Credit to the Nation

Credit to the Nation functioned as the outlet for MC Fusion, scoring modest successes across Britain in the 1990s before resurfacing in the 2010s. Fusion, born Matty Hanson in 1971 in Wednesbury, West Midlands, launched the group with a pair of dancers and occasional vocalists, T-Swing and Mista-G. His lyrics stayed basic and his delivery remained plain, yet the messages tackled weighty subjects head-on, confronting racism on “Rising Tide” and sexism on “Lady Needs Respect,” with virtually every track serving as an explicit response to current events. The group entered the studio for the first time in 1991 on “Pay the Price,” issued by Chumbawamba’s Agit Prop imprint, then moved to the larger One Little Indian. Mid-1993 brought their initial chart entry with “Call It What You Want,” propelled by a conspicuous sample lifted from Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The debut album Take Dis appeared before year’s end, and the early-1994 single “Teenage Sensation” climbed to number 24 on the U.K. chart—their strongest showing. Follow-up LP Daddy Always Wanted Me to Grow a Pair of Wings made little impact, and a 1998 attempt at revival via “Tacky Love Song,” built around Radiohead’s “High and Dry,” quickly lost steam. In the late 2000s Fusion revived the project on Crossflow Recordings with the Chuck D collaboration “RTA.” Late 2015 saw the release of the EP Back to the Dirt, which included Brand Nubian’s Sadat X and paved the way for Credit to the Nation’s third album.