TINIE TEMPAH: the Amalgamation and Rise to Fame Tinie Tempah on the ROAD
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ON THE ROAD TINIE TEMPAH: The Amalgamation and Rise to Fame Tinie Tempah ON THE ROAD 25 Tinie Tempah ON THE ROAD wo-step, break beat, choppy, and minimal. These are just some of the terminology, which you may have heard being tossed around in Tassociation with the genre of Grime. They’ve developed like seeds from their much older ances- tral roots of UK Garage, Drum N’ Bass, Punk and Hip-Hop. Tinie Tempah is an amalgamation of all of the above. At just 22 the South London rapper is the hottest tipped rising star in the UK Pop charts recently securing the number one spot for two weeks with his single “Pass Out”; a playful comment on the fast- paced lifestyle of a star. Tempah’s first break as a musician happened when Sony launched its Playstation Portable (PSP) and used the track entitled ‘Listen To The Vibe’ featuring Yazmin & Dj Ironik for the racing game, Wipeout Pure. The exposure would lead to a promotional European tour alongside artists Sway and Dizzee Rascal. This was a huge accomplishment for someone cross- ing over from the underground. A place where Tinie Tempah (born Patrick Okogwu) gained much cred- ibility and recognition for his 2006 single ‘Wifey’ which held onto the top on the Channel U urban charts for ten consecutive weeks. When asked about how the success of the mainstream compares with this he states, ‘There’s an extra level of added awareness. The performances have got huger, the venues get a lot bigger, and even down to the promoter tell- ing me that we’ve got queues round the corner. The difference is the way that the public react.’ This rise to the mainstream may not appear so cutting edge with the recent successes of contemporaries such as Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk and of course Dizzee Rascal, who’s productions of infectious dance beats have been moving the toes and hips of the nation throughout dance clubs all round the Isle. However, “Pass Out” is something else. It’s not quite got that aftertaste of gritty street flavour with Parlophone/EMI money behind it; it favours the more polished produc- tion set up and runs at the more favoured hip-hop tempo. Nevertheless, the stamp of grime resonates loud and clear throughout the vocal phrasing, and the shift through drum & bass coda does even more to imply what a truly brilliant put together club tune it really is. The success of the tune has even managed to surprise the star himself ‘…it wasn’t originally supposed to be a single. We put it out there as a promotional track to all the specialist radio stations, Channel U and MTV Base. And before you know it…’ Much of his success was helped by the exposure with the representing ‘youth culture’ recording. This was WORDS BY: SHELLEY PESTAINA SHELLEY BY: WORDS the ‘Put the Knives and Guns Down’ track produced April 2010 Musicology 27 TINIE TEMPAH - PASS OUT Words by: David N’Jai David by: Words P. Money ON THE ROAD by Mike Stobbie, the composer behind BMW, Marks & Spencer and McDonalds’s commercials. He credits much of his drive to his mother who he says is his biggest inspiration, ‘She’s a hard worker and she definitely instilled that in me that you have to have a lot of drive to be able to achieve what you want to achieve.’ Due to a surge of gun and knife related crime at the time amongst several British youths the campaign was able to gain mass media coverage; giving Tinie the opportunity to bestow his views and opinions across several networks, some being BBC, and Sky. All of this whilst still at college! It’s hard to believe that with all of that going on he was not feel- ing the pressure but he assures us ‘I’m just getting on with it and making music that I love. Music that is pure and natural and I’m not really thinking about the charts or the radio. I’m just doing what I love and what I feel.’ After leaving college, with three A-Levels, Tinie went on to release his audio collection ‘Hood-Economics – Room 147’. The single (under the same name) was once again embraced by the underground and went straight to the BBC 1Xtra and Kiss play lists. His project was well received stateside and led to an interview with Playboy magazine alongside Gym Class Heroes. When asked about his involvement with the US side of things the star reveals he’s actu- ally been collaborating with a well-known US artist and would love to have the opportunity to go over there. ‘I did a track with Omarion which was probably TINIE TEMPAH - PASS OUT the most inspiring because that was the first Ameri- can artist that I’d worked with. I had the privilege of being in the studio with him. The way he worked was great because he went into the booth and came out an hour and a half later with nothing written down or anything, which meant it, was all formulated in the booth. That’s pretty incredible!’ It’s admirable to see some of the most unrestrained, creative music finally coming into the forefront of the British production. It’s been a long time coming in this play and Tinie Tempah is certainly no pawn. His demeanour and drive are to be admired and give rise to some of the most influential and refreshing sounds to date. The future looks bright and the projects keep piling on. ‘…it’s [Pass Out] an introduction to the randomness and the eclectic mix of the album and obviously how much I’m willing to push myself on every track and try and take it somewhere where you have not seen me do it before. The album is called ‘Disc-overy’ and it’s out in the Summer so look out for it.’ Great things are coming so stay glued to this space! Musicology 29.