 Madchild, best known as a member of Vancouver-based hip-hop group Swollen Members, was recently denied entry into the U.S. for unknown reasons ... and is unable to enter to tour or record until the issue is resolved.
The group is currently preparing the March release of a new album, titled Dagger Mouth, through Battle Axe/Suburban Noize Records, and are currently touring in promotion of the project. That is, expect Mad Child, who is unable to.
Apparently, while passing through the customs unit at the Vancouver Airport, he was pulled to the side and questioned for multiple hours about his past and/or if he had affiliations to the notorious biker gang, Hell Angels, which he denied.
"When I was finally called up, the agent started questioning me about being a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club and when I replied, 'No', he just continued to repeat the question over and over again," Mad Child explained. "After five more hours of waiting, watching him go back and forth, looking on the internet and asking me the same questions over and over again, I was finally called to the front desk. He asked me another series of questions and after a total of eight and a half hours of questioning I was told that I was officially banned from entering the United States."
Mad Child finds it frustrating that he is being judged for things in his past when in recent years, he's turned his life around. He has even given back, by speaking with youth about the perils of drug addiction, which he's suffered from for years.
"It's extremely disheartening to me to know that after turning my life around, it feels like a second chance is evading me," the rapper said. "Unfortunately when entering the United States, I'm not judged on the person I am today, but rather on my appearance and whoever the customs officials perceive me to be, which is discrimination."
Mad Child is preparing the release of his solo debut, titled Dope Sick, sometime this year. It's inspired by his ongoing battle with drug addiction and his descent into severe Oxycontin dependence.
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