URBNET Magazine Blog

Swollen Members sure have travelled a long and weird road in the decade since they debuted their novel combination of underground hip hop aesthetics with dark Dungeons & Dragons imagery and comic book references as demon-strated on their early 12-inches of the mid-90s. After a couple of albums where they represented the four elements of hip hop with members that included b-boys and graffiti artists, the core duo of Prevail and Mad Child officially expanded in 2002 to include frequent production collaborator Rob the Viking and rapper-singer Moka Only, the latter a founding member of the group and the one who came up with the name, although Moka soon went solo once again. Still, with Moka supplying the hooks and Rob offering up shinier, more commercial beats, and a whole lot of touring across Canada and the U.S. that continued to build on their young fanbase of hip hop heads and skaters, Swollen Members blew up and won a bunch of Junos. However, they’ve also hit some bumps along the way. Accusations of selling out from underground fans started it all off, but it was further exasperated by Mad Child’s friendship with the Hell’s Angels (which brought police scrutiny along with it) and a pain killer addiction that he just recently kicked. Despite it all, Swollen Members have returned reinvigorated with a new collaborating member (Tre Nyce), a new album (Armed To The Teeth) and a couple of digital-only solo EPs, and things look to be even bigger for Swollen Members for 2010. Hopefully it’s a smooth ride from here on in…

 

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