Jahmaal Fyffe (born 26 November 1990), better known by his stage name ...
(formerly Chipmunk), is an English rapper and songwriter from Finsbury Park, London. He signed a record deal with Columbia Records of Sony Music UK. He has successfully released eleven top-ten hits on the UK Singles Chart, of which "Oopsy Daisy" debuted at number-one. He released his debut album, I Am Chipmunk in 2009, which charted at number-two on the UK Albums Chart. His follow-up debut 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. Chip announced his signing to American rapper T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records in March 2012 after leaving Sony following the shuttering of Jive, Sony Music.
At the start of 2015, Chip 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 (Plan B) and Chris Loco (Labrinth) as well as collaborations with Irish troubadour Maverick Sabre and grime legends D Double E, Jammer, Stormzy, Kano, Wretch 32 and Shalo. The second EP, EPisode 2 will be released in the second part of 2015.
Music career:
2006-2010: I Am Chipmunk and UK breakthrough:
In 2006 at the age of 16 he uploaded the song Who Are You ? which received a lot of underground success and has reached over 3 million views on YouTube. Later In 2008, at the Mobo Awards chipmunk won best newcomer awards while being signed to an independent group. Soon after in late 2008 at the age of 18 he signed a record deal with Columbia Records, Sony Music and began recording his first album. On 2 March 2009, he released his first single from the album, "Chip Diddy Chip". The single charted at number twenty-one on the UK Singles Charts. It was written by Jahmaal Fyffe. The music video of the track featured Tim Westwood and Dappy of N-Dubz, and was filmed in his 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 Chip's first top 10 hit, after it charted at number-six on the UK Singles Charts.
He released "Oopsy Daisy" as the third official single. It featured guest vocals from Ms D and was written by Talay Riley. "Oopsy Daisy" is Chip's most successful single to date. The track debuted at number one on the UK Singles Charts and later gained a certification of Silver, by the BPI. It 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 song candidates to the top spot, beating British girl-group, The Saturdays to number-one with their come-back single, "Forever Is Over". After the release of I Am Chipmunk on 12 October 2009, it gained mainly positive reviews from critics. It debuted at number-two on the UK Albums Chart. However, the album charted at number-one on the UK R&B Albums Chart. A fourth single was released from the album, "Look for Me" featuring vocals from Talay Riley. The single charted at number-seven on the UK Singles Charts, the song also gained a Silver certification by the BPI.
Chipmunk announced he was going to release a platinum edition of the album, with new tracks. The first single released from the platinum edition of I Am Chipmunk was "Until You Were Gone" which featured guest vocals from Esmée Denters. The single charted at number-three 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 last year making him the highest paid UK rapper. Chipmunk also performed at the Mobo Awards in 2009 and Capital Summertime Ball in 2010 at Wembely Arena and the Brit Awards.
2010-2011: Transition & Champion:
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 number seventy-two on the UK Singles Charts, with limited promotion.
In early 2011, he confirmed that "Champion" would be released as the first main-stream 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 number-two 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 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 main-stream 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 Wales, along with Basshunter, Twenty Twenty, Emma's Imagination, DomiBoi, N-Dubz and Reece Robertson. and in September, Chipmunk released a mixtape called Spazzz.com. as a free download. It received positive feedback from fans and was very pleased. In November 2011, the day before his 21st Birthday, Chipmunk returned to his home town of Tottenham to switch on the Christmas Lights. In December 2011, Chipmunk featured with Tinie Tempah on the track 'Mayday' from his Happy Birthday mixtape. The track also features Soulja Boy.
2012-2014: Grand Hustle & 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, Chip 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 being online.
In May 2012, Chip revealed via his official Twitter account that his first project under his new record label would be a mixtape entitled London Boy, named after the alias he received during his time in America. He also premiered an underground single from the project, "Let It Breathe", to positive reception. Four weeks later, a second underground single, "More Money, More Gyal", featuring Mavado, premiered online, showing the reggae-influenced side of the project. Chip returned to the studio to complete recording on the project during August and 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 label-mates Iggy Azalea, B.o.B, T.I. and Trae tha Truth. On 10 December, Chip revealed the tracklisting of the mixtape, including collaborations with label mates 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. In late 2014 with no sign that Chip was going to release his third studio album in LA rumours spread that he had left Grand Hustle and is now back in the UK.
2014-present: Believe & Achieve:
On 31 October 2014 Chip dropped his "Fright Night" freestyle on YouTube, and announced to fans that his new project Believe & Achieve would be coming in 2015. In November 2014 Chip collaborated with hotly-tipped Stormzy and Shalo on "I'm Fine" which he filmed on his 24th birthday and released shortly after. A remix of "I'm Fine" featuring Frisco, Krept and Konan appeared online on 16 January 2015 via i-D Magazine. On 1 January 2015, Chip dropped the track 'School of Grime' via his Soundcloud, and followed by a video a couple weeks later. The track featured grime legends D Double E and Jammer and instantly started blowing up at specialist radio, online and across the urban world for weeks. After the success of the original song "School of Grime" featuring D Double E and Jammer, Chip released a remix blended with UK Garage classic,"The Streets - Has It Come to This" and it was accompanied by a new music video which contained footage of a live performance at student event, Rampage. 6
On Saturday 24 January, Chip appeared for the 2nd time on Charlie Sloth's trademark show 'Fire In The Booth' on 1Xtra, which had a huge listenership and was trending on Twitter. In Chip's freestyle he opened up some questions about the UK rap scene and caused controversy by calling out Tinie Tempah for his current lack of commitment to music. The YouTube video from 'Fire In The Booth' instantly went viral with 100k views in just a few days, and was followed by a 1Xtra debate which also trended on Twitter. Chip also took part in ITV's new entertainment show 'Get Your Act Together' on Sunday 25 January, having been invited by the Shaolin Monks to learn Kung Fu martial arts. The performance culminated in him balancing on two spear points to widespread audience acclaim. He competed against three other celebrity teams and won the round. Chip performed with the Shaolin Monks in the final of the show on 22 February 2015
A remix freestyle of 'School of Grime' was organically conceived by Chip, D Double E and Jammer in the back of a cab after the official video shoot. Using The Streets 'Has It Come To This' as the beat, a freestyle was filmed in one take by a camera phone was shot and then uploaded to YouTube. The track was then recorded properly in the studio and premiered via Pigeons and Planes on 21 February
A week later, a visual for the remix was made by legendary Risky Roadz and hosted on SBTV channel.
On 19 February 2015, Chip formally announced the tracklisting to the first EP of the two-part Believe & Achieve project. Believe & Achieve: EPisode 1 will be released independently on Monday 20 April via his own label, Cash Motto and features productions from New Machine (Plan B) and Chris Loco (Labrinth) as well as collaborations with Irish troubadour Maverick Sabre and grime legends D Double E, Kano, Stormzy, Wretch 32 and Jammer. The second EP, Episode 2 will be released in the second part of 2015. Kano and Wretch 32 will feature on Chips track called Feeling Myself.
On 20 March 2015, Chip released a freestyle 'Pepper Riddim' hitting back at 5 MCs who had dissed him since his 'Fire In The Booth'. 'The End' was then filmed in one take and released to put an end to the negativity coming from fellow MCs in the grime scene, and to look forward to the next chapter of Chip with a positive outlook.
Personal life:
Chip has a younger sister, a younger brother and an older brother. He is of Jamaican descent. Mid-2014 Chip was involved in a serious quad bike accident that led to him having 12 stitches in his head. He took to Instagram to post the following: "I guess it weren't my time to die but it's defo a sign maybe I'm not meant to go LA just yet". Chip also states that he is an avid fan of Arsenal and has supported them ever since he was a child. He has his own record label brand CMAR (Cash Motto Always Recording) which is also affiliated with Boy Better Know. It's also claimed that he has had arguments with fellow MCs Maxsta, Bugzy Malone, Lowkey, Tinie Tempah, Devilman, Saskilla, Dot Rotten and Big Narstie.
Filmography:
2007: Steal This Film: Part II