Canada is surprising me in all fronts of music these days – from Hip-Hop to R&B, shit is swellin’ up North.
In my latest find, Kyprios, formerly from Sweatshop Union, teamed up with Rob the Viking of Swollen Members for “How The West Was One” – a tribute to the Vancouver Canucks. The lyrics are catchy as hell, especially those chorus lines. It’s that shit when you wake up in the morning and can’t get it out of your head.
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Swollen Members are back with a new album, Dagger Mouth, dropping this March. I’m a hell of a lot more optimistic for this than their 2009, Armed to the Teeth. Sounds more like the SM I’ve grown to smoke to.
Check out their second single, “Mr. Impossible”. Another beat to pillage and conquer by Rob the Viking with Mad Child & Prevail tearing it up with a few fresh cuts – Love the Cudi reference, lol -
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I’ve recently had a falling out with Swollen Members. Our relationship hasn’t been doing so well lately. Mainly because of their new album, but prior to that they’ve been one of my favorite groups. Swollen’s got a style all their own, blending Mad Child’s intense, high paced rhymes & Prevail’s cool-headed wit with Rob the Viking’s innovative, dark trip hop beats. The group is originally from Canada, which brings up another reason why I love ‘em… they’re of the few Canadian rappers I know that don’t have the, although humbling, annoying accent; I hear enough “aboots” here in Minnesota, and it makes me laugh if I hear it come out of an MC. Another cool lil’ factoid about ‘em is, among maybe a handful of others, Swollen has taken their music and independently created a successful business out of it, which I give them mad respect for.
The reason I chose Go to Sleep as my second feature from ‘em (the first found here), was because of Barbie Hatch’s stunning voice in the chorus, and a stellar beat by Rob, as per usual. In fact, check out a feature I did of Rob’s, Go for Mine, on his solo-album, Beats to Pillage and Conquer by, found… wait for it… here! (a classic beat, literally)
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I thought this was befitting to the recent Vikings win over the Cowboys :). I actually planned to feature this before hand, but this gave me the extra push.
Rob the Viking is a DJ/producer from the recognized underground hip-hop group, Swollen Members. Back in 2003, he came out with a solo album entitled Beats to Pillage and Conquer by. Maybe a song from this album could the Viking’s next fight song… maybe not. Though, the original (Skol, Vikings) may need to be updated. Anyways, Rob is talented in his own respect, and has worked with a widespread amount of underground MC’s (I am too lazy to find examples, just take my work for it).
My favorite song off the album would have to be Go for Mine (which should be obvious by now). It incorporates some hip-hop inspired beats accompanied with a string-bass (at least I think it is :D), as well as some excellent DJ doctoring. Overall, this may not be the most rich or engaging piece, but it does pull off some fine stringin’ with some original cuts.
Check out another beat by Rob (the Viking) featured on Therapy by Swollen Members. The MC’s for Swollen Members can really tear up Rob’s beats.
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In honor of Swollen Members’ new album, I decided to feature one of my favorite songs by them. The song, Therapy, initially caught my attention because of its Bay Area sounding beat. It sounds like something Mac Dre or E-40 would use. Along with that, Mad Child & Prevail weave a cunning lyrical composition. I especially love Mad Child’s execution of his lyrics (follow ‘em at Sing365). Mad Child & Prevail have always had a way with words, except, (possibly) in their upcoming album…
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