Penguins in Pengolia

"Penguins in Pengolia" is a song by hip hop duo Uprising, consisting of DJ Crow and Joe-Q, released as the fourth single off their album Renegade Riots (2012). The single was released a month after the release of the album on September 1, 2012 for digital download on iceTunes. Crow, Joe-Q, producer R-2014 and Yusei wrote the song while Junglefood produced it. The song received positive reviews from critics, and is considered one of the best songs on the album by fans and reviewers. Before the single release the song had already entered the UnitedTerra Singles Chart at number 16, and eventually peaked at number 1 as it climbed up the chart. The song is based upon an "imaginary game of hide-and-seek" in Pengolia. In the mid-tempo hip hop song, a twenty-second intro precedes the first verse from Crow (rapping that he is in Pengolia hiding from Joe), eventually leading into the chorus with Joe-Q delivering the second verse (explaining how he is trying to find Crow in Pengolia). The two then share mini-verses after the second chorus, with the song ending with a ten second outro.

The song was written and recorded in December 2011. Crow and Joe wrote their verses while R-2014 and Yusei worked on the chorus and narrative parts of the song. Critic's also commended the story behind the song and the production. Publications listed the song among the best of 2012. The song is also well-known for it's bumpy ride up the charts. Originally track 5 off the album, "Time to Take Over", was going to be the fourth single but on Joe's behalf "Penguins in Pengolia" was released instead. The music video was worked on from September 3, two days after the release of the single, and was released on Halloween.

Artwork
Crow designed the cover for the single, which follows the flag pattern of the previous single artwork - this time using the Pengolia flag, as the song is based upon the country. The flag itself is a simple dark-red flag with a fluffy fish in the top left corner. Crow changed the shade of the red and purposely made it look off-quality. In the centre of the cover "DJ Crow ① Joe-Q", "Penguins in Pengolia" and "Renegade Riots" is written in capital, pixelated, gold letters, being evenly spaced-out in one line across the cover. "UPRISING" is written at the bottom-centre of the cover in a dark-yellow, shadowed tone. The artwork is known for it's simplicity and it's good use of the Pengolian flag. Originally Crow said that he was not going to write anything on the cover (so it just would of been the off-quality flag) but as that had not been done with any of the other covers the text was written anyway.

Development
Video production began on September 3, 2011 and continued up to October 10. No popular directors were available at the time Crow and Joe-Q called, so Joe-Q invested into hiring a small-time director. Eventually commercial and low-budget video director Murry Days was hired, and pitched ideas to Uprising. The two told Murray that they wanted the video to be shot in various parts of Pengolia, and was to incorporate the "hide-and-seek" story of the song. Murray pitched the idea of Crow being in West Pengolia and Joe-Q in East Pengolia as a riot's going on. Crow and Joe expected the video to be five minutes (a minute above the song's default length in order to include a good intro and outro), but Murray suggested that they make a short film. The three invested into the 16 minute video, costing them over 700,000 dauroes - becoming one of the most expensive hip hop music videos ever. Parts of Pengolia had to be modified to incorporate action scenes. Upon asking Penghis Khan for permission to shoot, the king declined. Eventually they were allowed to shoot as long as the king received profit. Pengolians were hired to act as rioters and bystanders, along with hiring penguins out of the country. So that the video could be aired on television, the 16 minute film was edited to 5 minutes. The full film premiered on television on Halloween (October 24, 2011) as the film incorporated a very dark theme. Both versions were uploaded to PengTube the same day, with the full version receiving over 7 million views in one day. The video was heavily promoted throughout Antarctica. The 5 minute edition racked 300,000 views on the day of premiere.

Chart performance
On August 12, 2012, "Penguins in Pengolia" entered the UnitedTerra Singles Chart at number 16 after the release of Renegade Riots without being released as a single. The next week it slipped down to number 39 and in it's third week fell to number 92. On September 2, 2012 (the day after the song was released as a single) "Penguins in Pengolia" climbed back into the Top 40 at number 31. Over the next weeks the song climbed slowly into the Top 20. By September 23 the song was positioned at number 20 and stayed there as a non-mover for four weeks, and climbed one place later to nineteen. The music video was unveiled on Wednesday October 24 which increased sales, resulting into "Penguins in Pengolia" climbing from nineteen to a new peak at eight. As the video grossed millions of views on PengTube and got popular, it rose from eight to six and finally managed to peak at number 1 on November 11 for two weeks.

On the Club Penguin chart the song entered without release on August 12 aswell, but entered higher at number ten. It climbed to nine and then slipped down the chart until the single release on September 2 - going from 19 to seven. The song moved up and stayed as a non-mover at four and two for many weeks. In the week the video was released, "Penguins in Pengolia" climbed from two to number 1 - holding the spot for more than three weeks. In the USA the song didn't enter the chart until the song was released as a single, entering on September 2 at number 34. For the next seven weeks the song hovered in the Top 60 until the video was released - immediately rising from 56 to eleven, eight then six.