Cali Swag District

If for no other reason, we should thank Cali Swag District for their straight-to-the-point attitude to naming themselves; they’re from California, and apparently have swag in abundance. Despite that, though - and despite the fact that they’ve only been a going concern for around four years now - they’ve already had to deal with more tumult and upheaval than many bands far longer in the tooth have thrown their way. After bursting onto the scene with the viral smash ‘Teach Me How to Dougie’ in 2010 - it went to number three in the U.S., and had First Lady Michelle Obama performing the accompanying dance routine on a chat show - they signed a major deal with Sphinx for their debut album. Before it could be released, though, in July of 2011, founding member M-Bone was shot dead in their native Inglewood, the victim of a drive-by. It meant that they only played a limited number of shows in support of The Kickback - all in their native U.S., some in support of Nelly - and, just as they were working on album number two after a difficult period away, they were hit by the loss of a second member, JayAre, who died of sickle cell anaemia in his sleep. How that’ll affect plans for their second record remains unclear, but it’s tragic that such a promising young group have been hit by such sadness twice now; hopefully, they’ll be back on stage before too long.