Addis Black Widow is a Swedish band. Their songs include "Innocent", "Wait in Summer" and "Goes Around Comes Around" which reached #2 on the Swedish Tracks Chart in 2001. The single "Innocent" reached #42 in the UK Chart in 1996. Two years later they, under the moniker Bus 75, reached #69 in the UK Chart guesting on the song "Four Big Speakers" by Swedish rock band Whale. In 2007, the group entered Melodifestivalen's first semifinal with the song "Clubbin". The group finished last and did not make it to the finals. Band member "Cream", who lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, did not participate. Since 2008 Addis Black Widow has been a hip hop act led by Pigeonmun, one of the founders and the main producer/composer. Other bands associated with Addis Black Widow are Raw Meat Productions Hb and Surreal entertainment Db. The music is a mixture of hip hop, rap, and pop music Pigeonmun calls "hip pop".

Members

The Black Widow started with the original members from the rap group Puffy MC & Jah Rock combined with Da Cream. Although their backgrounds stretch from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, the band recorded their first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

(''The Battle of Adwa'') in their early twenties in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. They were the first Swedish based underground

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

band to reach

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

sales outside

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. Also called gay hip hop pioneers (Cream is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

), in 1996, Addis Black Widow was the first rap act to take a controversial lesbian themed

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

such as ("Innocent") to

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

s top 5 most played video list. "Innocent" peaked at #42 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1996. In 2001, they released the second album (''ABW'') with hit singles "Goes Around Comes Around" and "Wait in Summer". Because of musical differences and clash of

artistic Art is a diverse range of culture, cultural activity centered around works of art, ''works'' utilizing Creativity, creative or imagination, imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an express ...

interest, Cream left the band in 2005.

Albums

*''The Battle of Adwa'' (1995) *''ABW'' (2001)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Swedish musical groups Swedish people of Ethiopian descent English-language musical groups from Sweden