Swollen Members is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

hip hop group from

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, consisting mainly of

Madchild Shane Bunting (born October 21, 1975), better known by his stage name Madchild, is a Canadian rapper. He is part of the Vancouver-based hip hop group Swollen Members. In 2009, he released a solo EP titled ''The Madchild EP''. In 2012, he rele ...

and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist

Moka Only Daniel Denton (born November 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian underground hip hop artist. He has won 3 JUNO Awards, 5 MuchMusic Video Awards, and has been nominated for 11 Western Canadian Music Awards. Origina ...

(who was actually a member of the group for a short period of time in the mid-1990s when the group was formed, and then again from 2002 to 2005) along with the other former members Easy Roc & Zodak who were only in the group for a few years and producer Rob the Viking, an official group member since 2002. Swollen Members has released nine studio albums, one greatest hits album and 2 compilations, as well as numerous other singles. From 1996 to 2016, Swollen Members were the second best-selling Canadian hip hop artist in Canada (behind

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) and were the best-selling Canadian hip hop group in Canada.

History

Foundation and single releases

Swollen Members was founded in 1990 by Vancouverites Madchild (Shane Bunting), Prevail (Kiley Hendriks), and Moka Only (Daniel Denton). Having begun a solo career while living in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California, Madchild returned to Vancouver to work. There he met Prevail and Moka Only, who had been working together. He joined together. The group had to decide on a name and

suggested Swollen Members as a joke and it stuck. The group began testing the international hip-hop waters by releasing four 12-inch vinyl singles on Madchild's own indie label Battleaxe Records initially distributed by New York-based Fat Beats; the singles sold approximately 10,000 copies each.

2001-2002: Second album and mainstream success

Following ''Balance'', Swollen Members recorded and released '' Bad Dreams'', released on November 13, 2001, and featuring guests such as Chali 2na of

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 is an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1994 by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mark Potsic ( DJ Nu-Mark) and Lucas Ma ...

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, Joey Chavez, and former member Moka Only. It appealed to both underground and mainstream audiences, reaching platinum status in Canada. The album earned Swollen Members their second Juno Award and four MuchMusic Video Awards including best rap video, best director and best independent video.

2002-2003: ''Monsters in the Closet''

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, "Breathe" which featured Portuguese Canadian pop singer,

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...

. Production credits include

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from Dilated Peoples. In January 2003, Swollen Members signed with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

2003-2004: ''Heavy''

In 2003, the band released ''

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''. In the same year the songs "All Night" and "Deep End (

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Remix)" were featured in the videogame '' SSX3''. In 2004, the Swollen Members song "The Bottom Line" was featured in the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s ''

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'' and ''

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''.

2005-2006: ''Black Magic''

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 Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...

''. It is understood that Madchild 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.

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)", was released in August 2006. Later that year, Nettwerk Management dropped the group due to Madchild's affiliation with the Hell's Angels.

2009-2010: ''Armed to the Teeth''

'' Armed to the Teeth'' was released October 27, 2009 through Kottonmouth Kings label Suburban Noize Records. Featured artists on the album include

La Coka Nostra La Coka Nostra (short LCN) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group composed of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy (rapper), Danny Boy, Ill Bill and Slaine (rapper), Slaine. Biography Founded in late 2004 with no intention to record an album, La Coka N ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

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, Tre Nyce, and a return of Moka Only on the previously released track, "Red Dragon". This release was followed by a North American tour with Australian Hip-Hop group Bliss 'n' Eso.

2011-2012: ''Dagger Mouth''

Swollen Members scheduled the release of a studio album, ''Dagger Mouth'', for April 2011, under Suburban Noize. Its first single is "Mr. Impossible". The second single released off ''Dagger Mouth'' is "Bring Me Down" which features rapper

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. A compilation album titled ''Monsters 2'' was released August 2, 2011.

2013: ''Beautiful Death Machine''

On March 19, 2013, their ninth studio album, '' Beautiful Death Machine'' was released, and had debuted at number 3 on the Canadian Albums Chart, making it the group's highest charting album in Canada to date.

2014: ''Brand New Day''

June 17, 2014 brought their tenth studio album ''Brand New Day'' to store shelves across the world. In mid-February 2015, Madchild was listed on the ''

King of the Dot King of The Dot Entertainment, also known as KOTD, is a North American rap battle league founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2008. The company's HQ is based in Toronto, from which it gets its name. Successful battlers such as Pat Stay, Dizas ...

'' BO5 card against the battle rapper by the stage name of Daylyt. Footage of his trailer for this event can be found on the KOTD Entertainment channel on YouTube. The footage of the battle can be seen on the KOTD YouTube channel. In 2018, The single Bank Job was released on all platforms followed by several solo projects by Madchild and XL The Band. After a long awaited hiatus, Swollen returned with the single 'Tetris' featuring Neph accompanied by a music video with dropped on YouTube in 2021.

Group members

;Current members *

– (1996–?; now solo) * Prevail – (1992–?; now part of XL The Band with Rob the Viking) *Rob the Viking – (2002–forever in the infinite universe; now part of XL The Band with Prevail) ;Former members *

– (1992–1996, 2002–2005) *Easy Roc – (1995–1998) *Zodak – (1995–1999)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

Awards and recognition

Juno Awards

*2007 – Rap Recording of the Year (''Black Magic'') *2003 – Rap Recording of the Year (''Monsters In The Closet'') *2002 – Best Rap Recording (''Bad Dreams'') *2001 – Best Rap Recording (''Balance'')

MuchMusic Video Awards

*2003 – MuchVIBE Best Rap Video ("Breathe" feat.

and directed by

Todd McFarlane Todd McFarlane (; born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic book creator, artist, writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, best known for his work as the artist on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horro ...

) *2002 – MuchVIBE Best Rap Video ("Fuel Injected" feat.

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)

Western Canadian Music Awards

*2011 – Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop Recording ("Dagger Mouth") *2004 – Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop Recording ("Heavy") *2003 – Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop Recording ("Monsters In The Closet") *2003 – Western Canadian Music Awards Outstanding Video ("Breathe" feat.

)

Additional awards

*2003 – COCA Campus Entertainment Awards Entertainer of the Year *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 ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

'' Readers Choice Best Urban Act

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swollen Members Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian hip hop groups Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year winners 1990 establishments in British Columbia