ...
and
Yelle
Yelle is a French band founded by lead singer and namesake Yelle (Julie Budet) and GrandMarnier (Jean-François Perrier). A third member, Tepr (Tanguy Destable), joined the band before the recording of their debut album. Yelle and GrandMarnier b ...
. In 2013, Beresin left the group to focus on producing, and Anamege became a solo artist, with Beresin playing the role as frequent collaborator.
History
2009: Formation and breakthrough
In late February 2009, the popular music blog Pretty Much Amazing showcased five songs by the duo that were on their Myspace account. Shortly after, the group gained some following in the underground among music blogs and local colleges playing a notably packed show at
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...
and Middlebury College in April 2009.
Pretty Much Amazing continued to occasionally release new songs from the duo and in November 2009 debuted the group's first free mixtape entitled ''The Swelly Express''.
On April 28, 2011 during the first-ever MTV O Music Awards, Anamege broke the Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap and Longest Marathon Rapping Record by freestyling for 9 hours, 18 minutes, and 22 seconds, stealing the throne from rapper M-Eighty, who originally broke the record in 2009 by rapping for 9 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
Anamege had also beat Canadian rapper D.O. for Longest Marathon Rapping session, the previous record being for 8 hours and 45 minutes.
The duo have had appearances in several video games, such as in the sports game ''
NBA 2K12
''NBA 2K12'' is a 2011 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It was released in October 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and, ...
'' with their song "Here We Go"from their EP ''
The Preview'', featuring rapper
Q-Tip of hip hop group
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,[Q-Tip](_blank)
, as well as in ''
Madden NFL 12
''Madden NFL 12'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It was released on August 30, 2011 in North America and Asia, September 1, 2011 in Australia, and Septemb ...
'' with their song
"Mind Your Manners" featuring Swedish electropop duo
Icona Pop
Icona Pop ( ) is a Swedish electropop duo which formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987) and Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986), grew up in Stockholm and create what the ...
. Their single "
Opposite of Adults
"Opposite of Adults" is a song by American hip hop duo Chiddy Bang. It was released in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2010. The song contains Sampling (music), samples of "Kids (MGMT song), Kids" by MGMT. It was released in the United States ...
" was included in the racing game ''
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit,'' in addition to being chosen as the goal song for
Team North America
The term Team North America is used in a number of sports to designate a unified team of North American countries in several sports competitions and sports tournaments.
Competitions featuring a North American team
:''Note that in the above spo ...
in the
2016 World Cup of Hockey
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey (abbreviated WCH2016) was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the third installment of the National Hockey League (NHL)-sanctioned competition, 12 years after the second World Cup of Hockey in 2004. It was ...
as well. The singles "Happening" and "Shine" were included on the soundtracks to the movies
''Sex Tape'' and
''Sisters'' respectively.
2009–2010: ''The Swelly Express'' and ''Air Swell''
''
The Swelly Express
''The Swelly Express'' is a mixtape by American band Chiddy Bang. It was released on October 29, 2009. It is the debut mixtape of the group, and it consists of 18 tracks: 12 songs, 5 skits, and 1 freestyle. Despite being Chiddy Bang's debut mixtap ...
'' was the debut mixtape from the duo. The mixtape quickly gained a music following from its online hit "
Opposite of Adults
"Opposite of Adults" is a song by American hip hop duo Chiddy Bang. It was released in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2010. The song contains Sampling (music), samples of "Kids (MGMT song), Kids" by MGMT. It was released in the United States ...
" (which includes a sample from
MGMT
MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...
's song "
Kids
Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to:
Common meanings
* Colloquial term for a child or other young person
** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age
* Engage in joking
* Young goats
* The goat meat of young goats
* Kidskin, lea ...
"). ''The Swelly Express'' tells the story of the duo'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
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
and
Pogo ("Expialidocious"). It also contains a guest appearance from
Black Thought
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...
of
The Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...
. The songs "Opposite of Adults", "Truth", "Fresh Like Us", "All Things Go" (including a sample from Sufjan Steven's "Chicago"), and "Dream Chasin'" have been re-released for download via the
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
since the release of the mixtape.
On April 8, 2010, the duo followed up ''The Swelly Express'' with the mini-mixtape ''Air Swell''. As the duo had a strong following in the UK, many popular UK artists were featured on the mixtape, including
La Roux
La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album ''La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles suc ...
,
Kate Nash
Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is an English singer-songwriter and actress.
Nash launched her music career in 2005. Her 2007 single " Foundations" became a hit and brought her to public attention in the UK. Her debut album, '' Made of Bricks ...
,
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...
,
Tinie Tempah
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
and
Gorillaz
Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...
.
The UK-based EMI subsidiary
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
had heard about the group through their online following.
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."
The duo signed to Parlophone/EMI with plans to release a full-length album in 2011.
![Chiddy Bang @ RPI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Chiddy_Bang_%40_RPI.jpg)
That same year the band headlined their first tour,
''The Swelly Life Tour'' featuring
Donnis
Ladonnis Decurtis Crump (born June 2, 1984), better known by the stage name Donnis, is an American rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia. He released his debut mixtape, ''Diary of an ATL Brave'', in 2009, and signed to Atlantic Records in 2010.
E ...
and
XV. The duo also opened up for Tinie Tempah on his UK ''Disc-Overy'' tour. Chiddy Bang have toured extensively throughout colleges nationwide and hit numerous festivals such as Lollapolooza, Austin City Limits, Bamboozle, Bonnaroo, Wireless Festival, Glastonbury and Electric Forest Festival.
2011–2012: ''Peanut Butter and Swelly'' and ''Breakfast''
''
Peanut Butter and Swelly
''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 debut album ''Breakfast (Chiddy Bang album), Breakfast''. The third mixtape released by the group, it c ...
'' is the third mixtape by the duo. It was released on May 27, 2011 as a prequel to their upcoming debut album ''
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or "t ...
''. It consists of 15 tracks featuring fellow rappers including
Trae tha Truth
Frazier Othel Thompson III (born July 3, 1980), better known by his stage name Trae tha Truth (or simply Trae), is an American rapper and record executive from Houston, Texas. Embarking on a musical career in 1998, he soon established himself ...
,
Casey Veggies
Casey Joseph Jones (born July 18, 1993), better known by his stage name Casey Veggies, is an American rapper and songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Since 2007, he has released five independent mixtapes under LA clothing and management comp ...
and
Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...
as well as singer eLDee the Don and electronic music duo
The Knocks
The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums Big Beat Records, Neon Gold">Big Beat Records (American record label)">Big Beat Records, Neon ...
. The mixtape contains many references to Anamege's Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap.
The duo initially planned a late summer release for their debut studio album ''
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or "t ...
'' 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 includes samples from Swedish pop band
Icona Pop
Icona Pop ( ) is a Swedish electropop duo which formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987) and Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986), grew up in Stockholm and create what the ...
. The single is also on the soundtrack for the
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...
video game ''
Madden NFL 12
''Madden NFL 12'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It was released on August 30, 2011 in North America and Asia, September 1, 2011 in Australia, and Septemb ...
''. On February 8, Chiddy Bang released a snippet of the song "Breakfast" as a teaser for the album.
2013–present: ''Baggage Claim''
On June 18, 2014 it was announced that Beresin would be stepping back as an artist and focus on his producing. Anamege announced that he would be releasing a mixtape in late September called ''Baggage Claim'', and released the first single, "Breathe", on August 19, 2013. Anamege released a second single on September 12, 2013 titled "HeartBeat" (featuring Two Guyz). On October 9 Anamege announced via Twitter that Baggage Claim would be released October 11, "Dropping baggage claim on Friday!". It was subsequently pushed back to October 16, 2013, and the release date is now September 2014, he announced this via SKEE radio on the show Anoother Dirty Night Radio, and also via Twitter saying a mixtape would drop late summer. Anamege ended up delaying the track again, and on February 22, 2015 he confirmed on Instagram that the "album" ''Baggage Claim'' will come in the spring of 2015. Also on the same day, Anamege posted on Facebook to say that he was "90 percent done with my album!". He also said that he "even managed to put together a few surprises". However, ''Baggage Claim'' is still unreleased.
World Freestyle Record
On April 29, 2011, after rapping for 9 hours, 18 minutes, and 22 seconds at
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's inaugural
O Music Awards
The O Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the OMAs) is an awards show presented by MTV to honor music, technology and intersection between the two. The 1st O Music Award ceremony was held on April 28, 2011 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Veg ...
in Las Vegas, Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege earned himself a place in the
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
for Longest Freestyle and Longest Continuous Rap, a title previously held by Canadian rapper
D. O., in August 2003 at 8 hours and 45 minutes and 23 seconds. 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
* 2010:
''The Preview''
* 2012:
''Breakfast''
References
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
Alternative hip hop groups
Hip hop groups from Philadelphia
I.R.S. Records artists
Musical groups established in 2009
Parlophone artists
Virgin Records artists
Rappers from Philadelphia