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Bad Dreams (Swollen Members album)

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Bad Dreams
BERJAYA
Studio album by
Swollen Members
ReleasedNovember 13, 2001
StudioHipposonic Studios
GenreHip-hop
Length59:59 (original)
67:47 (reissue)
LabelBattle Axe Records
ProducersNucleus, Evidence, Rob the Viking, the Alchemist, Seanski, Roger Swan, Joey Chavez, Concise, Kemo, Saukrates
Swollen Members chronology
Balance
(1999)		 Bad Dreams
(2001)		 Monsters in the Closet
(2002)
Singles from Bad Dreams
  1. "Camouflage"
    Released: 2000
  2. "Full Contact/Take It Back"
    Released: 2001
  3. "Fuel Injected"
    Released: 2002
  4. "Bring It Home"
    Released: 2002

Bad Dreams is the second studio album by the Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members, released on November 13, 2001, by Battle Axe Records.

The album was produced by Nucleus, Evidence, Rob the Viking, the Alchemist, Seanski, Roger Swan, Joey Chavez, Concise, Kemo, Saukrates, and features guest appearances from DJ Revolution, DJ Babu, Evidence, Chali 2na, Rakaa, Buc Fifty, Rattlesnake Jones, Chris Guy, Planet Asia, Son Doobie and Moka Only.

"Camouflage" and the double A-side "Full Contact/Take It Back" were the album's first singles. The next single, "Fuel Injected" (featuring Moka Only) reached number 1 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown and won four MuchMusic Video Awards.[1][2] The final single "Bring It Home", which also featured Moka Only, topped the MuchMusic Countdown[3] and peaked at number 3 on the Canadian singles chart.[4]

In 2002 Bad Dreams was the seventh best-selling rap album in Canada, and the best-selling rap album in Canada by a Canadian artist.[5] The album was certified platinum by the CRIA with sales of over 100,000 copies across Canada,[6] and won Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2002.[7]

Two bonus tracks were added to the 2002 reissue. In 2016, the album was reissued again on CD with new cover art by the graffiti artist RISK.[8]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStarHalf star[9]
Chronic'art4/5[10]
HipHopCoreStarStarStarStarBERJAYA[11]
HipHopDXStarStarStarHalf starBERJAYA[12]
MVRemix8/10[13]
NowStarStarStarStarStar[14]
RapReviews7/10[15]

Bad Dreams was the top album in Exclaim's 2001 readers poll.[16] In CMJ New Music Report's 2001: year in review, Jim Utz listed the album in his top 10.[17] Arturo Perez of Kludge magazine named it one of the 25 best albums of 2001.[18]

Nic Kincaid of AllMusic called it "a natural and overwhelmingly positive evolution from Balance", praising the album's production and collaborative tracks.[9]

Larry LeBlanc of Billboard stated "Though Balance was impressive, the new album shows that Swollen Members has evolved into a mature pairing. While its predecessor sounded as if it consisted of solo artists collaborating on a project, Bad Dreams features a collection of concise, conceptual songs."[19]

Chart Attack praised both rappers and the album's production, noting "beats range from wigged-out Wu-Tang weirdness to smooth old-school".[20]

MVRemix said the album "features a nice selection of dope tracks. Beautifully smooth, scratched-up hooks, perfect production and the well assembled duo".[13]

Despite highly rating the album, Matt Galloway of Now expressed that distributing the album with Nettwerk was an "unusual decision" and "massive gamble" due to their little experience with hip-hop artists.[14]

Matthias Jost of RapReviews claimed the duo was "sometimes a little bit too basic". He stated the group was "a few notable notches below" Dilated Peoples, and compared them to Cali Agents.[15]

The album received generally positive reviews from French publications Chronic'art[10] and HipHopCore,[11] as well as Deutsch publications Hiphop in je smoel[21] and Visions.[22]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Intro" 0:42
2."Killing Spree"Nucleus2:38
3."Full Contact" (featuring Evidence and Chali 2na)Evidence4:09
4."Take It Back" (featuring DJ Revolution)Rob the Viking3:41
5."RPM" (featuring Rakaa Iriscience and DJ Babu)Nucleus4:01
6."Bad Dreams"The Alchemist3:50
7."Camouflage" (featuring DJ Revolution)Evidence2:31
8."Poker Face" (featuring Buc Fifty)Rob the Viking4:20
9."Deep End"Seanski3:25
10."Anthrax Island"Nucleus2:30
11."Snake Bite" (featuring Rattlesnake Jones and Chris Guy)Rob the Viking, Roger Swan3:43
12."Total Package" (featuring Planet Asia and DJ Revolution)Evidence3:19
13."The Reflection"Rob the Viking1:58
14."Ventilate" (featuring DJ Babu)Joey Chavez3:56
15."Burns and Scars" (featuring Son Doobie)Rob the Viking4:05
16."Dark Riders" (featuring Buc Fifty)The Alchemist3:20
17."Fuel Injected" (featuring Moka Only)Concise, Kemo3:31
18."High Road"Rob the Viking*4:20
Total length:59:59
Bonus tracks (2002 reissue)
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
19."Bring It Home" (featuring Moka Only)Rob the Viking4:17
20."Fuel Injected" (Remix) (featuring Moka Only and Saukrates)Saukrates3:31
Total length:67:47

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2002) Peak
position
Canadian Albums (Jam!)[23] 34
Year-end chart performance for Bad Dreams
Chart (2002) Position
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[24] 87
Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[25] 16
Canadian Rap Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[5] 7

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Swollen Members - Fuel Injected". Top40-Charts.com. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Swollen Members Clean Up At MuchMusic Awards". Billboard. June 17, 2002. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Swollen Members - Bring It Home". Top40-Charts.com. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Canada Top 20 (2002-04-18)". Top40-Charts.com. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Top 100 rap albums of 2002 in Canada". Archived from the original on October 26, 2004. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Bad Dreams by Swollen Members is Certified Platinum". HipHopCanada.com. September 28, 2002. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  7. ↑ "2002 | Best Rap Recording | Swollen Members". The JUNO Awards. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  8. ↑ Hudson, Alex (November 30, 2015). "Swollen Members Reissue Early Albums". Exclaim!.
  9. 1 2 Allmusic review
  10. 1 2 Hamou, Par (February 5, 2002). "Swollen Members - Bad Dreams". Chronic'art (in French).
  11. 1 2 "Bad Dreams - HHC". HipHopCore (in French). November 2001.
  12. ↑ HipHopDX review
  13. 1 2 MVRemix review
  14. 1 2 Now review
  15. 1 2 RapReviews review
  16. ↑ "Best Hip-Hop Album Readers Poll 2001". Exclaim!. November 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ Utz, Jim (December 31, 2001). "Staff Top 10s" (PDF). Worldradiohistory. p. 61.
  18. ↑ Perez, Arturo. "Top 10 Albums of 2001". Kludge. Archived from the original on July 22, 2004. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Canadian mainstream embraces Swollen Members". Billboard. December 20, 2001.
  20. ↑ "CD REVIEWS: Kittie, Moist, Radiohead, Sevendust, Swollen Members and many more". Chart Attack. November 13, 2001. Archived from the original on November 29, 2003.
  21. ↑ bowie (December 31, 2001). "Swollen Members-Bad Dreams". Hiphop In Je Smoel (in Dutch).
  22. ↑ "Swollen Members Bad Dreams". Visions (in German). December 20, 2001.
  23. ↑ "ALBUMS : Top 100". Jam!. Canoe.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2004. Retrieved May 2, 2026 – via Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ "Top 200 Albums of 2002 (based on sales)". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 R&B; albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on October 12, 2003. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
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