Chip (rapper)
Jahmaal Noel Fyffe, better known by his stage name Chip, is an English rapper and grime MC. In the past 14 years, he has collaborated with the likes of Skepta, T.I., Meek Mill, Young Adz and many others. In 2009, he released his debut album, I Am Chipmunk, featuring four songs which peaked in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, including the chart-topping "Oopsy Daisy". In 2011, Chipmunk released his follow-up album, the American hip-hop-influenced Transition. It included the single "Champion" featuring Chris Brown, which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.
Chip moved to Atlanta in 2012 and signed to T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records label. On Christmas Day, Chip released "London Boy", featuring the likes of Meek Mill, Skepta, Movado, plus more.
Following his return to London, Chip embarked on a year-long rap beef which solidified his slogan "Chip Can't Run Out of Bars". Following this, he has since released six projects, with his most recent being Grime Scene Saviour featuring the likes of JME, Scorcher, Skepta, Frisco and D Double E among others.
Early life
Jahmaal Noel Fyffe was born on 26 November 1990 in Tottenham, and is the son of Jamaican immigrant parents. Fyffe's parents later separated. Fyffe received the nickname "Chipmunk" from a friend on account of him being "short and chubby with big teeth". Fyffe began rapping after hearing Wiley and Dizzee Rascal on pirate radio when he was a child, later inspiring him to rent studios out for £20 to record music with his friends when he was just thirteen years old. Jahmaal attended Highgate Wood Secondary School in Crouch End, before transferring to Gladesmore Community School, citing that there were problems for him at Highgate Wood. After completing secondary school education, he underwent his A-Levels at Haringey Sixth Form Centre, achieving a B in Drama, C in Sociology and D in Critical Thinking.Chip has been an Arsenal fan since childhood. Prior to a music career, Chip originally aspired to be a footballer.
Career
Chipmunk first gained mainstream recognition when Wiley brought him to Tim Westwood's radio show in 2007 along with Ice Kid and they performed a freestyle.Chipmunk signed a record deal with Jive Records of Sony Music UK. He has successfully released eleven top-ten hits on the UK Singles Chart, of which "Oopsy Daisy" debuted at #1. He released his debut album, I Am Chipmunk in 2009, which charted at #2 on the UK Albums Chart. His second album, Transition was released on 18 April 2011.
In 2008, Chipmunk was nominated for best newcomer at the MOBO Awards, winning two awards: Best UK Newcomer and Best Hip-Hop act. He also won Best Hip-Hop Act at the MOBO Awards 2009. He also won an award with Emeli Sandé for Best British Single for their song "Diamond Rings". The same year Chipmunk won an Mp3 Award at Mp3 Music Awards 2009 for his single, "Diamond Rings", which was published and promoted by MTV Network. On 13 January 2012, he announced via Twitter that he had permanently abbreviated his name from "Chipmunk" to "Chip". Chipmunk announced his signing to American rapper T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records in March 2012 after leaving Sony following the closing of Jive.
At the start of 2015, Chipmunk announced his two-part Believe & Achieve EP project – with EPisode 1 to be released independently on Monday 4 May via his own label Cash Motto. The EP features productions from New Machine and Chris Loco as well as collaborations with Irish troubadour Maverick Sabre and grime legends D Double E, Jammer, Stormzy, Kano, Wretch 32 and Shalo.
Chipmunk runs a company called Cash Motto, formerly Cash Motivation, which he uses to release his music and clothing. The company has also released numerous singles by Chipmunk's friend and frequent collaborator Shalo. In 2016, he won Best Grime Act at the MOBO Awards 2016.
2006–2010: ''I Am Chipmunk'' and UK breakthrough
In 2006, at the age of sixteen, he uploaded the song "Who Are You?" which received a lot of underground success and has reached over 3,000,000 views on YouTube. At the 2008 Mobo Awards, Chipmunk won the Best Newcomer Award while being signed to an independent label, Alwayz Recordings. Soon after, in late-2008, just before his eighteenth birthday, Chipmunk signed a high-figure record deal with Columbia Records, Sony Music and began recording his debut album. On 2 March 2009, he released his first single from the album, "Chip Diddy Chip". The single charted at #21 on the UK Singles Charts and was written by himself. The music video for the track featured Tim Westwood and Dappy of N-Dubz, and was filmed at his old secondary school, Gladesmore Community School. After the release of the single, he announced his album would be titled, I Am Chipmunk. Following the release of "Diamond Rings" which featured guest vocals from Emeli Sandé. The song became Sandé's and Chipmunk's first top 10 hit, after it charted at #6 on the UK Singles Charts. This made Chipmunk a pioneer in doing so, as he became the youngest UK rapper to ever score a top 10 charted song.In October 2009, Chipmunk released his biggest track to date "Oopsy Daisy" as the third official single. It featured guest vocals from singer Dayo Olatunji and was written by Talay Riley. "Oopsy Daisy" is Chipmunk's most successful single to date. The track debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Charts and later gained a certification of Gold, by the BPI. Chipmunk became the youngest rapper to have scored a UK #1 single. The track was Chipmunk's first single released internationally. The song was accompanied by a music video, Chipmunk's love interest was played by Red Madrell, a British actress. The song beat British girl-group, The Saturdays to number-one with their come-back single, "Forever Is Over", and spent over a month in the top 10. After the release of I Am Chipmunk on 12 October 2009, it gained mainly positive reviews from critics. It debuted at #2 on the UK Albums Chart. However, the album charted at #1 on the UK R&B Albums Chart.
Chipmunk announced that he was going to release a platinum edition of the album with new tracks after I am Chipmunk sold over 300,000 copies. The first single released from I Am Chipmunk was "Until You Were Gone" which featured guest vocals from Esmée Denters. The single charted at #3 on the UK Singles Charts. I Am Chipmunk: The Platinum Edition was released on 3 May 2010. It contained four new songs. The album then gained a Platinum Certification by the BPI. After making a gross income of £1,550,000 the previous year, making him the highest-paid UK rapper. Chipmunk also performed at the Mobo Awards in 2009, Capital Summertime Ball in 2010 at Wembley Stadium and at the Brit Awards.
2010–11: ''Transition'' and "Champion" featuring Chris Brown
Chipmunk announced he was working on a new studio album in late-2010, and confirmed it would be titled, Transition which he stated it would be different from the first album, stating: "It kinda represents the growth in me as a person since my last album, so the sound has matured as well as I have and that’s the main thing for me with the record - I just wanted the sound, the sound and the feel of the album to feel… I feel like a granddad but you know, just more mature than my first album, you know life’s changed." The album features American artists Keri Hilson, Chris Brown, Trey Songz and Kalenna Harper from Diddy-Dirty Money, and British rapper Wretch 32. He released a promotional single onto iTunes on 12 November 2010. The single charted at #72 on the UK Singles Charts, with limited promotion.In early-2011, he confirmed that "Champion" would be released as the first mainstream single from the album, and the single would feature American R&B singer, Chris Brown. The single was written by Harmony "H-Money" Samuels, Jahmaal Fyffe, Eric Bellinger, Erika Nuri. The single charted at #2 on the UK Singles Charts, being held off the top spot by Jessie J and B.o.B with their entry with "Price Tag". However, both songs sold over 90,000 copies in their first week and Jessie J gained the top spot by 5%. The song serves as the theme for the reality competition show WWE Tough Enough. It was announced that "In the Air" would be released as the second mainstream single released from Transition the single would feature guest vocals from American R&B singer, Keri Hilson. The single was released on 11 March 2011. The album Transition itself attained its UK release through Sony Music's Jive label on 18 April 2011. He makes a cameo appearance in Wretch 32 and Example's video for Unorthodox.
The third single to be released from the album is titled "Take Off" and features Trey Songz. Chipmunk also released a net video for the song "Every Gyal" featuring Mavado. In August 2011, Chipmunk performed a free concert in Dumfries, Scotland and in Wales.
2012–14: Grand Hustle and London Boy Mixtape
On 7 October 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records, along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, Chip, and all other artists previously signed to these three labels, had the option to release their future material on the RCA Records brand. Chip chose not to do so, and certain media outlets speculated that he may be dropped from the label. However, Chip instead decided to sign with Grand Hustle, the label of fellow rapper and collaborator, T.I. In December 2011, Chipmunk announced that he would be shortening his stage name to "Chip", under the advice and instruction of T.I., and that all of his future releases would appear under his new stage name.In January 2012, Chip announced via his official Twitter account that he had been working with Sean Garrett and T.I. on his next project, but did not reveal the name of the project in question. He also posted a picture of himself recording in a studio in Atlanta with T.I. Shortly after the announcement, Chip revealed that throughout the year, he would be posting a series of online video blogs to keep his fans updated on what he was up to. On 10 February 2012, Chip uploaded his own freestyle version of fellow rapper Tyga's smash hit, "Rack City" to his official YouTube account. The video received over 70,000 views and 10,000 likes within the first 48 hours of release.
Chip returned to the studio to complete recording on the project during August–September 2012, before unveiling his single "Londoner", a collaboration with Wretch 32, Professor Green and Loick Essien. The track was released as the project's third underground single on 25 November 2012. On 9 October 2012, Chip was featured on the annual BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, alongside his Grand Hustle labelmates Iggy Azalea, B.o.B, T.I. and Trae tha Truth. On 10 December, Chip revealed the track listing of the mixtape, including collaborations with labelmates Iggy Azalea, Trae Tha Truth, T.I, previous collaborators Skepta, Mavado, Wretch 32 and Professor Green as well as Meek Mill and Young Jeezy. He also re-confirmed the release date of 25 December 2012, and revealed the tape would be available to download free of charge.