Swollen Members is a four-time

JUNO Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

-winning

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group from

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, consisting mainly of Madchild and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only (who actually helped form the group in the mid-1990s, left, and then joined 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 Drake) and were the best-selling Canadian hip hop group in Canada.

History

Foundation and single releases

Swollen Members was founded in 1995 by Vancouverites Madchild (Shane Bunting), Prevail (Kiley Hendriks). Having begun a solo career while living in

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, California, Madchild returned to Vancouver to work. In Vancouver, he met Prevail and Moka Only, who had been working together earlier and joined them. The group had to decide on a name and Moka Only 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. In 1999, the group released their debut album “ Balance” to positive reviews, with features from Del the Funky Homosapien, Aceyalone, and

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, who also produced on the album, along with The Alchemist and others. The album peaked at #40 on Canadian alternative albums and #43 on Canadian rap albums.

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, 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.

2002-2003: ''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. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

. Production credits include

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

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

2003-2004: ''Heavy''

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 "The Bottom Line" was featured in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s '' WWE Day of Reckoning'' and '' WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw''.

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''. 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.

Everlast Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage names Everlast and Whitey Ford, is an American Rapping, rapper, Singing, singer, and songwriter who was the Lead vocalist, frontman for Hip hop music, hip hop group House of Pain. ...

)", 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'', ''Greatest Hits''

'' 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, Talib Kweli,

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper and singer. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold ...

, 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. In 2010, Swollen Members released their greatest hits album, which reached #110 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

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'' 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.

2018: ''"Bank Job" + other projects''

In 2018, the Swollen Members single "Bank Job" was released on all platforms, followed by several solo releases by Madchild and Prevail and Rob the Viking's new project XL The Band. In 2021, Swollen Members released a single and music video for "Tetris" featuring Neph. Since then, Madchild has been focused on solo releases, and Prevail and Rob the Viking have been focused on XL The Band.

Group members

;Current members * Madchild – (1995 – present, but now focusing on solo music) * Prevail – (1995 – present, but now focusing on XL The Band with Rob the Viking) *Rob the Viking – (2002 – present, but now focusing on XL The Band with Prevail) ;Former members * Moka Only – (1995, 2002 – 2005) *Easy Roc – (1995 – 1996) *Zodak – (1995 – 1996)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

Awards and recognition

Juno Awards

MuchMusic Video Awards

Western Canadian Music Awards

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

*http://www.xltheband.com/ * {{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