Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Electronica, hip hop, pop Rap
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Parlophone America[1]
Associated acts	Big Sean, MGMT, Passion Pit, Tinie Tempah, Q-Tip
Website	www.chiddy-bang.com
Members
Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin

Chiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin.^[2] The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University,^[3] in Noah's hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Their sound is based on the fusion of hip hop and alternative using samples from artists such as Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Passion Pit, MGMT, and Yelle.

Early life

Career

In late February 2009,. the popular music blog Pretty Much Amazing showcased five songs by Chiddy Bang that were on their Myspace account. Because of this, the group gained some following in the underground among music blogs and local colleges, playing a notably packed show at Swarthmore College in April 2009. Pretty Much Amazing continued to occasionally release new Chiddy Bang songs, and in November 2009 debuted the group's first free mixtape, entitled "The Swelly Express."During Thursday night’s first-ever MTV O Music Awards, Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege of Chiddy Bang broke the Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap, as well as the Longest Marathon Rapping Record. Chiddy stole the throne from M-Eighty – who broke the record in 2009 by rapping for nine hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds – by freestyling for nine hours and 18 minutes. He also beat out D.O. (aka Duane Gibson, Canada) for Longest Marathon Rapping session – D.O. rapped for eight hours and 45 minutes.^[4]

The Swelly Express

The Swelly Express is the debut mixtape from hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang. The mixtape quickly gained a music following from its online hit "Opposite of Adults" (which features a sample from MGMT's song "Kids"). The Swelly Express tells the story of Chiddy Bang'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 and Pogo (Expialidocious). It also contains a guest appearance from Black Thought of The Roots. The songs "Truth", "Opposite of Adults", "Fresh Like Us", "All Things Go", and "Dream Chasin'" have been re-released for download via iTunes since the release of the mixtape.^[4]

Air Swell

On 8 April 2010 Chiddy Bang followed up The Swelly Express with the mini-mixtape Air Swell. As the hip-hop duo had a strong following in the UK, many popular UK artists were featured on the mixtape including La Roux, Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah and Gorillaz.

Sign to EMI/Parlophone

The UK-based EMI subsidiary Parlophone had heard about the group through their online following.^[5] 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.”^[5] In March 2010 the duo signed to Parlaphone/EMI with plans to release a full-length album in 2011.

Sign to NUE Agency

Chiddy Bang signed exclusively with Jesse Kirshbaum of NUE Agency 29 April 2010 for booking representation.^[6] That same year the band headlined their first tour, The Swelly Life Tour^[7] featuring Donnis^[8] and XV(rapper).^[9][10] The duo also opened up for Tinie Tempah on his UK Disc-overy tour.^[11] Chiddy Bang has toured extensively throughout colleges nationwide and hit numerous festivals such as Lollapolooza,^[12] Austin City Limits, Bamboozle,^[13] Bonnaroo,^[14] Wireless Festival, Glastonbury and Electric Forest Festival.^[15]

Breakfast (2011)

Chiddy Bang was planning a late summer release for their debut studio album "Breakfast", the album will be available in both iTunes and Walmart. The first single "Mind Your Manners" was premiered on 29 June and features samples from Swedish pop band Icona Pop. It was also included on Now That's What I Call Music! 39 (U.S. series), a collection of popular music with periodic releases. On 30 August, in an interview with CraveOnMusic.com, Chiddy Bang stated they are planning on releasing Breakfast on 15 November. Xaphoon Jones, however, tweeted on November 7th that the album would not be released on November 15. He also stated in replies to fans that the album would be out soon, but not until after November. The single is also featured in the soundtrack for EA Sports Madden 12.

Discography

Albums

• Breakfast, February (2012)

EPs

Year	Title	Peak chart positions
		U.S. [16]	U.S. R&B [16]	U.S. Rap [16]
2010	The Opposite of Adults EP Released: 18 May 2010[17] Label: Parlophone America Format: CD	—	—	—
2010	Chiddy Bang: The Preview Released: 1 October 2010 Label: Parlophone America Format: CD	76	17	11

Mixtapes

• The Swelly Express (2009)
• Air Swell (2010)
• Peanut Butter and Swelly (2011)

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions[18]									Album
		UK	US	AUS	AUT	GER	IRE	JAP [19]	NZ	SWI
2010	"Opposite of Adults"	12	90	10	60	81	10	57	8	18	Chiddy Bang: The Preview
	"Truth"	50	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2011	"Mind Your Manners"	–	115	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	TBR
	As featured artist
2011	"Rescue Me" (You Me at Six feat. Chiddy Bang)	21	–	–	–	–	50	–	–	–	Rescue Me – EP
2011	"Children" (VV Brown feat. Chiddy Bang)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	TBA

Promotional singles

Year	Song	Album
2010	"The Good Life"	Chiddy Bang: The Preview

Music videos

Year	Song	Director
2010	The Opposite of Adults
	Truth
	Under The Sheets
	Pass Out (11 May 2010)
	Sooner or Later (30 June 2010)	Kristopher Rey-Talley
	Dream Chasin (19 July 2010)	Kristopher Rey-Talley
	The Good Life (17 September 2010)
2011	Too Fake (ft Big Sean)

References

1. ^ "The Music Industry's Leading A&R Site – by Alex Wilhelm". Crazed Hits. 2010-01-26. http://www.crazedhits.com/chiddy-bang-sign-to-emi/. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
2. ^ "“This Rock Rap Shit Is Ours” – Chiddy Bang «". Atetraks.com. 2009-06-08. http://atetraks.com/2009/06/08/chiddybang/. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
3. ^ "“Chiddy Bang Interview" «". CamelbackMusic.com. 2010-04-20. http://www.camelbackmusic.com/2010/04/chiddy-bang-interview_22.html. Retrieved 2011-03-03. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Chiddy Bang, ‘The Swelly Express’ Mixtape Premiere at PMA". Pretty Much Amazing. 2009-10-29. http://prettymuchamazing.com/music/chiddy-bang-the-swelly-express-mixtape-premiere. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Interview with Miles Leonard". HitQuarters. 7 Feb 2011. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_MLeonardInt.html. Retrieved 7 Feb 2011. 
6. ^ "ENCORE: The Standard in Live Entertainment News". Encore.celebrityaccess.com. 29 April 2010. http://encore.celebrityaccess.com/index.php?encoreId=245&articleId=34900. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
7. ^ DigiReyes – Blog Editor (21 July 2010). "Chiddy Bang – The Swelly Life Tour.". NUE Agency. http://nueagency.com/featured-events/chiddy-bang-the-swelly-life-tour/. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
8. ^ "Donnis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnis. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
9. ^ "XV (rapper) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XV_(rapper). Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
10. ^ "Innovative Hip Hop Duo Chiddy Bang Announces “The Swelly Life Tour” Featuring Donnis, Xv And Bad Rabbits". Hip Hop Press. 14 July 2010. http://www.hiphoppress.com/2010/07/innovative-hip-hop-duo-chiddy-bang-announces-the-swelly-life-tour-featuring-donnis-xv-and-bad-rabbit.html. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
11. ^ "Newsbeat – Tinie Tempah announces first UK headline tour". BBC. 14 July 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/10631793. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
12. ^ "Chiddy Bang at Lollapalooza 2010". 2010.lollapalooza.com. http://2010.lollapalooza.com/band/chiddy-bang. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
13. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
14. ^ "Artists". Bonnaroo. http://www.bonnaroo.com/artists/2011.aspx. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
15. ^ "June 28 – July 1, 2012 :: Rothbury, Michigan". Electric Forest Festival. 1 July 2011. http://www.electricforestfestival.com/chiddy-bang. Retrieved 21 October 2011. 
16. ^ ^{a b c} "Chiddy Bang Album & Song Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard.com. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
17. ^ http:/ /itunes.apple.com/us/album/opposite-of-adults-ep/id388109539
18. ^ "Chiddy Bang – Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/performer/chiddy_bang. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
19. ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/chiddy-bang/chart-history/1358834?f=848&g=Singles

Further reading

• "Chiddy Bang: From college freshmen to the new cool kids of hip-hop". Los Angeles Times. July 2, 2010. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/07/chiddy-bang-from-college-freshmen-to-the-new-cool-kids-of-hiphop.html.