The Chemical Brothers are a Grammy Award winning electronic music duo from England, comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons (occasionally referred to as Chemical Tom and Chemical Ed).

Initially they called themselves "The Dust Brothers", after the noted United States production duo of the same name, but their burgeoning popularity and the threat of legal action from the originals led them to change their name in 1995.

Along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method and other lesser-known acts they were pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre, and are known for high-quality live sets.

In 2001, they were quite active with releases and live performances. Early in the year, they began working on a fourth album, provisionally titled "Chemical Four".

The first track which fans got a taste of was "It Began In Afrika", as previously played in their DJ set in New York. The track would make its live debut in California in April 2001, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, to much acclaim. Another new track also got its public debut at Coachella, "Galaxy Bounce".

As has become customary for their releases and experiments, "It Began In Afrika" was first pressed as a promo, as part of the "Electronic Battle Weapon" series. It received much airplay on dance music radio shows in the UK, and became more and more popular in clubs over the course of the summer.

It also became one of the "anthems" in Ibiza as the summer progressed. It was given a full commercial single release in September, reaching #8 in the UK singles chart, even though no promotional video was made for the track.

Rowlands and Simons also remixed a track from Fatboy Slim's "Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars", entitled "Song For Shelter."