Credit To The Nation - Take Dis (1994)

Credit to the Nation are an English hip hop group, who had chart success in the 1990s and are best known for their Nirvana-sampling single “Call It What You Want”. The band is fronted by Matty Hanson (a.k.a. MC Fusion) and was initially noted for fusing a conscious hip-hop style with political elements taken from the British left-wing and anarchist movements. Following their initial split in 1998, the band reformed in 2011.

In 1992 Credit to the Nation recorded what would become their best-known song, "Call It What You Want", which sampled the iconic opening guitar riff from Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit".[3] The band released the single via Ruggabugger (a local independent Midlands label), pressing an initial run of 1000 7" singles. The single came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who played it on his John Peel Session on Radio 1. Within a week, the band had a three-album deal with One Little Indian (the label of Björk and The Shamen) who had heard the show and promptly bought the rights to the single from Ruggabugger.

Despite the attention and the added marketing abilities of One Little Indian, “Call It What You Want” eventually charted outside the Top 40 (at number 57).[4]However, the single had brought Credit to the Nation closer to the attention of the British indie-rock music press (Melody Maker and NME), and would also make an appearance on the soundtrack to the Jude Law movie, Shopping. While the band’s use of a Nirvana sample was widely discussed in the music press, it was less well-publicised that the song also sampled "Welcome to the Terrordrome" by one of the band’s more significant influences, Public Enemy.

During 1993, Credit to the Nation spent much of their time touring with Manic Street Preachers, The Levellers, Therapy? and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Most of these were acts with a strong political element and all of them appealed to a white indie-rock/college fanbase. This provided Credit to the Nation with access to a solid commercial audience which was not available to those of their peers who operated only within the British hip-hop scene.

The band also maintained their close links with Chumbawamba, with whom they toured extensively and recorded the joint single, "Enough Is Enough". Listed at number 1 in John Peel’s Festive Fifty list for the year,[2] the song was a strident anti-fascist anthem which received attention for its suggestion of meeting violence with violence: the pay-off line, delivered by Hanson, was "give the fascist man a gunshot." Both bands maintained a strong anti-fascist stance which in turn drew attention and threats from British neo-Nazi groups.[2]
1993-94 – Take Dis

In 1993, Credit to the Nation recorded and released their debut album, Take Dis, with various members of Chumbawamba contributing heavily to both production and performance. The album incorporated styles from hardcore approaches reminiscent of Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad to ragga and pop swingbeat and drew on a selection of unusual (and frequently British-themed) sample sources including Benjamin Britten, Glenn Miller, The Sex Pistols and even the Band of the Coldstream Guards.[5]

The album generated three subsequent singles: "Teenage Sensation" (the band’s biggest hit and only Top 40 placing, reaching #23 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1994),[6] "Sowing the Seeds of Hatred" (UK #72) and "Hear No Bullshit, See No Bullshit, Say No Bullshit" (which was, in live performance, dedicated mockingly to acts like Kris Kross and East 17). While the band’s placings in the mainstream charts remained disappointing, all of these singles reached the No. 1 position in the independent charts in Melody Maker and NME – at the time, an unheard-of achievement for a rap group.[7]

During 1994, Credit To The Nation would also make high-profile British festival appearances at The Glastonbury NME stage, the Reading Festival Melody Maker Stage and the Phoenix Festival (to which they would also return in 1995).[7] While he continued to receive plenty of attention from the indie rock press, Hanson was less fortunate in achieving a mainstream breakthrough in the hip-hop hop world. His trenchant criticisms of the sexism, the materialism and the fetishisation of violence expressed by hardcore hip-hop by acts such as Onyx and Ice-T led to backlash and rejection[5] and his own youth and talent level were subject to attack. Even the indie-rock press sometimes questioned Hanson’s position. One memorable critical assault from reviewer Neil Kulkarni (in the usually supportive Melody Maker) directly accused him of selling out to the expectations and tastes of white audiences. wikipedia

Good Points
An excellent mix of playground tunes, imperial marches, hip-hop riffs super-imposed upon a vibrant fury of clarity.

Bad Points
Silence between tracks is annoying

General Comments
Credit To The Nation, Take Dis - UNITY/ this album is heritage. Each track flows within children's songs, the monarchy, history and is overshadowed by a relentless voice that carries the ghosts of stories. Sowing the seeds will leave your head immersed within an area seldom traversed and carries a weight invaluable for today's society.

A true hip-hop album that broke the pop market. A MUST LISTEN.

Why this album has ceased production is shameful… find Credit for the Nation. zark@reviewcentre