Tinie Tempah

While the most commercially successful rappers in the U.S have also been pop stars since the late 80’s and early 90’s, it’s only relatively recently that the U.K has been producing home grown rappers of the same size and ubiquity. Sure, rappers could have hits, just look at So Solid Crew getting “21 Seconds” to number 1 in August 2001. However it wasn’t until Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Calvin Harris and gave the world “Dance Wiv Me” in 2008 that UK hip-hop got its first legitimate, arena playing sensation who could take anything into the top ten at least. So it went for a couple of years that Dizzee was the undisputed top dog of U.K Hip Hop, and then this guy showed up. And Dizzee suddenly had competition.

From a young age, Tinie Tempah was nothing if not driven and amazingly talented. The kind of artist that could do anything he wanted with his life and music’s gain is everything else’s loss. Conceiving his stage name at the age of 12 after seeing the music video for the aforementioned “21 Seconds”, he was writing, recording, producing and releasing his own mixtapes by 17. In 2005 he joined the label Aftershock Hooligans, where he cut his teeth writing, recording and performing on hundreds of different songs with various other members of the label. In the same year he was ready to step out on his own, “Chapter 1: Verse 22” was his debut mixtape and the following year he had an underground hit with his single “Tears”.

Inspired by the likes of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella, he left Aftershock in 2007 and along with his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota, created his own label Disturbing London. The idea was that it would also sign and nurture young artists as well as put out Tinie’s own records, but it was 2009 when everything changed. A talent scout called Jade Richardson called Miles Leonard, the head of Parlophone Records, personally and implored him to check out Tinie’s set at that year’s Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. The reception that the young rapper got from just his live show and one independently released album that was already two years old was enough to knock them both for six, and by October Tinie had been signed.

It was February 2010 when Tinie became a star in his own right, with the deathless single “Pass Out” levelling the playing field of UK Hip-Hop and since then he’s been untouchable. Doing what so many British artists have failed to do and breaking America with his single “Written In The Stars”, selling out arena tours and doing so entirely on his own terms. He’s a truly modern pop star, making music that’s as accessible as it is edgy, with a hand in everything about his career, from his music to his videos to his album cover art. He’s something of a national treasure only two albums into his career, and the only way to go is up. Highly recommended.