Credit to the Nation

Credit to the Nation
Origin	England
Genres	Hip hop, conscious hip hop
Years active	1992–1998 2010-present
Associated acts	Chumbawamba
Website	[1]

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.

Credit to the Nation were formed in the early 1990s by Matthew (Matty) David Hanson (b. Wednesbury, West Midlands, England) with his friends Tyrone and Kelvin while all three were still teenagers. Under the name of MC Fusion, Hanson became the group's frontman and main creative force, while Tyrone and Kelvin took on the role of dancers (and occasional vocalists) under the names of T-Swing and Mista-G. Although they took strong inspiration from American acts such as Public Enemy, Credit to the Nation made no attempt to disguise their origins as second/third generation black Britons from the English Midlands: they rapped and sang in their own native accents (Brummie and West Indian patois), frequently dealt with British lyrical concerns and integrated pop and ragga aspects into their music.

The band had also developed their own brand of conscious hip hop drawing on British life and experience (including, but not restricted to, the black British experience) and espousing a strong opposition to sexism and homophobia. Their political leanings brought them into contact with the veteran British agit-pop band Chumbawamba, with whom they toured on the eight-date "Fuck Me Jesus" tour. Hanson would later cite Chumbawamba's iconoclastic attitude and fervent disrespect for authority as being inspirational for his own band's development and confidence. The two bands would maintain a close relationship, with Credit to the Nation releasing their first single ("Pay the Price") through Chumbawamba's Agit Prop record label in September 1991.

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". The band released the single via Rugger Bugger, a London punk 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 and re-released the single.

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