Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo met in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University, in Noah's hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Their sound is based on the fusion of hip hop and unique sample choices from alternative leading artists such as Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Passion Pit, and MGMT.

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." It presented the story of the group's experiences trying to break into the music industry. The mixtape quickly gained popularity online.

Sign to EMI/Parlophone

The UK-based EMI subsidiary Parlophone had heard about the group through their online following. 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.” In January 2010 the group signed a record deal with EMI.

Their first commercial single, titled "Opposite of Adults", which samples the Brooklyn group MGMT's 'Kids', was released on February 21, 2010 in the UK on the Parlophone imprint Regal Recordings. (It had previously been released online under the name "Kids" in April 2009). It reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. "Opposite of Adults" was released on April 20, 2010 in the US.

Following the success of "Opposite of Adults", EMI/Parlophone announced on March 3 that the group had signed a further record contract, this time a more long-term exclusive worldwide deal. Parlophone president Miles Leonard told HitQuarters that the enthusiastic response from EMI's territories around the world made it clear early on that the group had enormous global potential.

Because very early on all the other territories within EMI got very excited about the music they heard, and were sending us the message that this sound was very much what was working in their territories. Now, when you’re hearing that from the US to Australia to Japan to Germany to France, you know that you’re on something that has the possibility of going global.

On April 8, 2010 Chiddy Bang released a free mini-mixtape called Air Swell, with artwork by "Christopher Lo", which was used as a platform to further their name in the United Kingdom. The mixtape contains remixes and samples from some of their favorite UK artists such as Gorillaz, Ellie Goulding, Kate Nash, Hot Chip and Tinie Tempah. Their first ever official release was an EP called "The Preview" which was released on October 12th to keep their fans satisfied since their debut album "The Swelly Life" got pushed back to early 2011.

In June 2010, the group performed live at the Glastonbury Festival to celebrate its 1st anniversary. The duo also performed at the Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on July 4 of the same year alongside Wale, J.Cole, Tinie Tempah and headliner Jay-Z on the Sunday. Each performance was met with widespread critical acclaim.

In July 2010, they made an official remix for Gorillaz's single "Stylo", on which they feature.

In August 2010, Chiddy Bang performed in Chicago, Illinois at the Lollapalooza Music Festival on Perry's Stage. They performed among other artists such as Lady Gaga, The Strokes, MGMT, the xx, J. Cole, Hot Chip, Chromeo, Slightly Stoopid, Cypress Hill and Phoenix.

On October 5, 2010, Chiddy Bang performed at the Parklife Festival alongside Groove Armada, Missy Elliott, Soulwax, Holy Ghost!, The Dandy Warhols, Midnight Juggernauts, Uffie, The Wombats, Dan Black, Jack Beats, Delorean, Darwin Deez and many more.

On Nov 21, 2010, it was stated that Chiddy Bang would set to feature on English pop-punk band You Me At Six's upcoming single "Rescue Me" which is scheduled for release on the 13th of February 2011. [1]. You Me At Six have recently confirmed the single's release and stating it will get its first radio play on Radio 1's breakfast show on January 3rd.

In late 2010 Chiddy Bang's single "Opposite of Adults" was featured as the background music for the Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit video game commercial.

On January 5, 2011, "Opposite of Adults" was featured in the Friday Night Lights (TV series) episode "Fracture".

Chiddy Bang headlined two College Battle of the Bands Textbooks and Tickets tour dates, playing free, student-exclusive gigs in New York's Irving Plaza on January 29th, 2011 and San Francisco's The Fillmore on February 3rd, 2011.

As of January 2011, the group is currently working on their first studio album for release later this year.

Discography

Studio albums

• The Swelly Life (2011)

Extended plays

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

Mixtapes

• The Swelly Express (2009)
• Air Swell (2010)

Peanut Butter n Swelly (2011)

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions									Album
		UK	US	AUS	AUT	GER	IRE	JAP	NZ	[[Swiss Music Charts|SWI
2010	"Opposite of Adults"	12	90	10	60	81	10	57	8	18	The Preview
	"Truth"	50	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Promotional singles

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

As featured artist

Year	Song	Album
2011	"Rescue Me" (with You Me At Six)

Music videos

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

References

• [2]