Yosef Wolde-Mariam ?Critical? b. 1978 & Tshawe Baqwa ?Kapricon? b. 1980 grouped together in Oslo, Norway in 1992 as members of Mad Conference (MadCon). The group orignally had five members, but the other members soon left. During the 1990's they guest rapped on several albums. Their first single "God Forgive Me" was released in the summer 2000. Later they founded their own label "AA Recordings", and their debut album "It's All A MadCon" was released in November 2004. During the last years they have been touring together with big artists such as 50 Cent, Wu Tang Clan, Destiny's Child and Xzibit.
Madcon (short for Mad Conspiracy), made up of Tshawe Baqwa (Kapricon) and Yosef Wolde-Mariam (Critical) are a Norwegian hip hop/rap band who formed in 1992. Kapricorn was born in Germany from South-African parents, but grew up in Tveita in Eastern Oslo. Critical was born in Norway with parents from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
They have collaborated with a variety of artists in Norway, but did first receive real commercial recognition for their work with their partners from Paperboys. The track Barcelona from Paperboys feat. Madcon was a massive hit in Norway - Barcelona won the prize for most requested video of the year from Nordic channel ZTV, and was an important factor in Paperboys winning "Spellemannprisen". (Norwegian equivalent to the Grammys).
Tshawe and Yosef are currently hosts of a tv-show called "The Voice of Madcon". The show airs Monday to Thursday from 10 PM to 11 PM on the Norwegian music channel "The Voice". The show features small-talk, music videos and interviews.
Madcon released their first single "God Forgive Me" in 2000 (Virgin Records), but the first commercial breakthrough was with long time collaborators Paperboys with the hit single "Barcelona" in 2002 (Bonnier Amigo).
In 2004, Madcon released their first official album "It's All A Madcon" (AA-Recordings/Bonnier Amigo), which won them a Norwegian Grammy and several other awards.
In 2005 Madcon became TV personalities on the Nordic music channel The Voice, while growing with their music in the studio. The show "The Voice of Madcon" became a huge success for both Madcon and the network, showcasing the behind the scenes life of the popular group.
In late 2007 Tshawe was invited to join the popular Norwegian version of Dancing With The Stars, and was the final winner.
Their second album, entitled So Dark The Con Of Man, was released on December 3, 2007. In the UK, released on RCA, the album charted on UK Albums Chart at #137.[2] In Norway, the album was certified gold in 3 hours, and platinum in 3 days. The album featured soul singer Noora Noor and Paperboys on two of the songs.
In 2008, Madcon released a cover of a 1968 Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song, Beggin', that earned the group several #1 chart positions in Europe (including France, Portugal, Norway and Russia), and an overall #2 position on the European Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also achieved 7 x platinum status in Norway, becoming one of the biggest hits of all time in the Norwegian charts[citation needed].
Madcon's cover of Beggin' was produced by 3Elementz, who also produced the other singles from "So Dark The Con Of Man", as well as all of the tracks on the "InCONvenient Truth" album.
They performed at World Music Awards on November 10, 2008, where they also won the World's Best Selling Norwegian Artist Award.
After several negotiations Madcon's label (Bonnier Amigo) signed a licensing agreement with SonyBMG for Central Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, with Universal Republic for the US, with Warner Music for Spain, and with Just Music for South Africa.
Madcon hosts the Norwegian version of Don't Forget the Lyrics!, Kan du teksten?, on TV 2 (Norway).
Their upcoming album "InCONvenient Truth" will be released all over Europe early to mid-2009, and the group has set their sights on the other major territories to release including the US, Japan and Australia in 2009.
Their song "Glow", which is produced by the production team ELEMENT , was the background of the "Eurovision 2010 flashmob dance" music video which was aired at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 interval act, and to manys surprise, it went on to receive more fame than the winning song of the competition.
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Trivia:
Tshawe won the 2007 edition of the norwegian version of Dancing With the Stars.
Album:
It's All a MadCon (2004)
So Dark The Con Of Man (2007)
An InCONvenient Truth (2008)
Singles:
«God Forgive Me» (2000)
«Doo Wop» (2004)
«Infidelty (feat. Sofian)» (2005)
«Beggin'» (2007)
«Back On The Road (feat. Paperboys)» (2008)
«Dandelion» (2008)
«Liar» (2008)
«Glow» (2010)
«Freaky Like Me (2010)
From Wikipedia:Madcon is a multi-platinum award winning[clarification needed] Norwegian urban duo. The group has achieved international fame, due in large part to the international success of their cover of Beggin'. Madcon has won a World Music Award, sold millions of singles and compilations, and have performed and toured all over Europe.
In 2009, the band has continued with album releases all over Europe, and their debut release in the US and Australia.