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.
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. Swollen Members is one of only three rap groups affiliated with Rock Steady, Others include Dilated Peoples and The Arsonists.
Their first releases were three 12" singles on Mad Child's record label Battleaxe Records, between the years of 1996 and 1998, then came the debut album Balance in 1999. Balance received wide critical acclaim and has since sold over 47,000 copies in Canada. Featuring collaborations with artists such as Everlast, Divine Styler, and Dilated Peoples, the re-issued 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, 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'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 British Columbian pop singer, Nelly Furtado. Production credits include Evidence from Dilated Peoples.
In 2003, the band released Heavy. 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. Later that year, Nettwerk Management dropped the group due to Mad Child's affiliation with the Hell's Angels.
Armed to the Teeth was released October 27, 2009 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". This release was followed by a North American tour with Australian Hip-Hop group Bliss 'n' Eso.
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 Saigon. A compilation album titled Monsters 2 was released August 2, 2011.
On December 6, Swollen released a compilation of previously unreleased tracks from 1997, titled 1997 the rap group Dilated Peoples was featured on the track Canada 3000.
The song "High Road" was featured in the movie "One Big Trip". The song includes many audio clips from the movie. Mad Child's first verse mentions the movie directly "Just like this movie Big Trip, where five drive across the country as they journey through new realms, the helm of an adventure as they capture it on film."
On August 5 and 6, 2011, Mad Child participated in World Domination 2, an mc battle event thrown by King Of The DOT a battle league from Canada which featured mcs from all over the world. Mad Child battled Dirt Bag dan for 3 rounds a top mc from grind time west coast division. Mad Child won by a split decision.
On August 14, 2012, the Swollen Members would record a song with the Insane Clown Posse on The Mighty Death Pop!'s bonus album, Mike E. Clark's Extra Pop Emporium. The song they recorded with them is called "Lost In The Music".
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