Fresh Philadelphia rapper/producer combo, Chiddy Bang, are headed to our shores this September/October on the Parklife lineup, unleashing their new album Breakfast to our yearning ears.
Released in March, hit singles from the album – including “Ray Charles” and “Mind Your Manners” – have scored heaps of attention and radio play, and after a last minute exit from the Groovin’ The Moo festival line-up earlier this year, Chiddy Bang are stoked to be able to come back to Australia and give fans what they missed out on.
The producer half of the hip-hop duo, Noah ‘Xaphoon Jones’ Beresin, calls from Michigan just as he’s getting ready for a show; between brushing his teeth and hopping in the van he spoke about how Chiddy Bang emerged , what they’ve got in store for Aussie fans and how they get inspiration from food.
Getting together in late 2008 after meeting at university, Beresin and Chidera ‘Chiddy’ Anamege decided after a few weeks of classes it was time to quit the books and hit the hooks.
“We went to the same university and started making music. We made it through a couple of weeks and then dropped out of school to follow our music. Chiddy was rapping and I made tracks and whatnot, and we put out our first music in 2009,” says Beresin.
After a selection of mixtapes and EPs, Chiddy Bang finally released their first full length album, Breakfast, in March this year, the album’s title has a definite purpose. “We called it Breakfast because it’s our first full album, and there are more musical meals to come,” Beresin laughs.
At 14 tracks laced with upbeat tunes that make you wanna dance, filled with party vibes and fun tempos, Beresin describes the album as less obvious than most of their contemporaries.
“There’s not any huge songs, it’s more technical and more developed” says Xaphoon Jones. “We’ve got a rapper and a producer working together which you don’t see a lot. Normally it’s rappers working with a hundred different producers. We’ve stuck together and we know each other, and it’s just us.” And what else inspires the duo? Children’s TV shows and pancakes recipes, of course.
Due on tour with Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa before they come and visit us, Beresin reflects on the best and worst things about the touring lifestyle.
“The worst thing is missing your friends and family and not really having routine. People don’t realise how much their life is controlled by routine. Who their friends are, what they eat, how healthy they are; routine is really important. So if you throw that away, it’s like there’s no rules. But the funnest thing is precisely that, there’s no rules at all.”
“You become a wild animal and go into survival mode,” explains Beresin, “If you see food you eat it, you see some drink – you drink it, if you see a washing machine – you go do some laundry. It’s like you become some hunter gatherer so it’s kinda fun. And obviously you have crazy adventures and bring your friends.”
Comparing festivals and headlining concerts to apples and oranges, Beresin says at the end of the day it’s just about having fun and doing what they love.
Shattered about having to pull out of Groovin’ The Moo has made the boys from Chiddy Bang that much more excited to make the trip down under.
“My friend DJs and had done Groovin’ before and recommended that we do it. Last time we did Parklife in 2010 it was the most fun I’ve ever had, but we were supposed to come out for Groovin’ and then our label called us a couple of weeks before, and the convo went a little like this:
‘Label: Hey we just got you the opening spot on the Professor Green tour that goes all through England.’
‘Us: Actually we can’t do that because we’ve got Groovin’ the Moo, it’s already booked.’
‘Label: Oh that’s funny because we just got this email from you saying that you’re going to do the Professor Green tour.’
‘Us: What you made that up, that’s not real.’
‘Label: We know and we don’t care.’
“They’re very passionate about us, and they thought the opportunity for us to play in front of 5,000 people every night in a sold out tour would be more important. I was really sad and pissed us off and I feel really bad but that stuff happens sometimes.”
Still, the duo plan to make up it to their fans, “when that happened we made sure we’d come back for Parklife again. We’d had enough of this not going to Australia business.”
Chiddy Bang have only been around a few years, but bang is exactly what they do. They’ve toured the world, been on some of the world’s biggest festival line-ups, had tracks featured in advertisements and video games and their hit single “Opposite of Adults” was certified gold, selling almost one million units worldwide – a career founded off five tracks first featured on a music blog called Pretty Much Amazing. Yep, we’d say that’s pretty accurate.
Breakfast is out now through EMI. Chiddy Bang play Parklife this September and October around the country. Full dates and details here.
