Hip hop group, Credit To The Nation were formed by Matthew David Hanson (Matty) aka MC Fusion from Wednesbury in the West Midlands. With dancers Tyrone (T-Swing) and Kelvin (Mista-G), Credit released their first single through Chumbawamba’s’ label Agit Pop entitled ‘Pay the Price’ (1991).

The following year, they recorded ‘Call It What You Want’ with Rugger Bugger, a local independent label which sampled the guitar riff used by Nirvana on “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. 1000 seven inch singles were printed, and John Peel got hold of a copy and played it on his John Peel Session on Radio 1.

Bjork & The Shamen’s label, One Little Indian, heard the radio show and brought the rights from Rugger Bugger and signed them to a three album deal. They sold over 80,000 albums world wide and became noted in 1993 when they recorded the single, ‘Enough Is Enough’ with Chumbawamba. Since then they have toured with artists such as Manic Street Preachers, and The Levellers.

Their highest selling single was ‘Teenage Sensation’ which reached number 22 in the UK charts in 1993. Their following single was ‘Hear No Bullshit, See No Bullshit, Say No Bullshit,’ followed by the release of their debut album, ‘Take Dis‘.

The band have played live on The Glastonbury NME stage in 1994, at the Phoenix Festival in 1994 & 1995, and the Reading Festival in 1994.

Credit went on to release another album, ‘Daddy Always Wanted Me To Grow A Pair Of Wings‘ (1996) before Hanson signed to the German independent Laughing Horse label in 1997. Following this, a new single entitled, ‘Tacky Love Song’, was released.

Remarkably for a hip hop group, all of Credit’s singles reached number one in the Melody Maker and NME independent label charts. Hanson’s lyrics often tackled issues such as sexism, racism, homophobia and politics.

Currently, Hanson is appearing in Backup Radio on Crossflow Recordings alongside Karl Morey, DJ Philly Blunt, David McMillan and Tom Flinders.

Discography:
*Take Dis (1993)
*Daddy Always Wanted Me To Grow A Pair of Wings (1996)