Goldie Lookin Chain

Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedic rap music group from Newport, Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newport and South Wales in general.

History

The group recorded 6 albums before gaining a major record deal and were signed to the East/West record label, the home of rock band The Darkness. Rumours suggest that GLC was signed after record label bosses heard The Darkness playing GLC tracks whilst on tour (source: BBC Radio 1 – GLC Documentary). GLC went on to support The Darkness in the latter stages of their UK tour.

GLC's first UK chart entry was "Half-Man Half-Machine"/"Self Suicide", which reached the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] When group member Dwain Xain Zedong was phoned by BBC chart presenter Wes on the Official Chart Show to be informed of this, Xain informed the rest of the band that they had reached number 1, much to the shock of the DJ. "Half Man Half Machine" was a surreal song about one of the members (Eggsy) believing he was a robot, dressing up in foil, and going to the shops to buy ten fags and some crisps. The song namechecks many well-known 1980s 8-bit computer systems including Binatone, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, ZX81 and BBC Micro.

In August 2004, the group reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart with "Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do".^[1] With the tagline "The gun is the tool, the mind is the weapon", this track – again satirising the American hip hop scene – was a popular radio hit. The B-side was the album track, "Soapbar".

Their first nationally-released album was called Greatest Hits, the name a play on both the group's previous lack of commercial success and their "stoner" image; it compiled a mixture of new material and selections from their previous six unofficial albums. It was released in September 2004, and debuted at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart.^[1] This album was released in May 2005 in the US with the title Straight Outta Newport with cover art similar to N.W.A's album Straight Outta Compton. However, this version of the album was missing two tracks – "Maggot" and "You Knows I Loves You".

Their next single release was "Your Mother's Got a Penis", with an accompanying video based on a supermarket theme. "Your Mother's Got a Penis" first appeared on their album The Manifesto, and reached No. 14 in the UK.^[1]

The band – informally known as "the Chain" or simply "the GLC" – released "You Knows I Loves You Baby", a parody of 1980s love songs from the albums Greatest Hits and The Manifesto, on 13 December 2004; this reached number 22 in the UK chart.^[1] "Your Missus Is a Nutter" was the first single from second album Safe As Fuck. The album was originally going to be called "Safety in Numbers", a tribute to the album Power in Numbers by alternative L.A. rap group Jurassic 5. The single reached No. 14 in the UK.^[1]

Controversy

In 2005, GLC were invited by the Football Association of Wales to perform before the World Cup qualifying match against England at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the nature of the band's music and the participation of England star David Beckham, the band dedicated "Your Missus Is a Nutter" to the footballer about his wife, who was present at the match. The ensuing furore, with the Welsh football authorities having to apologise to the Beckhams,^[2] (despite David Beckham appearing to take the joke in good humour) as well as expressing outrage at the band's perceived lack of respect, prompted many people to question why the organisers had hired them to play in the first place. In January 2009, GLC appeared on This Feeling TV, and revealed more about the incident.^[3]

Recent

On 17 October 2011, GLC released the Blue Waffle album, featuring new songs including "Biscuit", "I Seen Your Mother", "K Hole" and "If I Told You". Also in 2011, it was reported that Adam Hussain, a fan of the original Dr Who series, had contributed a memory about "How a first date was interrupted by The Doctor"^[4] to a forthcoming Doctor Who charity book, designed to raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK.

Newport County Football Club

The group's association with their home city's football club stretches back to their inception as a group. They featured as a sponsor on the Newport County kit worn in the FAW Premier Cup in the 2004–05 season.^[5]

Members

Full-time

Occasional/part-time

Discography

Albums

Singles

Charted singles

Other singles

• "By Any Means Necessary" (Gold Dust Records)
• "Everybody is a DJ" (Gold Dust Records)
• "You'll Never Be Alone on Christmas Day" (Gold Dust Records)

YouTube videos

• "Apathy" (26 August 2008)
• "By Any Means Necessary" (16 February 2009)
• "Everybody is a DJ" (11 August 2009)
• "Newport State of Mind (You're not from Newport)", 8 August 2010 on YouTube
• "(Heal the World) Join Hands and Sing" (1 October 2010)
• "Dubstep Christmas" (23 November 2010)
• "You'll Never Be Alone on Christmas Day" (19 November 2010)
• "Xbox Love" (25 February 2011)
• "Eastenders Rap" (19 March 2011)
• "Fresh Prince of Cwmbran" (12 July 2011)
• "Ghost Town featuring 2Rude" (12 August 2011)
• "This Town (Stammer dubstep remix)" (22 September 2011)
• "Newport Bouncers Rap" (11 February 2012)
• "Baneswell Express" (17 June 2013)
• "At The Drive-thru" (18 July2013)
• "Just Coz It Rhymes" (30 October 2013)
• "Andy Townsend Rap" (11 June 2014)
• "Great British Bake Off Rap" (5 August 2015)
• "John Lewis Christmas ft Oasis" (6 December 2015)

References

External links

• Goldie Lookin Chain website including mp3s
• Goldie Lookin Chain your blog GLC tour blog
• GLC biography from BBC Wales – GLC related pages and information from BBC Wales
• VexedMag.com – Band Interview – 20/03/09
• Interview with Rhys & Eggsy (including video 22/1/09)
• BBC interview with Dwain Xain Zedong
• Full discography