Norwegian hip-hop/rap duo Madcon comprised ofTshawe Baqwa (aka Kapricon; born in Germany of South African heritage) and Yosef Wolde-Mariam (aka Critical; born in Norway of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage), the duo, whose name is short for "Mad Conspiracy," first made a name for themselves as featured guests of award-winning Norwegian rap duo the Paperboys on the Top Ten hit single "Barcelona" in 2002. In the wake of this breakthrough success, Madcon signed a recording contract with the Paperboys' label, Bonnier Amigo, and proceeded to release their full-length album debut, It's All a Madcon (2004). The album spawned a series of singles, most notably the Top 20 hits "Doo-Wop" and "Infidelity," and established Madcon as one of Norway's leading rap acts. In 2007 the duo scored an international smash hit with "Beggin," a song originally performed in 1967 by the Four Seasonsand Frankie Valli; not only did the song hit number one on the Norwegian singles chart, but it also charted in Austria (number seven), Sweden (number 11), and Switzerland (number 33). An accompanying album, So Dark the Con of Man (2007), followed shortly thereafter and debuted at number three on the Norwegian albums chart. Around this same time, Madcon also enjoyed the limelight of television: they hosted their own show, The Voice of Madcon, and one of them, Baqwa, appeared on the Dancing with the Stars-style show Skal vi Danse?, ultimately winning the season's competition. The success of Madcon continued in 2008 with the Top Ten hit "Back on the Road," a Paperboys single on which they were featured.
Madcon has similarites to the likes of Outkast, Gnarls Barkley and in my opinion sound are the European Black Eyed Peas. There CD "So Dark the Con of Man" was a CD that brought a lot of different sounds. Starting off with there hit single "Begggin", which sounds a lot like a Black Eyed Peas' song. The rest of the CD includes songs that range from raggaeton to meaningful songs that talk about the hardships of life, reminisint of older Outkast songs, and songs that I could see the likes of Gnarls Barkley , less unique, making. Madcon is a group that should not be slept on and there CD "So Dark the Con of Man" is very good track to track. They have a newer CD that I won't comment on i am going to let you check it out for yourself.
-Tremel
Some Info from allmusic.com.
