At just nineteen MC / writer, Tinie Tempah, has more achievements under his belt than a heavyweight boxing champion. Since the tender age of 16 he’s remained on a vertical path to success using every opportunity to get his music heard by the masses.
His first break as a musician came when Sony launched its Playstation Portable (PSP) and used a track entitled ‘Listen To The Vibe’ featuring Yazmin & DJ Ironik [Atlantic / Warner] for the futuristic racing game, Wipeout Pure. This resulted in a promotional European tour alongside the likes of Sway and Dizzee Rascal.
Whilst battling his A Levels, Tinie went on to shoot his first video for promotional single ‘Wifey’ an underground smash which held the Channel U urban chart top spot for 10 consecutive weeks.
By this time Tinie’s profile had increased immensely and earned him a position at the forefront of British urban music. This lead to him being deemed suitable to represent ‘youth culture’ recording the ‘Put the Knives and Guns Down’ track produced by Mike Stobbie, composer behind BMW, Marks & Spencer and McDonalds commercials, and Rick Barraclough [Simply Red, ‘Holding Back The Years’].
A spate of gun and knife related crimes amongst several British youths meant that the campaign received mass media coverage and Tinie was given the opportunity to share his thoughts and views across several news networks including, ITN, BBC and Sky channels.
With an even bigger profile [Over 1.3 million Myspace hits!] and A levels exams drawing near, Tinie continued to balance college and music, going on to feature on Wiley's second album ‘Play Time Is Over’ as well as consistently touring major towns and cities around the U.K.
After leaving college with 3 A Levels, Tinie went on to release his audio scrapbook ‘Hood Economics – Room 147’. The promo single under the same name was again embraced by the underground and went straight onto the BBC 1Xtra playlist. ‘Perfect Girl’ on which Tinie is featured on shared the same joy and also made it onto the Kiss playlist too.
Tinies project has received attention stateside, he did an interview with Playboy magazine alongside the Gym Class Heroes.
Still considering his UCAS application Tinie is continually showing growth, with the release of this monster single ‘Tears’ produced by the mighty Davinchie [think Kano’s ‘P&Q’s’] dates alongside US hipsters The Cool Kids as well as sharing the stage with the biggest MC, no wait!, The Biggest recording artist in the world – Jay-Z in July at Hyde Park – London, it’s no wonder he’s hesitating.
By Nino
